Lived in Newark, Leicester and the South Wales Valleys until now, thinking of a change. Decent road scene?

Whats Worcester like?

I couldn’t tell you – I’ve never asked it!

Houses, shops, parks, buses, train stations, rivers, near Malverns, near Cotswolds, near Birmingham, near M5.

It’s like a small city.

Which is what it is.

Any specific questions?

Edit: Sorry, yes there are roads. Quite a few people ride on them, especially on a Sunday morning.

We went to Ludlow for a week a few years back. Took a wee drive down to Worcester, got out the car, walked for 5 minutes and got back in the car. The southern version of Warrington. Hideous.

The lock to my front door is still bust, been like that for the last five years (must get round to fixing it) not had any unwanted guests yet 😉

Did you get a medal for lasting a week in Ludlow?

Trafficy much, nice river, near Brum.

Much worse places though.

It’s alright IMO. First place I’ve seen with bouncers in the macdonalds though.

I went to Ludlow and paid £3 to climb the steps in the church tower.

I went to Worcester and noticed that the cathedral has got one of those button code things on the door to the tower.
I came up with this cunning plan that I could either watch from a distance via a telephoto lens as someone entered the code, or put some sort of invisible ultra violet ink on the buttons, so that I could learn the code and climb the tower for free.
I went home without carrying out the plan.

Worcester city is OK, couple of mediocre bike shops, but Worcestershire is great, it’s got flat bits, bits over 1000ft, rivers, some great cafes, great off road riding & nice quiet roads for getting in the miles, good transport links to the rest of the UK too, not as pretentious as London, not as miles from anywhere as the south west/south east and has less rain the the grim north. folks are generally friendly and won’t hold your wheelsize against you

Lived 14 mile away all my life and worked in the city for 12 years now. Not a bad place, feels more like a large town than a city IMO. Surrounded by lovely countryside, yet not too far from Brum/ Bristol etc. Has a few rough areas like anywhere else, and the city centre has its fair share of scroates/ chavs/dodgy eastern European characters, but not too much of an issue. Traffic can be a kin nightmare at rush hour though.
Not sure on local MTB riding apart from the canal which is good for an off road commute from north right into the city centre. But Malvern just down the road, FOD half hour away, Cannock an hour so is and south Wales.

Not sure on local MTB riding

I’m not surprised, you seem to have given up 😐

Thanks! Just wanted a general idea of the place, I knew there were a few locals on here, I never realized it was a city.

All a little far off yet so nothing to specific, might be back with a few questions in the next few days.

Given up? Not at all.

Dull was my overriding thoughts on Worcester. My mate lived there several years and out on the piss round town was kinda shit but sorta awright, if you know what I mean. Couple of semi decent restaurants. I wouldn’t live there personally, if I had a choice.

Did you get a medal for lasting a week in Ludlow?

You’ve lost me…

Worcester like anywhere else has great and less great bits. The nice areas are unsurprisingly often as you go further into the sticks. There is a fair variety of housing, from the Victorian and earlier housing nearer the centre to 1980’s estates a bit further out. I see a lot of roadies around Great Malvern whenever I go there – which is a small town in its own right.

It’s got a crap one-way system, that’s about all I know, otherwise it’s a bog standard town really.

Not much in the way of MTBing though to be fair. It’d put me off a bit.

Ludlow incidentally is cool. Nice town mostly, immediately adjacent to a big forest full of riding, pretty close to tons more, and excellent road riding in all directions.

There is quite a bit of riding locally. Malverns, wyre forest, Ludlow and cannock is a bit further.

I lived in droitwich just outside Worcester for 20 years and still have a house there now!

I love Worcestershire. Couldnt wait to get back here after 7yrs in London.

It’s a great county, that surprisingly few people know exists, and even fewer who could point at it on a map. Long may it be so 🙂

I like Worcester. It’s more honest than similarly sized/feeling towns/cities like Cheltenham or Hereford. It does what you need, does it in a fairly pleasant style, and has a good local economy – not many urban areas have pretty much 100% shops let these days.

Where I come from, ‘local riding’ means you can ride it from your house!

