Candid advice please. I'm moving to Edinburgh – Where's good/bad to live?

Hi,

I’m looking to rent somewhere within about 10 miles of the town centre. I’ll cycle commute, so public transport links not important. Just want to avoid 24/7 parties/disturbance keeping me up when I need my beauty sleep.

Lists of “here/not here” would be appreciated to guide the rightmove search.

Thanks

Andy

Budget
Criteria
Would be helpful.

I’ve always lived on the south side of town, Bruntsfield is a nice area. Anywhere near the university will have a student population. Avoid Wester hailes, Niddrie, Pilton, probably more. Parties etc are pot luck, I live in morningside which is very nice but have very noisy neighbours that wake me up a lot.

Musselburgh sounds perfect for you, on the criteria given. And it has a train station.

Aye, some of the nicer bits of central Edinburgh are riddled with posho yah students at Edinburgh Uni, who can’t speak at normal human volume.

Where is your workplace? Leith or South Gyle, for example?
Would you consider likes of South Queensferry e.g. – i.e. not in town but certainly commutable.

And budget – are you buying/renting, need a shed space, want a garden / happy with flat. Want more rural, edge of city, or likes of Marchmont/Brunsfield student-land?

We used to live in Musselburgh and it was good for us. Just a bit out of the city, mostly off main road cycle commute to work on cycle paths. Good shops and easy out to the bypass. Its changed a bit and spruced itself up a little.

Racecourse
Golfcourse
Cinema Theatre
Real ale pubs
Rail and bus links are good
Easy access to East Lothian for biking

Check out the ESPC Edinburgh website for properties

Thanks folks,

Budget sort of depends on what I have to pay, and I can’t tell from Rightmove what the numbers are coz I don’t know the areas. IE some good stuff at £500PCM, but is that in a terrible area, or is that the sort of budget I need to set.

Obviously I’d love a swanky place, but I’m not gonna throw rent money a a swanky pad, so trying to get a good balance of comfort/safety/interest/cost. Thinking 2 bed, parking, bit of outside space for bike fiddling, modern-ish, fully functional.

Work is (will be) central town, the old Standard life building, approx 10 mins walk from waverley, but I’ll cycle commute up to about 15miles, so fairly wide scope.

I’m not anti-party, good grief, that would amuse my mates.. Just not constant (week day) parties, I’m 36, so Student ville is probably not for me, and bluntly I want to avoid the rougher areas. I want to be able to go for a run after dark.

Assuming it all works out I’d hope to learn the city and then buy somewhere next year.

Pretty darned near all of it is flippin’ lovely- apart from the areas BigJim mentions. We used to live in Bruntsfield which is nice, posh though and so it’s pricey. I like Balerno a lot because it’s closest to the hills. Leith is vibrant, cheaper but a little dirtier.

Most of it is nice, but expensive. In Bruntsfield we lived in a lovely flat, but it was in a basement and so very cold and damp, fairly small and right on the border of the less desirable area of Fountainbridge and it was still £750 a month.

I would look to the West of Edinburgh, simply because of the easier access to the central belt and ultimately the A9, Musselburgh is quite nice but if you are likely to be spending time heading into the Hills/mountains I’d go west.

Dalmeny, S Queensferry or just across the FRBridge N Queenseferry and Dalgetty Bay – very popular cycling into town and mostly on cycle paths plus you can get the train when the weather is really pish.

I live in one of the roughest parts of Edinburgh, and I regularly go running after dark and rarely get bothered by folk having parties. But that’s probably because folk think I’m completely mental.

Maybe Al’s looking for a lodger?

Thinking 2 bed, parking, bit of outside space for bike fiddling, modern-ish, fully functional.

I think you are probably looking at £700+ a month. Have a look at Bruntsfield and see what places you like and how much they work out anyway. Bear in mind that the tenement blocks are over 100 years old, if modern is important. You might be looking a bit further out of town for a modern building. Also bear in mind parking permit for central areas is required, probably over £100 a year.

As soon as your are out of town you get a lot more bang for buck though, eg Musselburgh, queensferry, midlothian, east lothian…fife

West is nice as you can get into the hills easily. I am in Colinton and its an easy pedal to/from work , easy to get into the hills, easy to get to out to City Bypass for east, M8, M9, M90 etc. Good for airport as well, only thing is a pain for trains but its all relative.

I rent in Peebles, so a bit further away than you’re looking at but not much further than areas already mentioned (midlothian, fife etc). Rents will be around £500pcm for what you’re looking for, the commute will take 45mins-1hr (by car) depending on where you’re working BUT you will have all the trails in the Tweed Valley within a 20min ride. I wouldn’t live anywhere else but then I do work from home.

Thanks again, really helpful.

Out of town is preferred probably, gives me a decent ride to work, and a bit more for my money, like the idea of being west, I prefer to be in the hills at the weekend, and my folks are up near Inverness so the A9 will get used a fair bit.

Modern just for lower heating costs and less building hassle.

