[Closed] Where to live in Scotland as a Student/apprentice?

What sort of apprenticeship? That may define the company and therefore the area your looking at..?

Scottish Southern Electric, probably working on overhead lines, they give me a list of locations, so need to pick two.

Obviously the second you cross the border you will immediately get stabbed.

May be you should stay in Englandshire, clearly a much better class of Muppet there.

Sorry, just general student areas are pretty rough everywhere not just in Scotland, Glasgow just springs to mind, although talking to a lass once, who said it just had a bad rep, and was actually a good place to live as a student.

Have no idea where to live in the peoples democtratic republic of scotlandshire, but best of luck with the apprenticeship.

Inverness for the riding
Edinburgh next but renting would be expensive

Students don't get stabbed here though. They just get slapped and their nice shiny mountain bikes get chored. In nice areas or not.

You're asking us where you should live on the basis of stab avoidance? Go to south east England, pretty sure you never hear of knife crime or gang violence/rioting in London or that....

Every city has it's dodgy areas, depending on what transport you are going to have will make some citys more or less appealing mtb wise. I live in Aberdeen flat rental up here is pretty pricy in the city due to the oil renting a room will be the cheapest way, transport in and arround the city is ok by bus my girlfriend uses them all the time for getting about however if you want to do some riding a car will help as the trails are out of the city

I grew up east of edinburgh and flat rental in the capital isn't going to be cheap either. There is also decent bus transport in and around edinburgh. But riding wise you have the pentland hills on your door step and there is a company that has started to do mini bus trips to glentress so the options of rining are far better there.

From that list, Edinburgh or Glasgow BUT you should see if Perth is an option (there is a large SSE depot here so could be).

Is today international grumpy day and I've missed the headline?

Anyway,

Cheap rented accommodation

It's all relative - but there's very little cheap in the areas you'd like to live in most cities.

Inverness and Aberdeen are nice - but remote imo - good links south but obviously takes longer (eg returning home for you). Possibly less flights too if that bothers you.

Dundee
Edinburgh
Glasgow

All have nice areas and a buzz. All seen friendly to outsiders (me incl). Dont know much about Paisley.

The public transport thing will come down to the detail of where you have to turn up each day etc.

Glasgow

I hate to say it as an Edinburgh resident but the cheaper accommodation swings it to Glasgow

Paisley rough as guts although its really only a suburb of glasgow

Aberdeen - don't know but its a long way from anywhere

Dundee - grim - needs to be a damn good job

Inverness - apart from being a long way from the rest of the UK its a decent place to live I believe and you are best placed for the mountains

So - Glasgow if you want a city, Inverness if you want the mountains. Edinburgh if you feel rich

For checking out rental prices ESPC and GSPC presumably an equivalence for the other places

http://www.espc.com/
http://www.gspc.co.uk/

Dundee - grim

That's a bit harsh TJ! (happy birthday btw).

Dundee has tons of students and a good vibe ime. There are of course grim areas - part of the problem I guess it that they tend to dominate the skyline.

I dont live there btw - just end up there regular.

Fairy snuff - not a place I know well

Glasgow or Ed, though as mentioned accom is rarely cheap if it's in a nice place. What do you class as cheap? I was renting a 2 bed flat in a nice commutersville for £450 a month, but I was fairly picky. there was plenty down near £350 a month, it was just a bit cramped/studenty for me.

Don't know much about Dundee but there is some excellent riding to be had in Fife.

I lived in Aberdeen for 6 years as a student and don't really have a bad word to say about it - really enjoyed it. Left in 2004 so not sure what state it is in at the moment regarding flat rental etc I was paying £225/month for a room on Clifton Road incl. bills. Unfortunately wasn't into riding when I stayed there but am sure there is probably a Uni bike club you could hook up with as well as other local clubs which could sort out lifts for you etc. to riding spots outside the town.

Edinburgh is a cracking city but could be pretty expensive depending on the area you want to rent in. Everything seems to be very close by as the centre of town is pretty compact. As already said above Pentlands on your doorstep, Glentress and Innerleithen/borders down the road as well as Stirling Trossachs and Fife.

