Bristol vs Exeter

Currently live just outside Bournemouth (Ringwood) and want to move probably to either Bristol or Exeter within the next 1-2 years.

Things I don’t like about Bournemouth in no particular order:

1. Expensive property but jobs don’t pay that well.
2. Large and bussy but still has small town vibe, I.e got the bad side of a large town without the good side. Kind of related to number 1. Not what you would call a cosmopolitan town.
3. Dull sourounding countryside. It largley green welly dog walking. A little bit of interesting walking and mtbing on the isle of perbecks but it a very small area and quite time consuming to get to.
4. End of road type of place but without the advantages of being end of the road.

Bristol seems nice, still expensive but more gogin on and better connected to rest of country that Exeter or Bournemouth. Don’t know exeter as well but i really like devon and although exeter is further from wales for big daysout it seems to have more local to it (when i mean loacal i mean an easy 30 40 min journey not 1hour in perfect traffic @ 70 mph) but seems to have enough going on in town too. Stuff very local is more important than really amazing a little journey away. Bristol seems to have stuff closeish but still a bit of a way. Seems like it can be an arse to get around.

I work in programming but Engineering related rather than business applications. Currently doing control systems. Thinking of going contracting though so likely to have to work away anyway. Partner is a teacher, enjoys challenging schools.

Exeter’s in Devon, why would anyone want to live anywhere else. (Devonian living in exile in Somerset). 😥

Plenty of big days out on Dartmoor & exmoor. Who needs Wales?

West is best.

Both have expensive property. Ime, Exeter has nothing like the buzz of Bristol, but it still manages to have the small town vibe. Job prospects in and around Bristol are likely to be better overall, because of generally better connections. Bristol is also WAY more cosmopolitan. Much as I think Devon is the best county, Bristol sounds closer to what you’re after.

TBH, I came to the West Country via a few places, but originating from New Milton. Either Exeter or Bristol, and the surrounding countryside, is better than where you are!

I do like Dartmoor, even princetown is nice in a bleak way!

Either will be nice. I’d say Haldon is quite a lot better than Ashton court in terms of local local riding but Exmoor, quantocks, FOD and obv S.wales all close to bris.

Bristol is great, though property prices are getting silly (dependent on your view of silly prices).

I think what worries me about Bristol is that I left London a few years ago because of cost and space and sick of spending aa long time traveling out of London to go for a walk or a ride meaning a short walk took all afternoon. I don’t want that again!

Price wise ideally a 3 bed terrece or semi with rear access if terrace 250 ish Max.

Don’t listen to them , Dartmoor’s rubbish, there was a whole thread about it earlier.

Bristol is nothing like London. Exeter will give you much better options to get out to the countryside in record time though.

TBH, I suspect you won’t get everything you want in the south.

Have you considered the grim, post industrial north?

Isn’t Bristol just full of middle class white men with dreads…

Isn’t Bristol just full of middle class white men with dreads…

I saw one yesterday!!!! wreckerjnr kept trying to touch his hair. Mrswrecker was ready with the sanitiser 😀

TBH, I suspect you won’t get everything you want in the south.

Have you considered the grim, post industrial north?

I know I will not get everything, life is a compromise after all. I like going on holiday up north but family is all down south which is important to me.

Having spent a small amount of time in both:

Exter is a lovely small town surrounded by properly good biking, and the seaside.

Bristol is a congested city with a horrible centre, and a couple of token bits of woodland full of mud and bike thieves. The most positive thing I’ve heard anyone say about biking in Bristol is that it’s not that far from Wales!

Ok so I know lots of people love Bristol – can’t figure out why though. I suspect it’s got some nice middle class bits, Clifton for instance. Maybe there are loads of events and happenings. But still – Exeter every time as far as I can see, no contest.

Says the bloke from flipping cardiff!!!!

That’s Cardiff which is not like Bristol at all and has much better riding on the doorstep, you mean? And has a much nicer town centre?

Anyway – Cardiff’s not the best place in the world, but it’s better than Bristol.

The town centre is horrible, the traffic is terrible and (from the centre), most riding is a car journey away!
AND it’s full of drunks even on weekday afternoons!
I worked there full time for 3 years, don’t pretend it’s nice and it ain’t better than bristol. Hell, it aint better than swindon!

The centre of Bristol isn’t that bad. The traffic is awful but if you commute by bike then you don’t have to worry about that. It’s got all year round trails right on the doorstep (Ashton Court, Leigh Woods), south Wales, the Mendips, Quantocks, Cotswolds close by. The white men with dreads can be easily avoided if you just live somewhere that isn’t Stokes Croft, Montpellier or Easton and even if you do accidentally trip over one, they’re harmless enough (though their dog crap is annoying).

Anyway – Cardiff’s not the best place in the world, but it’s better than Bristol.

😆

The town centre is horrible, the traffic is terrible and (from the centre), most riding is a car journey away!

What? It’s 25 minutes by bike from central Cardiff to Castell Coch, or 40 mins on the cyclepath.

I’d take central Cardiff over Broadmead any day. And whenever I’ve gone there there’s been far more tracksuited chavs with cans of white lightening etc. If Cardiff was as shit as Bristol I’d not have stayed here 🙂 Maybe if you avoid the chavs in the centre and drive your Audi to Cribbs Causeway all the time you can pretend to be in America, I dunno.

broadmead isnt the centre….I doubt there are any more audis at cribbs than at dunelm mill in cardiff. And, no permetanned roider valley commando dickheads either.

