As a place to live, I mean?

I wouldn’t want to live there – they have way above the national average of murders according to ITV. 😉

flat

Dont take a car. Anywhere.

I’m there for work quite a lot, and think its great other than the transport issues (complete gridlock at rush hour – if I have a 9am meeting I get there for 7am or go home).

Property prices are quite high, but then its a historic city within commute of London, so not unexpected. Great architecture around the colleges, plenty of bars and restaurants, museums etc.

I think its a bit of a trek for any decent mountain biking, although Uptonogood is almost on your doorstep 🙂

My sister is in Uni there, she says it’s lovely but she can’t wait to go ‘home’ once her course has finished – home for her is Bahrain.

So, the opinion of and 18 year old student from Wales who spent a little over half of her life living in the Middle East is “it’s okay, but not as nice as a totalitarian society peerlessly close to civil war – as long as you’re one of the ‘haves'”

Don’t know.

Nor do I, sandwich. Maybe that’s the end of the thread then.

A dump compared to Hull. Or Cambridge for that matter.

Not as flat as Cambridge

Pretty good. Vary varied for entertainment, eating out, jobs. Your close to the Chilterns – which are great for riding.

Expensive to buy / rent as there are a lot of students renting. But good for employment.

Good transport links.

I always enjoyed it there, but the mtbing isn’t great. Road riding on the other hand is ace.

Sometimes the students and tourists get you down, but there are plenty of lovely quiet places only minutes away from the city centre where you can avoid them.

I love Oxford. It’s really lively, loads to do. Great mix of bars and restaurants. Aston Hill and the Chilterns are 30 mins away. The cotswolds are to the north west. Being on the M40 helps with getting around. Traffic is awful but it is a very cycling friendly city. Do you have any specific questions?

town centre is a few beautiful colleges scattered around a run-down third rate identikit centre. But over-run with tourists. Think of a collision between Cambridge and Doncaster.

Some nice restaurants, cafes etc and areas (eg. Walton Street, Castle Complex).

V expensive to live which is why Bicester is expanding from market town to garden city, good transport links but gridlocked as everyone who works in Oxford commutes in as they cant afford to live there. Most of the nearby towns serve as dormatories for Oxford.

Lots of nice surrounding villages with associated pubs/eateries etc.

20ish minutes from Chilterns, 45ish minutes from Woburn/Chicksands/Aston Hill and other decent MTB venues. Very good for road riding, quickly out onto quiet rural lanes with generally concientious, patient drivers.

Overall great.

Does depend on exactly where and also villages vs the city itself. As above if you live in the surrounding areas and don’t have to commute in every day that’s fine. If you work in Oxford it’s best to find a way to live there or commute by bike etc.

Traffic is terrible, really really bad. I think we all covered that part !

Depends what your criteria are for where you live. It is a lovely city but is also rather small. Loads of historic buildings and architecture – but mostly of the smaller and more quaint variety rather than some of the large edifices you get in the other historic towns and cities. Apparently it is also one of the 5 more expensive places to live than London in the UK. There are some cheaper parts of Oxford, but given its popularity you can imagine that there is a reason why those parts are cheaper. Sinewy, flowing singletrack MTB riding is largely lacking but as others have said you are a reasonably short drive away from places like Swinley (if you want nicely laid out tails to ride on) or the Chilterns, Downs, Ridgeway if you want “escape from it all” riding.

You will find cheaper housing in the surrounding areas while still being able to easily access Oxford itself.

If shopping is your thing then it is not the most diversely endowed retail heaven but has enough for most people with most of the main high street outlets as well as a few locals to provide some variety. Plenty of eating places. Generally rammed full of tourists in the summer and students for the remainder.

Having spent many decades in the area I think it is a fab city.

Great pubs. Rubbish riding.

Expensive but nice. A fair amount going on more than Cambridge. where Cambridge is a university city there is more to Oxford than just the university. Good alternative pub, club and restaurant scene outside of the usual town center Slug and lettuce e.t.c. Very good pubs, similar to London for having a good pub scene. A lot going on culturally too due to museums and what not. Good place to cycle around, excellent skate park and accompanying scene.

Pros; Chilterns are 20mins away, good night life, great architecture, London hour away, good road links, good road riding, not Cambridge, morse location spotting, Cotswolds are stones throw away

Cons: the bits that are nice are eye wateringly expensive, the bits that aren’t are full of students, or Chavs. The Chavs are a super race chav bred especially for their arseholeness

But mostly its not Cambridge 😉

I’ve lived variously in central Oxford, Summertown, Headington, Cowley road and Cumnor. (Nice Cotswold village just west). It’s a great place, the river is lovely, town is pretty (apart from Cornmarket, as others have noted) and there are loads of pubs and restaurants. There is a pretty good music scene, at least for a small city outside of London, and two independent cinemas. -Have a look at dailyinfo website for an idea.