Glasgow is another quality place to live - good riding just outside the city in Mugdock and the start of the WHW - some good clubs around as well. Used to ride with Glasgow Mountain Bike Club which is a good club and regular Wed night rides and Sunday rides away from home. West End is nice and has a good mix of shops/pubs/restaurants and flats for students in Anniesland/Hillhead/Kelvinbridge/Kelvinside/Kelvindale/Partick no idea on price though. Good subway into city centre and buses etc.

dundee is not grim even if it has its moments. i am just about to leaver to go there and i fully expect to neither have my car stolen or get stabbed. true it does have its heroin issues but so does everywhere in scotland.

unlike glasgow or edinburgh it's easy to get out of and, unlike inverness, there's a profusion of roads to get to places, so much so i would characterise perth and angus as (roadie) valhalla. mountain biking is good opnce you get to know it which can be tricky but worth it.

dundee gets a bit of a bad rap which, in some ways, is deserved (it's full of numpties) but it's also has theatre, galleries, climbing walls, music venues and the likes.

stevewhyte - Member
Obviously the second you cross the border you will immediately get stabbed.

May be you should stay in Englandshire, clearly a much better class of Muppet there.

Do want some sauce for that chip on your shoulder?

He is just a young guy asking for advice about what areas or towns are best avoided. He's not from the area, moving a far way, it not an unreasonable request. People ask similar questions all the time on here and many other places.

"What are of x is good / safe / cheap?"

"Is y a dodgy town?"

true it does have its heroin issues but so does everywhere in [s]scotland.[/s] the UK

swiss01 talks a lot of sense about Dundee.
Handy for a bit of posh at St Andrews too!

My vote's for Glasgow but then I did go to uni there and the people are friendlier than in Edinburgh

Aberdeen is the wrong side of the country and so too bloody cold- same for Dundee.

Inverness- great for mountains but as has been pointed out its a long way from anywhere and not that big.

uponthedowns - Member
My vote's for Glasgow but then I did go to uni there and the people are friendlier than in Edinburgh

Student life in Aberdeen is pretty decent tbh although it is quite expensive for rented accomodation (my mates two bedroom flat comes to about £900ish in total a month including bills). Saying that though the night life is good as long as you avoid the few clubs which are pretty much full of people looking for a fight although I guess that would be the case everywhere. There's plenty of places to go riding around Aberdeen as well but a car would help.

I'd quite like to live in Inverness but from speaking to friends it's not really studenty and the nightlife consists of one or two clubs.

Personally though I'd choose Glasgow, cheaper accomodation and a better nightlife whilst still being close to good riding etc

Aberdeen is the wrong side of the country and so too bloody cold-same for Dundee

dundee or edinburgh out of that list.

edinburgh is an awesome city to live in, but might be pricey

as a st andrews ex i, of course, looked down on [s]scumdee[/s] dundee, but actually, it was quite nice in a lot of places, and really not as bad as it's rep would have you believe. a LOT of money being spent on the waterside at the mo i believe.

Presuming you want to keep up the MTB.

Aberdeen - Plenty of stuff in the shire from Kirkhill and Pitfichie to the wild trails out Ballater way (40miles)

Dundee - I'll be slightly bias here, it's actually a nice city out to the west and on the south side of the hill.
Very little riding close by though, campy is a bit dull, the woods out the back are fairly flat, the Sidlaws you'd need to be trying to spend a decnt amount of time up, I'm slowly running out of stuff to investigate out of Newport having only started in September (see my blog) but Dunkeld is within comfortable distance, as are the angus glens and route over the mounth.

Edinburgh - Better than Glasgow, Glentress and Innerleithen as well as Blairadam and Pitmedden aren't too far, carron valley isn't far awaye either.

Glasgow - If you're in the middle then you are bloody ages from anywhere, plenty of stuff nearby in all directions though.

Inverness - Would be my choice. Laggan, Rothiemurchas, Black isle, lernie and even Golspie, plus lots and lots of Highland routes within reasonably short driving distance

Paisley - Just don't bother.

Glasgow, Ed or Inverness would all be great.
Aberdeen would probably be great as well, but has drawbacks of being remote, windy as fk and full of scallies. Or whatever the Aberdonian word for scally is. Now obviously Glasgow is world class when it comes to neds - we're talking FC Barcelona levels of scallydom, but being such a large city it's less of a problem. You notice it more on a night out in Aberdeen.

Can't think of any compelling reason to move to Dundee, unless you're a molecular biologist. Just not an attractive city. The riding is good in Angus, but that's the least of your concerns as the riding is good everywhere round the cities you're talking about.

Scottish Southern Electric, probably working on overhead lines, they give me a list of locations, so need to pick two.

I'm from Glasgow originally, and have just returned after living mostly in West Yorkshire (Leeds) for the last 7 years, so my view of Glasgow will bear some resemblance to your own if you were to move here.

