Heartland

I'm considering applying for a job in York . I am ashamed to say that I have never been, though. I know there's a lot of people on the board from Yorkshire-ish way, though, so does anyone have any pearls of wisdom on the subject? Is it a nice city to live in and work in? Is it very expensive to buy houses there?

I like the North, and went to Uni in Durham, but I know very little about York. We've had various bits and bobs of advice from people, much of it conflicting, but most of it positive. The only bit that's concerned us was when someone said it was a place where the BNP was active, and that there had been some tensions on the racial front. Since my wife is, not to put too fine a point on it, brown, this is something that concerns us a bit. But it could well be utter bollards. Any views?

York is a great place to live, although house prices have increased dramatically during the last couple of years.
If you like a drink, there are more pubs here than there are days in the year!
No racial tensions that I'm aware of, and It's a fairly multi-cultural city (we get alot of tourists from all over the globe.)

i used to go out with a girl who was from york - we used to spend quite a few weekends up there visiting her mum until we split about 4 years ago....

its a nice city - quite expensive and quite touristy, but the center is very picturesque and has a nice feel

parts of it get flooded every winter - mainly the bits near river that runs through the center.

its generally quite a pricey city and there isn't much to do there by way of nightclubs etc

no idea of the racial issues - it does seem very, erm, white. but i'm not sure how aggressively white it is.

scardy is from there - i'm sure he can tell you more

ahh, there you go

@ scardy:

Quiff Boy wrote: its generally quite a pricey city and there isn't much to do there by way of nightclubs etc
scardy is from there - i'm sure he can tell you more

Yep the nightclubs in York are best avoided. If you like a late drink, some pubs have a 1am licence.
If goth is your thing, there are regular nights at the Cert 18 pub,.

Went to uni in York. Quite liked the place, but wasn't too sorry to leave when I was finished.

It's pretty, it has some good pubs, it's close to some lovely countryside and it has terrific transport links (close to A1 and M1, east coast mainline for fast trains to London, Leeds/Bradford is a growing airport). I'd imagine it's a pretty "safe" city as well: there's some grim bits on some of the estates, but it's generally pretty affluent and doesn't have overwhelming crime problems, AFAIK. There was no race problem that I was aware of, though there was some inevitable townie/student conflict at times. Although it's not relevant to me, I'd imagine some of the schools are pretty good. It's that sort of area, if you know what I mean.

But ....

For a city with a decent-sized uni the nightlife is fairly quiet. The students tend to stay on campus and go home to Surrey for the weekend (a bit like Durham really ) and the clubs are/were woeful. Although I moved back home after graduating, a couple of friends of mine stayed on and fairly quickly found their patience with the place was fading and that socially it was a bit of a non-event. My most recent trip (2/3 years ago, I guess) was a disappointment ... what I'd remembered as a good shopping town seemed very faded and boarded-up.

I was interviewed for a job in York myself about four years ago, and thought house prices looked cheap, but I was living in SW London at the time so most things would be cheap by comparison. Didn't get the gig in the end, so it wasn't an issue.

Don't know how much that helps ... I guess you have a better idea what you and your family are looking for as a home.

there's a big church and it might be handy for the 25th birthday bash

footie club's a bit naff though

And don't forget it's 20 mins down the road from Leeds, so you can go to Leeds, but don't have to live there.

Gotta be a bonus!

I was there when it flooded last week. Nightmare.
Other than the flooding, cracking place. I've never been aware of any race probs either.
Don't hesitate, move to the People's Republic!!!

York is a choice location, I'd love to live there.

Thank you all for the generally glowing recommendations. The consensus here seems to be that the only downside is the crudness of the 'scene'. Since I've never liked clubs much, and now don't even go pubbing much since the wee man came alone (other than the odd highly civilised sunday lunch), I think I can live with that. I will factor all of the above into my consideration, and an application now looks likely. But I'm not going to start saying ey oop, or any of that nonsense...

MrChris wrote:I'm not going to start saying ey oop, or any of that nonsense...

'appen you will

Will I 'eck as like!

MrChris wrote:Will I 'eck as like!

If ya won't talk proper like rest of us, tha can bugger off.