Where is the centre then?

It’s not in Exeter or Bristol…

Where is the centre then?

Know Bristol well then? 🙄

😀
The centre (cunningly named “the centre”) is in the centre of Bristol 😀
Looks like this;

To be fair, you’re not wrong about the traffic, but all cities have really shit congestion.

Yeah, mol knows Brizzle really well. 😆 As he aptly demonstrates in these threads.

Anyway, mol, maybe just let people answer the OP instead of doing your usual “Wah, Wah, Wah, Bristol is shit. Cardiff is great” shtick?

Did look like that, currently a building site as its being re modelled again due to our new bus-tram type thing being built.

Oh lol.. that bit that’s surrounded by an oval of busy roads.. oh yeah lovely 🙂 Broadmead is the centre, it’s where all the main shops are.

Anyway I am just winding the Bristol fans up. There may be all sorts going on there and it might be a happening cultural spot but you cannot possibly argue it’s a pleasant city centre environment! And the riding is a token bit of woodland, it’s nothing compared to what the good cities in the UK have.

This is what Exeter gets:

Interesting POV on Bristol there! I thought the centre was OK!

I’d take central Cardiff over Broadmead any day. And whenever I’ve gone there there’s been far more tracksuited chavs with cans of white lightening etc. If Cardiff was as shit as Bristol I’d not have stayed here Maybe if you avoid the chavs in the centre and drive your Audi to Cribbs Causeway all the time you can pretend to be in America, I dunno.

Who would ever bother with Broadmead? Better shops in Cabot Centre, then over to the floating harbour, Park Street and Clifton Village.
Bugger Broadmead, to paraphrase a late monarch.
One of the great things about Bristol is the live music situation; there are so many good venues in the city.

No, the centre is the centre. The clue’s in the name molly 😀
Bristol’s OK. Like all largish cities it has it’s problems.
That said, I do like Exeter. Much smaller, but a nice feel. I spent some time down the road in Lympestone a couple of times. The employment opportunities are dwarfed by bristol and the property prices don’t reflect it.
OP; I bought a house in a nice area on the outskirts of bris (about 7 miles out, 3 bed semi, big rooms, garage, good schools, very middle class 😉 ) for £272K. Not cheap, but not daft. No audi onthe drive though, sorry to disappoint.

Molly, do I need to try out the riding near Castell coch? I’ve heard things….

That’s not Exeter city centre!

I thought the centre was OK!

It’s actually alright for shops generally, it’s just a bit ugly and run down and there seems to be a lot of pound shop types. The main problem of Bristol for me is awful traffic, and you always seem to end up on some chocked grey inner ring road, whatever mode of transport you are using.

I do find some of the architecture fascinating though.

Molly, do I need to try out the riding near Castell coch? I’ve heard things….

Castell Coch is decent, there are some fun trails, but it’s small. However the best thing is that it’s connected to..well.. the rest of Wales, really. You can do as big a ride as you like starting there. For a fun two hours I start near my house and ride in a semi circle across the hills that are just outside the city and finish up at Castell Coch for a singletrack loop then ride home.

I’d love to show you round if you are interested and I promise no trolling 🙂

None of those photos are within ten miles of Exeter… In fact the top one is closer to Plymouth and no-one disputes that’s a shithole.

Bristol is more of a big city feel but never that keen on it as a lot of areas seem just a bit pikey and rough, and some a bit snobbish. Centre always seemed run down but that was a long time ago when I was last there. Still, it’s a busy place and loads of things to do, pubs and whatever. It’s near Wales, so loads of riding opportunities 😉 (though to be honest for that I’d consider Cardiff which is much nicer).

It’s also the bike theft capital of Britain I believe 😉

I’m from Devon and know Exeter well so biased and like Exeter. It’s quieter than Bristol though, but more pleasant in many ways, and near to Dartmoor and the south coast. On the other hand I moved to the South East having grown up in Devon in part because I found everything there to be so far away from real civilisation when I was younger. Still Exeter is on a fast train into London or M5/M4 is not too bad (except having to go round Bristol 😉 ), A303 is a nice journey though (just not at bank holidays).

If your a mountain biker, then no matter what’s on your doorstep, you’ll want to ride other places, and that makes Bristol better imo……

The traffic in both Cardiff and Bristol is rubbish due to way too many people driving to work, Cardiff edges ahead as if the M4 has a problem you are stuffed with few to no other options. Cardiff’s CBD is compact whilst Bristol is spread out in clumps, both have much the same shops crap and good and both have some rather grotty suburbs. The bay development has made Cardiff a much better place than it used to be.
As to the OP question Exeter and Bristol are very different places go and spend a week in both and see what you think?.

OP if you don’t mind the small town feel of Exeter and being further from likely work, airports and channel tunnel then Exeter would seem to be the choice. I like both places and was a student in Bristol for 3 years and had a good friend who worked for Hewlett Packard and lived in Bristol for 10 years.

As an aside if you are bored with Bournmouth how about considering somewhere is East/West Sussex – great biking, close to London for work if required, closer to airports and tunnel ?