First things first. The weather is crap. If you want WY type weather, stick to east coast (i.e. Edinburgh). The rain/grey skies will astound you in Glasgow after being on the east side of England. But, you'll get over it, and it's amazing how Glasgow literally turns into a Brazilian style street carnival as soon as the sun comes out. 🙂

Also, Glasgow is just as safe as Leeds and imo safer than Manchester (i'm referring to the areas you would actually live and frequent). I have a house in Manchester so have a fair bit of experience of there too. Imagine the down to earth and straight talking attitude of Leeds people, but the bigger and cosmopolitan buzz of Manchester...and you get Glasgow.

I love Edinburgh too, but as a young(?) lad, there's more on offer for you in Glasgow and you'll be able to afford a much nicer place to live in a nicer area than in Edinburgh. Edinburgh is noticeably more expensive. That said, if you want somewhere more like Harrogate/York, then Edinburgh is a better bet than Glasgow. There's also a lovely vibe to Edinburgh that is hard to describe, you get a similar vibe in the West End of Glasgow, but Edinburgh feels very homely at times. However, bear in mind that if you did choose Glasgow, then Edinburgh is just 50 mins away (soon to be shorter once I've bought the new rolling stock for the Glasgow to Edinburgh line).

I've never lived in any of the other places you noted, but have obviously spent time in them. In my opinion, when you have the option of Glasgow/Edinburgh, you don't really need to look much further unless you have a real draw to any of the other places in terms of specific work opportunity or family connections etc.

Feel free to email me if you want any more info on Glasgow in particular. More than happy to show you around if you're up this way.

I lived 30 years in Renfrew about 4 miles from Paisley to be honest I would not recommend it, from that list I would pick Glasgow or Edinburgh

Firstly, well done on the job!! Wasn't there about 200 applicants per post or something?? Secondly congrats on moving to Scotland. Here is my opinion for what it's worth:

Aberdeen - alright place, good riding, pricey
Dundee - not been there much but not outstanding
Edinburgh - expensive
Glasgow - great place, great people. It does have a rep as being rough but can't think of many random attacks or anything on people. People are friendly
Inverness - nice place, nice people, remote
Paisley - probably not the nicest place to move to.

What about Stirling or Perth?

Dundee - grim - needs to be a damn good job

Fairy snuff - not a place I know well

Older but no wiser 🙄

Thing is with glasgow is that 99% of the time it's fine, it's if you are walking about the peripheral estates at night and at the weekend is where it gets a bit dodgy, other than that it's fine really. I've never felt in danger once in the city centre.

Personally if i was moving here, i'd probably be looking about the westend(closer to the town the better imo), or maybe shawlands/battlefield area if you are looking at the southside.. for ease of access to nightlife, you probably want to be southside/westend anyhow..

mtb wise, in glasgow you'll get to know mugdock if you don't have a car, otherwise you really need to travel to places, they train will get you to some of them. A car is preferable.

I'd ask about specific areas before moving though, you don't want to end up in places like toryglen, fernhill, the dodgy bits of castlemilk etc, anywhere that has well known young team(s) really, there are places i wouldn't walk through at night, that'll be the same in most places though..

Edinburgh - Better than Glasgow, Glentress and Innerleithen as well as Blairadam and Pitmedden aren't too far, carron valley isn't far awaye either.

Glasgow - If you're in the middle then you are bloody ages from anywhere, plenty of stuff nearby in all directions though.

😀 Carron Valley is within spitting distance of Glasgow, funny to mention it with Ed. 😕

FWIW I get from north of Glasgow to GT/Inners in a shade over an hour in the car, same with the other stanes. IMO better to be central to all of them if you're a trail-centre whore.

Yep - you get a smile with every stabbing.

Daft attitude. Nothing like the reality you'll see unless you choose to live in Easterhouse. And no-one chooses to live in Easterhouse.

First things first. The weather is crap. If you want WY type weather, stick to east coast (i.e. Edinburgh). The rain/grey skies will astound you in Glasgow after being on the east side of England. But, you'll get over it, and it's amazing how Glasgow literally turns into a Brazilian style street carnival as soon as the sun comes out

Interestingly this is just factually incorrect, even if it seems that way. Glasgow actually has lower mean rainfall all spring/summer than Edinburgh, but higher during the winter. It does have fewer mean sunshine hours per day (by 1 hour). Both have approximately 15-17 rainy days per month.

coffeeking - Member
>Yep - you get a smile with every stabbing.
Daft attitude. Nothing like the reality you'll see unless you choose to live in Easterhouse. And no-one chooses to live in Easterhouse.

