[ProfessorOptics]

Hey there,

I'm a 29 year-old, dual RSA-UK citizen moving back to the UK after living in RSA for the past 5 years or so. I'm planning on moving early next year. One of the challenges I'm facing is deciding where in the UK I want to live. Last time I lived there, I was mostly in the South West around Salisbury, so other than that part, I don't know a huge amount about England to make an informed choice on where to live.

I have Several Criteria that I've come up with:

1. Diverse Entertainment
   There needs to be a variety of things to do on the average Friday night or weekend that doesn't necessarily involve getting smashed.
2. Accessibility
   How easy is it to get around without a car?
3. Job Possibilities
   Looking at unemployment and other statistics to help work out how challenging it may be to find an entry level job
4. Cost of Living
   Can I live off 500GBP or less, at least initially. This includes rent, general expenses, etc.
5. Sociability
   How open are the people and what are the chances of me finding and making friends.

At this point in time, I have Cardiff, Edinburgh and Glasgow on my lists. London isn't an option due to it being expensive and way too busy/crowded for my liking.
What are these cities like, and are there any other suggestions that I can look into that you may feel a young adult can enjoy living in?

 

[ALKB]

Hey there,

I'm a 29 year-old, dual RSA-UK citizen moving back to the UK after living in RSA for the past 5 years or so. I'm planning on moving early next year. One of the challenges I'm facing is deciding where in the UK I want to live. Last time I lived there, I was mostly in the South West around Salisbury, so other than that part, I don't know a huge amount about England to make an informed choice on where to live.

I have Several Criteria that I've come up with:

1. Diverse Entertainment
   There needs to be a variety of things to do on the average Friday night or weekend that doesn't necessarily involve getting smashed.
2. Accessibility
   How easy is it to get around without a car?
3. Job Possibilities
   Looking at unemployment and other statistics to help work out how challenging it may be to find an entry level job
4. Cost of Living
   Can I live off 500GBP or less, at least initially. This includes rent, general expenses, etc.
5. Sociability
   How open are the people and what are the chances of me finding and making friends.

At this point in time, I have Cardiff, Edinburgh and Glasgow on my lists. London isn't an option due to it being expensive and way too busy/crowded for my liking.
What are these cities like, and are there any other suggestions that I can look into that you may feel a young adult can enjoy living in?

Apart from none of the options you listed being in England, Edinburgh and Glasgow would tick all boxes with the exception of no. 4.

I lived in Edinburgh for six years and visited Glasgow frequently.

Edinburgh is beautiful, Glasgow has more jobs. Which one would be better depends a bit on your qualifications/skill set/sector you want to work in. Glasgow has more industrial jobs, but is also rougher. Living expenses are a bit cheaper in Glasgow. Entertainment-wise, both are great and in any case the other city is just under an hour by train.

Glasgow is wetter, Edinburgh more windy. Both are cold and dark from October to March. I loved it, I can't deal with heat but a lot of people get depressed coming from warmer climates.

Can't comment on Cardiff, I've never even been to Wales.

Before moving to Scotland, I lived in England, near Cambridge. Cambridge would also meet all your requirements apart from the living expenses.

 

[Crawford]

Cost of Living
Can I live off 500GBP or less, at least initially. This includes rent, general expenses, etc.

a month ...???

That could go on rent alone unless you were in a small flat share - even in Cardiff.

Your budget is going to have to be a lot more to survive most places in UK

Also, would it not be sensible to start looking for jobs in your field and go where the job is .....?

If you've only been out of the UK for 5 years or so, not much has changed in terms of costs of living, transport, how to find jobs etc

 

[ProfessorOptics]

Cost of Living
Can I live off 500GBP or less, at least initially. This includes rent, general expenses, etc.

a month ...???

That could go on rent alone unless you were in a small flat share - even in Cardiff.

Your budget is going to have to be a lot more to survive most places in UK

Also, would it not be sensible to start looking for jobs in your field and go where the job is .....?

If you've only been out of the UK for 5 years or so, not much has changed in terms of costs of living, transport, how to find jobs etc

yea budgets a bit tight initially. Trying to raise some more funds, but i need to look at the worst case scenario. I don't have a particular field that i'm looking to go into, right now I'm just aiming to get some sort of entry level job going to cover day-to-day expenses while I figure out what it is that I ultimately want to do with myself. Because of me being open to any kind of job, I figured choosing a place that I could have a decent quality of life in, good social life, make friends, etc, would go a long way rather than just "going where the money is" sorta thing.

Either way, I seem to have settled on Sheffield as my primary choice. Woke up one morning the name stuck in my head, and the more I research about it, the more I get excited about going. The opposite was true for the other options. It's also closer to the family I do have there.

What would be a good minimal budget that I can get by on initially for the first month or three? I need to factor in how quickly I can get a job, so that will determine my budget for the most part.

 

[Crawford]

Personally I would have a minimum of 6 months money to live on

Although you say you are looking for any entry level job, you might not get one for several months and, even if you do, the wages could be very low.

Unless you can stay with family for the first couple of months, you have to cover accommodation/food/travel expenses/utilities etc

With no credit history you are likely to be asked to put up higher deposits for rentals.

Personally I wouldn't go with less than 10K to tied me over.