I like Worcester. It’s more honest than similarly sized/feeling towns/cities like Cheltenham or Hereford

Are you suggesting Hereford is pretentious or upmarket in some way? Lolz! 🙂

“HERE you can”

Dont know if you’ve seen the signs but someone over the border is trying WAAYYYY to hard.

Worcester born and bred here (though have lived other places as well).

Would say so far, that rocketdog’s summary is the best. Worcester itself isn’t a wholly exciting place to live (though that can be a blessing too), but it’s pretty safe and relatively middle class. Don’t drive through town at rush hour, as said the traffic is a nightmare! The nightclubs are of particularly low quality, beer boy “shoes and shirt” with cheesy music only variety, and the McDonalds does indeed have bouncers (so do many now) on a Saturday night, but 9 times out of 10 it’s to break up the local girls fighting over something, not the men! 😉

As a place for Mountain biking? It’s a bit of a tease to be quite honest… You’ve got so many good places, a short drive away (and the Malverns in your eyesight!) but there’s not really much you can ride from your door that’s interesting.

As a place for road riding? Worcestershire is Roadie heaven! Some of the quietest, most picturesque roads in the UK, and all within a few miles of Worcester City centre.

Some rules…

Don’t live anywhere in the flood plain… You have been warned!

Don’t live on one side of the river, and work on the other, unless you plan to walk of ride to work every day!

Do revel in the rich historic culture of the City (there’s naff all modern culture sadly!), the Civil War museum, Elgar’s birthplace etc.

Do get a road bike, if you haven’t already! Worcester St Johns club are a reasonably friendly bunch for the most part (though they do place a lot of emphasis on time trialling), and go out 3 times a week in general.

Do head down the Wyre Forest and over the Malverns on your MTB.

If you’ve got any more questions you want answering directly, my email address is in my profile. I live in Worcs, and have done a lot of my life, but I’m pretty unbiased and I know it’s shortcomings all too well.

If you want riding from your door, live in Malvern and commute to Worcester (not that bad a commute on a road bike – plenty do it one way or the other).

I think it’s all been said above – many better cities than Worcester, and it’s certainly not a place to go for the culture of exciting night life, but what you do have is superb countryside right on your doorstep.

Used to live in Worcester in one of the less desirable areas (Brickfields) according to the estate agents but it was fine – guess it depends on what you are used to. Would agree with what MBoy has said and would suggest checking with Worcester City Council (who I used to work for in planning) re flooding issues and also any future expansion plans

Go to kidderminster shitterminster first then Worcester will seem strangely exotic! Worcestershire is lovely as long as you avoid the towns/cities which are sadly reduced to dormitory locations for brum.

I left, and if I could asfford to live in one of the villages, I would return.

Stoner – Member
“HERE you can”
Dont know if you’ve seen the signs but someone over the border is trying WAAYYYY to hard.

molgrips – Member
Where I come from, ‘local riding’ means you can ride it from your house!

I like Worcester. It’s more honest than similarly sized/feeling towns/cities like Cheltenham or Hereford

Are you suggesting Hereford is pretentious or upmarket in some way? Lolz!

I grew up in Worcester. Moved to Hereford 20 odd years ago. Worcester now feels like The BIG City. Hereford has a lot of very well off people, normally London types who have retreated to the country to raise rare breed platypus and become artisan cheese mongers.

We do a very well crafted NIMBY-ism here. “We don’t like change here” should be the county slogan.

I’ve worked in Worcester for the last 10 years.

The main thing I’ve noticed about the place is the sheer volume of dog doo on the pavements.

Other than that, the place is fairly innocuous.

Thanks again, I’ll see how things go over the next couple of weeks, I’m mainly a road rider these days and do a lot of RR’s and TT’s which from what I’ve seen there’s quite a bit about of.

One of my local road rides 10 mins out from Worcester

I can’t add much to what has been said. Worcester itself is ok it’s the area that’s brilliant, especially the gorgeous Malvern hills

Very true, it’s a good place to set off from, there is plenty of options on your doorstep whichever direction you decide to travel

Brecon, Wyre, FOD, Cannock, Clent, Bredon, Cotswolds and of course our own mini Alps, Malvern are all easily accessible