against the odds ive got a place at med school! its through nottingham uni but the school is actually attached to derby city general hospital. now i quite liked nottingham (used to live in glasgow which i loved) seemed to have character (like i said, i liked glasgow) but have no idea what its like to live there and even less about derby. opinions

my cousins live in derby and are forever going on about going out in nottingham; so i would guess that nightlife (at least for 18 year olds) is better in nottingham.

beyond this, I know nothing 🙂

Dave

Nottingham, definitely

great night life

do your research before choosing a house though, some areas are less than desirable

couple of mates grew up there so ill tap them for info too. im def leaning towards living in nottingham and riding/commuting to derby. hmmm glad i held onto that singlecross frame

If you want a lively place head for Notts, if you want to live in a nice town with all you need but a bit quiter head to Derby.

To answer the question in the title: no.

Of the 2 …

Nottingham,

But only because of this place 😀

Rapidly getting a reputation for the best place in the UK, if not one of Europes best

Hving lived in/near both – if riding is important to you (and you don’t like driving to ride), Derby. If that’s not a big deal, Nottingham for sure.

If you’re going to med school in Derby live in Derby. Why spend a load of time commuting if you don’t have to. Nottingham is still close enough that you can take advantage of what it has to offer

yeah not sure ill spend much time in the casino but good to know. riding is important but given time restraints, day to day stuff will take precedent probably

Nottingham is a good place to get pissed. Derby is probably easier to get to good riding from though (if you don’t drive that is), it has very good trains to get to other places too.

The ride from Nottingham to Derby is okay, and you’d be against the traffic. You’d probably want to live somewhere like Beeston, out the Derby side of Nottingham, which would put you 3 miles from Nottingham, and 12 from Derby. If you lived nearer to the city centre, you’d be looking at more like 14 or 15 miles.

If it’s anything like when I was first at uni, medical students all socialise with other medical students – meaning living in Derby might make more sense from the social point of view. I’d guess that is even more true of graduate entry medicine.

The only real advantage to living in Nottingham would be if you want to get involved in student societies like the mountain bike club, pretty much all of that will be Nottingham based.

Joe

Also, if you’re doing medicine, worth remembering that when you’re doing clinical stuff, you might be starting at 6am, or finishing at midnight or whatever. A 12 mile commute is super in the daytime, but not so good if you have to leave the house at 5am to do it, or in the dark after a 12 hour shift. On the roads between Derby and Nottingham, you’d need decent lights, which would be another expense.

Joe

yeah in a lot of ways it makes more sense to stay in derby, it was really finding the balance between me being near campus and gf living somewhere interesting. to be fair wth clinical stuff i might not be in derby or nottingham but for late night studying etc derby makes more sense. hmm a recce awaits

Badger – Glasgow. Just Commute – nae bother.

yeah but the thought f being in an area policed by ginger nuts is terrifying

btw old man i need my NI number!

And you think I have your NI #?

You planning a bike/beer visit any time?

um apparently its on my payslips and you should have record?

sisters having a baby soon so im going to try be back in near future, plus need to speak to the bank about loans. Failing that maybe the SSUK might be on the cards if can sort the rest of the axis of weasel. And G’s getting married! busy summer.

I live in Long Eaton – half way between Nottingham and Derby (J25 M1). Nottingham has more night-life but Derby is better for getting to the Peaks if you like downhill stuff. Take your pick. Lenton is a studenty area of Nottingham that is to the west of the city (near the A52). Getting into Derby in the morning is quite difficult and there are usually queues going down the A52 (or “Brian Clough Way”, ye gods what a waste of money) until about 9am.

Also – gotta plug it – there is a fab bike club – http://www.natsmtb.com/ that I may or may not be the webmaster for 😀 . There are loads of rides in north Nottingham/Leicestershire/Derbyshire always going on.

Uhuh – I don’t have your payslips! HR keep the records, but it’s really not an ex-employer’s responsibility to hang your personal details!! 😯

If you really don’t know it then a) I’m scared about you being let loose with a prescription pad and b) I’ll ask Ciaran for it on Monday (he’s off today).

lol oldman, i have my payslips but they’re in the uk and employers generally have a record of NI numbers i thought (esp when theyre payin back hunners)

its cool ill have a dig when come back.

you should be scared, very scared. between us fraz and i could really mess the country up*

Cheers adam ill def hook up with some clubs once i get down there, hopefully not too biased against 1 geared big wheeled steel bikes…

*more than it appears to be

Go for Derby, lots of decent riding on the doorstep, some good drinking pubs as well and:
less time spent commuting = more time drinking/biking/shagging

less time spent commuting = more time drinking/biking/shagging

thats quite an offer, ta!

very good point though, think me and her will take a trip there in may and have a look about

Wasn’t an offer but if she is up to standard it can be 😀

I live in Burton and work in Derby, fortunatley it is near enough to commute by bike and when the mood takes me I can do the majority of it off-road. Bring a bike and I’ll show you the trails, ST did a ride guide here a couple of years ago, see the trail guide section on East Mids.

