Places to live in Central Scotland?

Would be a great place to have a bike shop though – Menstrie Cycles – and no, no need to think about it, it's rather obvious!

you can buy us all a beer in the brewery.

Harviestoun or another?

Coffeeking – its years since I lived in Strathblane – its a commuter village with not much happening and expensive houses I think. couple of pubs

Killearn is more a real village and has some shops – but still rather commutersville and expensive – it also seems a long way from Glasgow when coming home after a night out – too far for taxis and buses are not great ( tho not awful)

you can buy us all a beer in the brewery.
Harviestoun or another?

Bridge of Allan brewery.

(although you can use the other access and join the motorway at Milnathort).

I was born in Milnathort!!! 8)

I can't think of a more overrated biking area than Stirling. Full of mediocre wooded singletrack and boggy hillsides.

Avoid.

How about Perth Nice place and excellent roads network to get North, South, East and West.

Menstrie Cycles <snigger>

Kirkintilloch is not bad – we had a house up by Hillhead and, although some of the locals look a bit dodgy, we never had any trouble and it was surprisingly quiet. Certainly an improvement on the flat we had in Springburn!

Best bit about living in Hillhead was that I could jump onto the Forth-Clyde canal and commute by bike all the way into north Glasgow with only one stretch of road riding that can't be more than 100m long. I can still do that from Milton of Campsie mind you – the trails start across the road from the house.

Killearn is more a real village and has some shops – but still rather commutersville and expensive – it also seems a long way from Glasgow when coming home after a night out – too far for taxis and buses are not great ( tho not awful)

Fortunately I'm not a big out-in-town person so that sort of thing is a rare inconvenience for me, the problem is that any closer and you're getting into some really unpleasant areas or sky-rocketing the house prices. bearsden/milngavie/bishopbriggs – you're talking 160K+ for a tiny 2 bed semi, and any closer than that is Beirut, unless you want to live in a box-flat with 1 bedroom, no parking and 6 noisy neighbours!

I've not read much of this thread, but I did see someone mentioning Larbert.

I too live in Larbert (albeit temporarily for 1 year) and also lived there from aged 13 – 17.

It's improved a vast amount since my teenage years (moved away in 98).

The old foundries have now been demolished and been replaced by housing.

It's definitely worth a look. Transport links are excellent for the rest of Scotland (rail and road) and you can be in the centre of both Edinburgh and Glasgow by rail in half an hour.

I reckon you'd be able to get a decent rate on rent too.

What are N & S Queensferry like?

Don't think I've ever met anyone who lived there.

Sirling is my home town. Not lived there for over 20 years but go back regularly to visit relatives. I'd move back to the area in a heartbeat if there were any jobs in my line of work. To the OP all the good things other people have been saying about Stirling and the surrounding area are true.

eckinspain – the Prime Minister lives in North Queensferry!

Caloomba – where in Larbert did you live? I moved out of there when I was 20 (lived round by Carron Works up on the hill).

I live in Edinburgh (same area as epicsteve) and love it. Transport links are great, I'm about 10 minutes drive from the M8 and about the same riding from the Pentlands trails. I'm literally on the city limits, the buses terminate near my house so I can still get the bus in when I'm not commuting on the bike (7 miles).

I do echo the sentiments of the Stirling area, my gran lives near Crieff and my aunt near Auchterarder and they're both lovely areas.

DickBarton – I used to live not for from Carron Works – on Carronshore Road. Practically opposite the old site of the Thomson Caravans factory (that was demolished at least 20 yrs ago!).

From 93 – 98, I lived in North Broomage (off Foundry Loan) and that's where I am back living temporarily until June when I bugger off to New Zealand!

Crikey, not far from me I was round by Lodge Drive – up on the hill…

I know a few people that have lived in S Queensferry I always found it a bit weird. There is a huge Hewlett Packard factory as the main employer but I think that has closed down now. So lots of unemployed hardware engineers.

Hels, I think you're getting it wrong when you connect South Queensferry's weirdness with Hewlett-packard (now Agilent technologies)
Its always been like that. 😉
I'm a native Leither, but like many native people, have been pushed westward by white expansionism, and now live in Bo'ness, which, aside from s***e public transport links, is fine for me, but if you're a snob, a toff or 'aspirational' forget it ya radge!

I'm a native Leither, but like many native people, have been pushed westward by white expansionism,

Who me? White settler?

Sorry TJ, i hope that gets taken in the right, joking, spirit(I can never get two smileys in the one post, for some reason)

I wish I'd seen this post earlier.

I was born in Falkirk and have lived in a few places roundabout it including Grangemouth, Hallglen and Polmont. I lived as a student first of all in Edinburgh and then later in Glasgow.