Traffic is crappy, so ride a bike. Good biking as others have commented on- a drive to Watlington puts you in an ideal spot for XC singletrack in the Chilterns. If you want gnar, Aston hill is handy, as are Badbury clumps and flyup417- when it is finished!

town centre is a few beautiful colleges scattered around a run-down third rate identikit centre. But over-run with tourists. Think of a collision between Cambridge and Doncaster.

Donny has obviously changed a great deal. I don’t recall any beautiful colleges or tourists. Just Biscuit Billy’s and the Time and Place.

I love the place, lived in Crowley / iffley / iffley village, it’s not too big, you can cycle from one side to the other as a commute. it’s got a good mix of bars, a decent music scene, super quick links to london… The downsides are that houses are eye wateringly expensive and that the traffic is horrific.
If the right job came up I’d move back in a flash.

I lived just outside in Botley for a couple of years. Unless it was well outside of work hours it was pretty much always faster to bike into the centre than bus or drive. There were nice enough places to eat and nice pubs. Rent was ridiculous.

I didn’t really enjoy the riding round there much. Aston Hill was good, badbury clumps had already been decommissioned by the time that I moved there (3 years ago). I didn’t really find much that excited me in the Chilterns, I did a couple of rides with groups and a couple of events. I’m sure that there are good descents but I didn’t find them. Felt the same about the Ridgeway. I’ve moved back to Wales!

EDIT: also, I drove on the A34 for work (down Newbury way) and whilst it was OK for me I wouldn’t want to have been commuting to work in Oxford. There were ALWAYS queues northbound in the morning.

Not too bad, but the Cowley / Iffley Road scene just isn’t as happening as when i were there as a lad… blaa… blaa.. when i wera lad….. blaa….blaa… i remember when this were all fields…..blaa……blaa…. i remember seeing Radiohead on the Cowley road before they became mainstream……blaa……blaa……blaaa etc etc

😉

PS, some of your neighbours might be a bit er, eccentric….

If you’re quick you can rent the shark house http://www.theguardian.com/money/2014/nov/10/oxford-shark-house-headington-rent

As a single person, or couple, it’s a great city.
Lovely pubs, walks, architecture etc.
To bring up a family, look at the villages, unless you’re very rich.
Some of commutes are horrific, so please check (ask) if you need to.
A week of Witney to Oxford and you’ll be ready to top yourself, unless you ride of course.

A week of Witney to Oxford and you’ll be ready to top yourself, unless you ride of course.

This. The Witney – Oxford cycle is a fairly flat 12ish miles, The bus journey is an utter ball ache at peak times. I used to budget approx. 2hrs each way…

And yeah, its not what it used to be, what with the Zodiac changing its name and the Jericho turning into Scream pub… (What is it now?!) I once bumped into Thom Yorke in the woods near Appleton, biking back from the pub, well past midnight…

I wouldn’t want to live there – they have way above the national average of murders

I think it’s still far safer than Midsommer if you look at the murder rate per capita.

Not too bad, but the Cowley / Iffley Road scene just isn’t as happening as when i were there as a lad… blaa… blaa.. when i wera lad….. blaa….blaa… i remember when this were all fields…..blaa……blaa…. i remember seeing Radiohead on the Cowley road before they became mainstream……blaa……blaa……blaaa etc etc

Likewise. I seem to remember The Bigger The God seemed the ‘band most likely too..’
Used to see Gaz Coombes around Cowley a lot, and that fella from Ride. My sisters then boyfriend threw Thom Yorke out of the New Inn for standing on a table and saying ‘I’m going to be in the biggest band in the world’ 😀 – not sure when he’s joining One direction but…

i was offered a pretty good job there many years ago, but when i went to see the people i could’nt really see the point in living there. but thats just me, i’ve always lived by the sea.

I seem to remember The Bigger The God seemed the ‘band most likely too..’

They were heady days in the Oxofrd music scene – TBTG, Dustball, Beaker, Sound city ’97 etc.
Makes me want to dig out the Shifty Disco CD’s.

Bentley Rhythm Ace, DJ Shadow (and Lofi Allstars I think)
I was there!
Sound city that is.