I was following up on the OP. Personally, in light of that comment, I'd be recommending he head south.

Both have approximately 15-17 rainy days per month.

From, and live in Glasgow now but have lived as a student in Edinburgh, Dundee and Perth.
Glasgow is a great big city- west end pricey, south side not as cheap as it was and Denniston (most of it) in the east end is nice.. All bits well served by motorways and trains and buses so not hard to get about and out. Decent riding nearby (Mugdock, kilpatricks, etc..)

Edinburgh is a lovely place to be, and as a student it was great, had some amazing nights out but not quite as friendly a place as Glasgow- but seeing as how you're English (if that's not insulting a Yorkshireman) you should fit in ok. Not cheap either. Plenty of wee local places to ride but unless you have a car (or use the new uplift) I don't think it's very easy to get to GT etc despite their proximity- no trains and buses don't carry bikes..

Dundee- it was almost 20 years ago I lived there and even then that was in nurses residence at ninewells- it was a bit grim in places (where isn't?) but the place has come on a fair whack over the years, tons of great nightlife in the centre and along Perth road. Not sure about local riding though..
Speaking of Perth, it's a decent wee soon to be- city. Central location, lots of nice pubs, good local riding. I used to be able to walk from one end to the other in an hour and the centre is quite compact too. Some bits quite posh and always seemed to be a high proportion of blue-rinsers about but enjoyed my time there- perhaps the location would be good for your job?
Dont have any knowledge of Inverness but all my mates that studied up in Aberdeen seemed to enjoy it although everyone seemed to agree that it's not a cheap place to stay.
Weather wise the east coast does seem to getl less rain but it always seemed a bit colder to me coming from Glasgow.

Anyways, that's my ten-bobs worth. If you want any advice or info about Glasgow give me a shout.

Aberdeen - don't know but its a long way from anywhere

It's close to me.

bruneep -
Aberdeen - don't know but its a long way from anywhere
It's close to me.

Aye but from what i have heard that is as good a reason as any to avoid the place 😉

you set em up and all that 😆

Dundee is not grim! It is however very small and doesn't have the buzz of Glasgow or Edinburgh (I think as a student Glasgow is probably the most fun). I remember the Dundee Uni brochure made much of the fact that Aberdeen, Glasgow and Edinburgh are only an hour and a half away so Dundee is perfectly placed to escape to somewhere else!

I would say, as a woman, I have found some of the Glasgow locals by far the most intimidating, but I know people who have been attacked in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee and Aberdeen, (though none stabbed) so you just takes your chances

Anyone who has been attacked in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee and Aberdeen must be looking for trouble.

I'm not saying the whole place is grim but Menzieshill, Fintry and Harestanes all seemed pretty depressing to me! Esp walking through them at night..
Mind you, that's not to say that North Muirton, Wester Hailles, Niddrie, Barlarnock and Priesthill are nice at night either!
Trouble can be had in any city, be it in the city centre full of drunken idiots, or in outlying schemes full of jaked-up booze bags at any time of the day or night.

Anyone who has been attacked in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee and Aberdeen must be looking for trouble.

Biggest bullshit I will read on here today

Whoosh!

(Try reading it again)

Dundee - regularly voted one of the best and cheapest student cities in the UK and also 20 miles from SSE headquarters in Perth. Small yes, has it's dubious areas but so do all the others. Ignore TJ.

"Anyone who has been attacked in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee and Aberdeen must be looking for trouble."

Well up to a point. My daughter was robbed at knife point on the Clydeside in the city centre. My son was robbed at knife point in Milngavie - supposedly a leafy suburb. Neither were looking for trouble or had had any contact with the police up to then. Both instances though were late at night at the weekend.

Stick to the west end and busy streets in the city centre then Glasgow is pretty safe anytime. Some parts of the east end and south side are dodgy late at night.

Other than that avoid late night queues at taxi rsnks, getting involved in arguments with drunks in pubs, and avoid wearing Rangers or Celtic colours and the risk is fairly low.

It's fair to say that the majority of assaults are either gangs or people who know each other though. Random attacks are pretty rare but do happen.

I've had to take avoiding action three times when drunks have tried to attack me as I cycled home after a backshift.

I doubt that this middle aged nurse was looking for trouble as she was cycling to work. She was pulled off her bike by a random ned and got a broken wrist.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/glasgow_and_west/6676223.stm

druidh - Member
Whoosh!

(Try reading it again)

whoosh!