Some random thoughts…

My parents lived in Derby and said it was a little bit strange because it doens’t have a centre as such,though this may have changed since 1976-1982. I thnk Notthingham might have a high gun crime rate,and i heard on the radio that London and Nottingham are two of the UK’s least friendly cities,and Glasgow and Sheffield are two of the friendliest,and commuting a lot coud get irritating after a while.

I studied at Loughborough and I wouldn’t recommend that! I ventured to Nottingham far more frequently than Derby (if ever) for shopping and nightlife etc. Wasn’t biking at the time though so access to countryside not an issue. Derby struck me as a right nothing sh!t hole.

I’ve lived in Derby for about 40ish years all told. Its OK, crime nowhere near Nottingham levels from what I hear. I live about a 5 minute walk from the city centre with loads of pubs in between. City centre has had some money spent on it (we have the only statue of ‘bonnie’ Prince Charlie in the world too!

But I am also a 1 minute ride from the countryside along bike paths. Good rail service, connections better than Nottingham.

Major shopping centre opened 18 months ago. My gf lives in Camden and does like shopping in Derby. Everything here but on a small scale.

Music – most bands do tend to go to Nottingham rather than Derby though:-(
Football – Derby top in East Mids at the moment, but that does not say a lot.

We have our fair share of eejits and rough areas mind. (Not talking about you Orena45;-))

Nottingham, but only if they’ve still got the ‘glam metal’ room at Rock City. If Rock Citys still there.

Ooooh, memories of Rock Shitty.

I lived near Derby as a Kid and went to school in Nottingham and looked at the med school there but realised I’d probably end up living at home if I went. Derby used to be a bit of a dump but has a pparently been spruced up a lot since I left. On the contrary Nottingham used to be really nice but has apparently gone downhill a bit since I was there.

Where are your pre-clinical years gonna be based as that is where I would live. If they are doing lectures on the Derby campus then it is pointless living in Nottingham as you’ll spend all your time commuting. (How are they doing the course at Notts/Derby at the moment?? Seperate pre-clinical/clinical years or a kinda bastard amalgamation of the two??) Remember, you can always move each year and you get more years at Uni than most other people so you have time to play around a little with where you are based. You can also guarantee (if the med school is anything like every other I know of) that wherever you live they will send you to the hospital that is furthest from it!!

E-mail in profile for more useless info re Derby/Nottingham/Med-school….

Steven

I live in Nottingham and work in Long Eaton which is quite near enough to Derby thankyouverymuch.
As someone mentioned earlier, Derby doesn’t really have a centre (much like Stoke) and just like the brown winking starfish of the Potteries Derby is a bit of a hole.
I’m a Londoner by upbringing and I don’t miss the place at all as Nottingham has everything London has got except the people will actually pass the time of day with you.
The crime thing is a load cods too. I moved from a leafy, rural village in Hampshire to an area walking distance from the ‘rough’ area of Nottingham (St Anns) and both my car and house insurance still dropped by a considerable amount (car insurance halved).
Derby really is just like any other small provincinal city, dull, full of inbreds (not the bike sort) and people like one of my colleagues who considers going away on holiday as a trip to Centre Parcs in Sherwood.
Nottingham is a proper city that can rightly stand shoulder to shoulder with any major city except you can be in the countryside within ten minutes travelling of the city centre.

A colleague’s son is currently going through medical school at Derby, I can ask for a report from him if you want? I do seem to remember hearing that he seems to spent a lot of time trudging home at unsociable hours. I would have thought that you’d want the minimum of travelling in your day to day life.

I lived in Nottingham as a student, and it was a great area for that – loads of lovely ladies, nightlife, good pubs – riding I can’t comment just used my bike for transport then – until i got burgled and that was nicked 😥 (Death to all bike thieves) which brings me nealy to my next point, crime – some areas of Nottingham were pretty rough (circa 92) & probably still are just something to bear in mind. Derby cant comment too much only been a few times and it failed to make much of an impression.
However I’d say dont stick close to your colleagues and dont forget your there to pass… and have fun obviously!

