U.K. is expensive!

[Stella]

All cities in UK are the same, at night, all you can do is go to pubs, or perhaps snooker club. I'm getting my ass out really soon.

Thats not really quite accurate - some places are better than others, most will have theatre, cinema and a swimming pool. If only like the cinema, then the town will suck.

Take Guildford - there's the Spectrum - so ten pin bowling, swimming, ice skating, badminton etc, plus Guildford's theatre ( Woking is better - 10 minute train ) and cinema.

Meetup.com is good for getting to know people, doing different things - but it seems there aren't many Meetup groups outside of London.

But, life does revolve around the pub though - and I find pubs get very boring - a couple times a week is OK, but anymore than that and its dull, plus expensive. How much are pints these days in the UK? #2.50?

 

[Abstract]

I feel sooooo sorry for you, having to live with a bunch of girls!!;-) ( lucky bastard!!)

#350 That was per month.

Bristol is one of UK's fastest growing cities?

Oh, so 350 quid a month? Not bad, surely. You should be able to get a decent room for that much. 400 quid would definitely get you something though, even in London. You just need to raise your expectations.

I mean, I went from paying $300 CDN per month for a room in a house I lived in with my 5 friends (my other friends payed between $250-350 depending on the room). At the time, that was around £120 per month. Just before I lived in this house, I paid £90 per week on that flat. That should be around £360 per month. That numerical value itself was higher than the $300 I paid per month in Canuck dollars, and that's not even taking into consideration the 2.50x exchange rate!

However, I earned a lot more doing a boring job ($18 CDN) that would have paid me $8 or $9 CDN back at home. That's how I justified it. I know it's expensive, so the only way to justify living in the UK is if you earn more there than you do at home.

 

[ke2000]

But, life does revolve around the pub though - and I find pubs get very boring - a couple times a week is OK, but anymore than that and its dull, plus expensive. How much are pints these days in the UK? #2.50?

I've never lived in south. In the Yorkshire I'm living, £2 a pint is safe to say.

 

[iGav]

I've never lived in south.

Well there's your problem then.

 

[mpw]

£350 a month? That's not so bad here you'd get a single bedsit for £500 and have to pay your electricity bill on top of that. Plus the day-to-day cost of living is much higher too.

 

[Dunepilot]

Oxford is the second most expensive city ( London,1st of course ). I lived in Oxford for 12 months, and never liked it. Oxford is really quite boring and never saw the attraction. When I was there, Oxford had very little to do, apart from pubs. Overall, an expensive, boring dump.

Plus, Oxford's ( ice ) hockey team sucks, badly.
http://www.eiha.co.uk/seniorENIHLleague.html

( Oh, I see Oxford managed to win a few games - unlike several seasons ago - lost the lot. They have a long way to be the team that is the Guildford Flames!)

I strongly disagree. I was a student in Oxford for 4 years, and I regularly go there from London because there are so many good things going on there that I haven't been able to match in London.

For starters, there's live music. A few minutes spent on oxfordbands.com will show you how many great local bands there are, of all genres, and there are only just enough small venues there, so the 'rationing' effect comes into operation to ensure that crap bands have trouble getting a gig. A number of live music promoters put on truly wonderful gigs in small venues, of a quality I've not seen much evidence of elsewhere.

Then there's theatre. You have lots of lots of good student productions being put on at any one time, that are generally good value for money.

Or art. Always exhibitions at the Ruskin, or at /Modern Art Oxford. Fabulous museums like the Ashmolean in Oxford.

And then, yes, there are lots of fantastic pubs.

I'm moving to Winchester for the next year or two, but after I get married we'll move back to Oxford as soon as we possibly can. It's the most wonderful place, culturally.

 

[dops7107]

But, life does revolve around the pub though - and I find pubs get very boring - a couple times a week is OK, but anymore than that and its dull, plus expensive. How much are pints these days in the UK? #2.50?

Sorry you found Oxford so dull. I guess it depends what you're into. There are lots of pubs and not much in the way of clubs, plenty of good restaurants though. Slight lack of coffee bars. Good kebab vans. Please don't depress me further, I'm in a pretty despondent mood so I don't like to be reminded of the bad sides of my life too much!

A pint of Hoegaarden will set you back a ridiculous £3.50 at the Royal Oak. Otherwise... I guess Stella is £3.00 or so, maybe £2.95.

 

[plinden]

Yea the price thing is mental. A little story.

We we're going to move to Ireland a few years back. We took a short 1 week holiday to assess the area and to go house hunting. We found this cul-de-sac that was built on a huge 250 acre field. Some random man and a few of his mates basically built about 10 of these 'millionaire' mansion style houses. I mean they looked phenomenal! 2 conservatories on each end, 4 floors, grand entrance hall with pillars and that. Underground pool, cinema, epic stained glass window on the front that took up 2 floors in itself, entire balcony spanning the front and back of the house. In the UK it would have cost definitely £1 million. No doubt. In the right place, in Saddleworth or the Cotswolds then you're looking at about £1.25 million.

The price? half our current house. €363,500=£250,000. We just cried. In the end we didn't stay though! pity. I'd have loved to live there. Irelands top!

That must have been quite a few years ago ... of course, it depends on where that was, but if you're within commuting distance (i.e. within an hour's commute) of a major or semi-major urban area (Dublin, Galway, Cork) you'll pay as much as in most of the UK now. €1,000,000 is pretty common these days around Dublin.

 

[nw43]

I strongly disagree. I was a student in Oxford for 4 years, and I regularly go there from London because there are so many good things going on there that I haven't been able to match in London.

For starters, there's live music. A few minutes spent on oxfordbands.com will show you how many great local bands there are, of all genres, and there are only just enough small venues there, so the 'rationing' effect comes into operation to ensure that crap bands have trouble getting a gig. A number of live music promoters put on truly wonderful gigs in small venues, of a quality I've not seen much evidence of elsewhere.

Then there's theatre. You have lots of lots of good student productions being put on at any one time, that are generally good value for money.

Or art. Always exhibitions at the Ruskin, or at /Modern Art Oxford. Fabulous museums like the Ashmolean in Oxford.

And then, yes, there are lots of fantastic pubs.

I'm moving to Winchester for the next year or two, but after I get married we'll move back to Oxford as soon as we possibly can. It's the most wonderful place, culturally.

I think you're forgetting the most important thing: Oxford United FC!!

Currently not doing the best but we will hopefully back up there again soon with a new owner and also a new manager: Jim Smith!