Keep away from Falkirk and Grangemouth and Hallglen. Perhaps most importantly keep away from Camelon!

There are a few nice places roundabout Falkirk, but mostly it is a bit shit. Stirling isn't too bad and you've got the Ochil hills on your doorstep.

I would recommend Glasgow as the best place to live. It's a little bit cheaper than Edinburgh and it's much bigger. The capital is very pretty, but it starts to feel very small after a few years.

Saying all that, I live in Manchester now, so WTF do I know really?

The capital is very pretty, but it starts to feel very small after a few years.

Which makes it ideal in my book! I like Glasgow but I prefer Edinburgh and one reason is that I think it's the right size.

How am I an arse for not wanting to live in a dismal town full of knuckle dragging inbreds?
Unless you are of course one of the knuckle dragging inbreds I laugh at on a daily basis?

Where is it you're from again Bob?

Anyway I wouldn't move back to Glasgow if my life depended on it, manky shithole of a place filled with the scum of the earth.

Taken as meant West Kipper – no offence

Aye, Edinburghs good, but you dont half pay for it, we're talking London living costs.
As I've said in previous threads, the cheapest housing within 20 miles of the capital would take me until I was about, I s'pose, age 237 to pay a mortgage on. Being less picky does allow you a fair bit of financial freedom in the event of job loss etc.

Anyway I wouldn't move back to Glasgow if my life depended on it, manky shithole of a place filled with the scum of the earth.

Funny opinion, Glasgow is about the most friendly city I've been to and providing you don't live and work anywhere near the east end or some of the odd dodgy areas (which all cities have), it's really nice. I've sampled London, miserable. I've lived near Manchester and Liverpool – both so-so, I'd count Glasgow as marginally nicer than Liverpool, Ed is prettier but basically rather self-indulgent and not really that attractive to me.

ss… you are having a laugh aren't you? Whilst it is possible to find mediocre woodland singletrack it is also very easy to find some rather entertaining woodland singletrack around Stirling. The same goes for boggy hillsides – you can find them, or you can equally find some rather entertainingly spicy rocky options.

I do miss the riding up there. The Lakes are pretty grand though so I will survive 😉

Funny opinion,

Well having lived in various parts of the city from nice to rough over 30 years it's a fairly well informed one.

Nobody has mentioned Skinflats yet.

Well having lived in various parts of the city from nice to rough over 30 years it's a fairly well informed one.

Where abouts? And what do you class as nice? Apparently it has largely improved in the last decade or so, according to the long-term residents I have spoken to. Naturally I just see what I've lived in and around for the last 2 years (west end and north).

stuartie_c – Member
Nobody has mentioned Skinflats yet.

Quite….

hmm, Skinflats… speaking of places with beautiful seashore vistas, I am surprised that no-one has mentioned anywhere in East Lothian

Some nice spots in East Lothian (North Berwick for example) but I wouldn't have thought them central enough.

I live in Torrance, a village to the North of Glasgow between Kirkintilloch and Milngavie.

I LOVE IT!

It gives me absolutely everything I want from life, and I rarely if ever have to sit in traffic. I have easy access to the north via Kilsyth, south via Bearsden or Springburn. The village is quiet, secure, and not simply a commuter town. It has a real community, local people working locally, neighbours looking out for each other. I also have the space and facilities to run my business, trade suppliers to hand and customers with enough cash to pay for services.

1 hour to Perth, 40 minutes to Greenock or Stirling, 55 mins to Edinburgh.

I highly recommend East Dunbartonshire. 11/10!

I nearly bought the house you did Dan 🙂 I was a bit slow. Still looking around torrance as I can't think of anywhere I'd rather live at the moment! Actually east dunbartonshire was rated the best place to bring up a family in the country last year!

Lochgelly , although I think house prices have just boomed to an all time high of 7 empty lemonade bottles a piece of used chewing gum and a fag end.
Local dialect is easy to pick up too , just add "ya hoor" to the start/end of everything you want to say. 😛

da funk

Edinburgh is by far the best city in Europe IMO. I used to live in the New Town and it was fantastic . (Unfortunately I live in Arbroath now which is a complete shithole). I would also definitely avoid the central belt and parts of Fife (as mentioned by purplefunkymonkey – Lochgelly/Cowdenbeath is unbelievably bad).
If you can't afford Edinburgh, then I'd also recommend Perth (don't know much about Stirling but it looks quite nice).

Milngavie, Balerno, Dunblane or Blackford / Auchterarder

Stirling should be the best option, but IMHO it's a bit of a poo hole.

(some parts of) Perth are lovely.

NOT Balerno. There are too many of us here already 🙂