There’s a bit of unfairness here, Derby is not that bad really – Derby is a large town, Nottingham is a city. Nottingham therefore has more places to drink and a few more shops.

They are both pretty provincial – culture etc. – certainly nothing like London. Nottingham, the ‘culture’ it does have is largely about drinking, although as long as you don’t go to the wrong bits of town you can avoid the fighting. If you’re a postgrad, parts of Nottingham might be too studenty for you – it is very much a student town in places.

Nottingham is 10 minutes away from countryside, but it is dull as hell pretty flat countryside. Derby is near some hills which is nice.

Joe

I lived in Derby for 12 months and then moved to Nottingham. That was 9 years ago and I’ve never thought about moving back. Nottingham feels like a city while Derby feels like a large town.

That said for a medical degree you don’t want what could be up to a 45 minute commute. I live west side of Nottingham in Wollaton and work on the East side of Derby, so my commute is only 25 minutes but for Derby University where the course is (if i remember from friends of the wife’s who have done it and where I’ve had to drive to on the odd occasion) you can add 20 minutes from where I am. However the traffic does seem very bad beyond Raynesway into Derby in the mornings so it could be longer.

There are buses that run from Derby to Nottingham and back until late at weekends, these can be used for nights out in Notts and will be covered by the savings in petrol if you live in Derby. If you don’t have a car, don’t even think about commuting.

Night life wise, Nottingham is better with a wider range of choices but Derby does have a very good real ale scene.

Living in Derby doesn’t mean staying in Derby forever or even at the weekends and the peaks are closer.

I’m Nottingham born and bred, though now living west of Glasgow (Dunoon actually). Lived in Beeston, worked in Derby at RR in Sinfin. 14 mile bike commute on minor roads and riverside paths.
And where to live? Well the best thing about Derby is the A52 to Nottingham (ducks beneath parapet!)

Rob

Derby born but live in Nottingham.
Derby is ok, lived in much worse places(Portsmouth/Mansfield anyone?) but as said Nottingham feels like a proper city.
You could always go half way, say Long Eaton with its rail access, or Stapleford/Sandiacre way, alternatively, Ilkeston.
Despite the fact that most locals are married to ther sisters, its cheap, and has good transport links, and like most places there are some nice bits.
Plenty of good trails around, nothing very demanding mind you.
D.

I finished the Nottingham grad entry course (GEM) in July last year, now working in Sheffield area. Course is 18months pre clinical in Derby, then joining the Nottigham clinical for the last 2 1/2 years. Most of the social stuff in the first year or so was Derby based for the GEM lot, it was all very good but could be slightly cliquey, depending on how much time you wanted to spend with 90 people!

60-70% lived in halls in Derby for 1st year, the rest either privately rented or commuted from Nottigham, trains are very good, some rode, driving a bit of a bind with the a52. After the preclinical a lot of people ended up in Nottingham, but much toing and froing as years went by.

Good course, seemed to be well taught and we all did reasonably well compared with the undergrads on the traditional preclinical section, integration went pretty well – not any real segregation after.

Biking was definitely better when I was living in Derby, some local reasonable stuff and you could get the train to Matlock or drive to the Peak quickly.

Nottingham less so, but as pointed out above advantages of a more formal mtb club etc and a more varied social life and range of people. Derby has been spruced up a lot, I think I preferred it to Nottingham from living/studying in both.

Lots of good advice here cheers, def a couple of folk ill be emailing in a couple of days.

Andrew ill give you a shout about the course if that’s ok, be great to hear from someone who’s been through. I’ll be renting as Im moving with my gf.

reckon we’re going to end up staying in derby at least for the 1st year and then possibly move over to Nottingham, Ive got mates who arent medics and ill try and make sure i have a group of mates outwith my uni band. lots of good info and opinions here guys, cheers and ill fire some emails when i get a chance. might be over in derby so might try and say hello to a few of you.

its starting to sink in. im quite excited!

+1 for Notts (born and bred, though it’s been sometime since I lived there)

nottingham all the way. i live in nottingham and work in Derby, that should say it all really. I would try to find somewhere on the west of the city (Beeston/Chilwell/Toton/Wollaton) and you wont go far wrong.

No worries – send me an e-mail if you need any more info.