I’ll have another look on RM with my new found knowledge….

Ta

but then I do work from home.

Which means you don’t have the 2h a day of commuting !

andy-I would look Balerno, juniper green, craiglockhart area then or even closer in, if i want a decent ride to work i turn r instead of left and loop my way into the Pentlands. But means when its a grim snowing westerly i can go along the canal quickly.

If your folks are up the A9 then definitely W (Colinton as per NZC above, Balerno, Currie) rather than S (Lasswade, Loanhead) or SE (Musselburgh). Penicuik might be an option. FWIW up until I left Edinburgh I was in Craighouse which was nice distance out, plenty of flats of quality, could be on the Pentlands in 20 minutes, access to the bypass for routes north.

Definitely consider S (or N) Queensferry, Dalgetty Bay / Inverkeithing on that basis too, for weekends up north you’d have a head start and certainly be easier to return to.

Many +1s for Currie, Balerno, Colinton, Juniper Green, etc. Pretty much all run into each other and you get good access to the Pentlands.

If you’re driving to Inverness then West or South isn’t going to make much difference. I wouldn’t worry too much about being close to the Pentlands, I don’t bother with them unless its dry or frozen and they’ve not been dry much in recent years. For what its worth I really like Midlothian, lots of woodland singletrack and 30 mins drive from Glentress and Innerleithen.

Lived in Leith (Shore), Newington, Fountainbridge and settled finally in Colinton on Woodhall Road.

Overall, Colinton has been the best for us. Similar ages with you, loads of green space, great transport links to the main roads, good airport access, great riding, and i am only 5k door to door off road to work in Balerno.

Kinda biased so please bear that in mind.

Which means you don’t have the 2h a day of commuting !

Correct 😆

I’m also from near Inverness, outside rush hour it’s dead easy to get to the bridge quickly so wouldn’t worry massively about that myself. I’ve been considering a move to peebles and the additional time is a factor for that though.

FWIW The Borders Railway will be there from Sept 2015.

Rents are cheap down here, and you can ride out of the house from most places near the stations.

I live in Auchendinny, a 9 mile commute to… An old Standard Life building. It’s quiet, trails from the door, 20mins drive to Peebles and buses to town. New flats there to rent. Might be too quiet for some.

is Auchendinny twinned with Auchendo? I’ve seen houses come up there too. Are you up the brae or down in the dell?

i live on leith walk and work in an old standard life building.

I would rather maximise my free time and use it not comnuting.

Jimmy are we in thr same building?

I like Portbello – close enough to town for a night out and pleasant commute (25m) but by the beach and close to bypass and quiet roads.

I would second portobello. Alot friends there and i’ll probably head that dirdction soon.

If you don’t need to be in the west regularly then Portie/Joppa is a good call. Lots of road biking out in East Lothian and you might even feel the urge to buy a fatbike.

Colinton/Juniper Green/Currie/Balerno all give you immediate access to the Pentlands where you can easily wile away a few our on foot or on bike. I used to work at home a lot and would often arrange calls and tele-conferences to leave me a couple of hours free at lunchtime so I could get some miles in during daylight.

Either way, Edinburgh is quite a compact city and there’s a decent network of off-road cycle routes to make getting around reasonably pleasant. From Balerno/Currie/Juniper Green you can get right into across the city via the Water of Leith Walkway and or the Union Canal. The former leads you onto the rest of the cycle path network too.

I’ve just had a quick look on Zoopla at your budget, and I think you’ll be struggling. The only place I saw that was reasonable was a 2-bed flat on Piersfield Terrace. It’s not the most salubrious area, but it’s not bad. There’s free on-street parking and it’s a 2 bed flat. You’d be close to Portobello, and it’s only a 20 minute ride into the town via Holyrood Park (inc. a trip round Arthur’s Seat if you feel that way inclined).

Other than that, if you want somewhere that ticks a few more of your boxes I reckon you either need to up your budget or look further afield.

Our time in Edinburgh was spent in Bruntsfield (very “boutique” and no free parking), Piershill (nice enough, everything on your doorstep other than the Pentlands) and Craiglockhart (a bit of an odd one, nice established residential area, handy for town & Pentlands via canal paths, fairly expensive to rent, bordered to the North by not so nice areas).

You won’t get a two bed in Edinburgh for £500.

I let a flat just around the corner from SLAC House until recently, was getting £575 per month for a (admittedly large) 1 bedroom tenement flat with no parking and shared garden.

As somebody up there has said, you will be 20 miles out to get a decent place for that rent.

Word to the wise – look at bus routes if you decide to live in the ‘burbs, and what buses go via Lothian road. Can make a huge difference in Edinburgh if you only have to catch one bus for your commute. I think the 15 goes to Penicuik ?

Also, unless you are landed gentry and can afford the new town the smart people NEVER live north or east of Princes St. Hellish traffic as you are locked in by the sea and the core traffic routes and have to get across town to go anywhere.