Inverness- great for mountains but as has been pointed out its a long way from anywhere

On a practical basis - if the OP says s/he's gonna be working on overhead lines, wouldn't Inverness likely have the largest patch = highest likelihood of a long commute out to the site? Glasgow and Edinburgh would likely have smaller patches - so less commuting - but worse traffic and higher rents?

Does the OP need to own a car?

druidh - oh piss off will you. Your Daily Mail attitude is completely uncalled for. I'm outraged. In fact I'm so outraged I can't even see that you might have made a funny.

😆

Well up to a point. My daughter was robbed at knife point on the Clydeside in the city centre. My son was robbed at knife point in Milngavie - supposedly a leafy suburb. Neither were looking for trouble or had had any contact with the police up to then. Both instances though were late at night at the weekend.

This is pretty much standard in any city though, and Milngavie isn't exactly a leafy suburb, especially not certain parts of it. That said, I've lived here for 4 years, I've walked literally for hours around some of the dodgy places (maryhill, springburn, summerston etc) including pushing £1K's worth of bike at times, and never even been looked at funny. Sometimes with my other half, usually between the hours of 6pm and 4am. I've walked down sauchihall street at 2am when everything is kicking off and if you don't try to join in you don't generally get started on either. We did have one minor issue in a pub with some guys who were trying to start something, it was quickly ended by them being knocked on their arse and then dragged out by the bouncers.

druidh, I applaud your skills for making the obvious joke (knew I should have been more pedantic with my syntax) [i]somehow[/i] not obvious enough!

muckytee - Member
I have the chance to apply for an apprenticeship scheme

If [b]I[/b] were applying I would be suggesting Inverness for the following reasons: (1) the number of applicants per place is probably(?) lower as it is remote (2) it is remote not a big city (3) you are going to spend a lot of time doing your job and that might as well be in an interesting part of the world, e.g. the highlands (4) if you are young, free and single with lots of free time the potential for MTB riding is great (5) its friendly, welcoming and mostly a nice place to live.

However, comparing it to your selection criteria other people's suggestions are probably better.

I'd go with Glasgow, although i'd avoid the east end. The west end and south side are where you'd want to live.

Edinburgh is nice but will be more expensive to live there...if cost of renting (etc) is an issue then i wouldnt discount Paisley entirely. It is basically just a suburb of Glasgow only about 40 minutes cycle from the centre of one to the other or 10 minutes on the train.

Omar Little - Member
i wouldnt discount Paisley entirely. It is basically just a suburb of Glasgow only about 40 minutes cycle from the centre of one to the other or 10 minutes on the train.

I work in Paisley and would never consider living there.

i wouldnt discount Paisley entirely. It is basically just a suburb of Glasgow

Not quite.

You'll feel as much as a part of Glasgow by living in Paisley as people in Kabul feel like they are part of Manhattan.

I'd rather live in East Kilbride than Paisley. Consider that.

😉

I work in Paisley and would never consider living there.

This, though not me - my other half. Fairly normal for her town-centre day job to see folk staggering about high as a kite with needles hanging out of them and a colleague recently got stabbed. Paisley is not a place to live, it's a place to die by the looks of it - either by your own doing or someone elses.

Thank you everyone for your contributions 🙂

You have given me a lot to think about...

Given you a lot to be scared about more likely!!
Bad bits everywhere- esp in Glasgow. Grew up in the east end, aye, there's dodgy bits but most of it is ok.. North of duke street it's as nice as anywhere in the west or south, just not as good a concentration of pubs/clubs/west enders!
Guessing it's maybe a decently paid apprenticeship like Scottish gas do?
Good luck anyway whatever you decide..
Ps, paisley about 8 minutes by Amb from Glasgow- I know this quite well!

Also would be useful to know which training colleges the options are between as that would affect where in Edinburgh and Glasgow you could live.

For Dundee it would probably be Kingsway Campus, which is up the back, so the Ferry and West End are about as far from it as you can get without leaving the town!

Dundee probably covers Angus,
Perth the Central Highlands,
Aberdeen the North East,
Inverness probably pretty much everywhere from Slochd to Cape Wrath.

Lots of time to spend in Landys...

Remember once seeing the linemen out on Morvern sorting out the wires to Mull, they must have been out there all night, we were on the first corran ferry that morning and the first Localine ferry (Which is good going on that road) every now and again a massive flash lighting the early january darkness from within the forests.

On the other hand, and I don't know if it actually works like this, the upside of having a massive patch might be that you could rack up a zillion hours of overtime.

I'd rather live in East Kilbride than Paisley. Consider that.