Harrogate

sloppycowpat

So I am just about to finish my MSc and have got a job offer/ accepted job in Harrogate.

I'm currently down in Portsmouth so can't really pop up until I start, in October as I have to finish and submit my thesis.

So...

Is anyone local?

If so are there any areas to avoid living, how expensive is it, what is traffic like etc...

Any advice concerning the area would be great.

cheers,

the recently returned sloppycowpat

Guanajuato

Its an enclave of Surrey, populated by arrogant old farts and teenagers drugged up with Mummy & Daddy's money. Nice place to visit. Shit place to live. Very expensive shit place to live.
But there's lots of nicer places around - Knaresborough, Otley & Ripon. or even Northern Parts of Leeds are sensible. The biking round there is good - North York Moors & Dales in easy reach.

Kowalski675

sloppycowpat wrote:

So I am just about to finish my MSc and have got a job offer/ accepted job in Harrogate.

I'm currently down in Portsmouth so can't really pop up until I start, in October as I have to finish and submit my thesis.

So...

Is anyone local?

If so are there any areas to avoid living, how expensive is it, what is traffic like etc...

Any advice concerning the area would be great.

cheers,

the recently returned sloppycowpat

Harrogate's a very pleasant town (and was voted the best town in the country to live in a couple of years ago), i wish I could afford to live there. I used to work there in my last job (I live about 15 miles from there), and when you're there it's easy to forget that shitholes like Bradford actually exist.

It is very expensive though and yes, a lot of the residents are up their own arses, but that's better than being surrounded by inbred sink estate chavscum vermin, any day of the week. Put it this way - the tailor's at the bottom of Parliament street actually makes bespoke shirts, not just suits, lol. It's also the only place I've seen more Range Rovers than Bradford (but driven by yummy mummies, rather than drug dealers, and minus the tacky Khan bodykits...). The least salubrious area is Starbeck (past the Stray and down to the bottom of the hill, but even that's hardly Buttershaw or Middleton... As has been said, Otley's a nice little town not too far away (I was born there), and significantly cheaper property, or Ripon in the other direction. If you hurt yourself, Harrogate A&E's a much more pleasant place to end up than BRI or LGI too, lol...

It's a commuter town, so traffic in and out is heavy at rush our times (I worked 8 til 4 and was commuting the opposite way to residents, so for me it was fine - straight through with very little traffic). You're literally right on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales, so plenty of gorgeous scenery, great biking roads (if you do two wheels with an engine too) and all the XC riding you could ever hope for. There's a good LBS (Stif Cycles, just down the road at Summerbridge), and if you like trail riding then there's Stainburn just a few minutes from the town centre (on Forestry Commission land at Norwood, just down the road from the Sun Inn), with a short red route loop (only about 1.2 miles, but people tend to session it and do a few laps) with the 1.6km red graded descent line run (mix of singletrack and rocky, more technical sections), plus what's reputed to be the country's most technical black route (very rocky, and definitely worthy of its black grading), plus a 4 mile natural trail at the other side of the road.

Here's a vid of Stainburn (and no, it's not me riding - in my dreams, lol...)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cuNQPm4TKYM

Here's your black route:

http://www.ibikeride.com/component/jrev ... C/?Itemid=

Gisburn Forest trail centre's less than an hour away too head across to Long Preston and turn left in the village, out towards Tosside and Slaidburn), and well worth a visit.

http://www.gisburnbiketrails.com/

I don't think you'll regret the move.

sloppycowpat

great, really useful,

I'm thinking it will be an improvement over flat as a pancake Portsmouth, meh not 24 yet for the engine 2 wheelers I want a 600 though have since I was three.

So basically avoid Bradford and enjoy the location.

nicklouse

a lot depends on exactly where you will be working.

best currys in the UK can be found in Bradford. but bradford to harrogate is not a comute.

traffic can be a pain some routes best to miss. bikes are good.


get on google maps and hve a look where work will be best to find living on whatever side of town work is.

Kowalski675

sloppycowpat wrote:

great, really useful,

I'm thinking it will be an improvement over flat as a pancake Portsmouth

I reckon so too, the Yorkshire Dales is a lovely area, and it's on your doorstep in Harrogate.

meh not 24 yet for the engine 2 wheelers

I missed out on all that bollocks - it used to be that you passed your test (any age 17 upwards), then you could ride whatever you could afford to insure. Figuring out the new rules takes longer than learning to ride, lol.

I want a 600 though have since I was three.

I have one. And a 675. And a 250. And an 885...

So basically avoid Bradford

Oh god, yes. Like the plague. Harrogate's 20 miles from that godforsaken hellhole though.

Kowalski675

nicklouse wrote:

but bradford to harrogate is not a comute.

Yes it is (if you were mad enough to want to live in Bradford itself). When our department was in Bradford my colleague had to commute Harrogate to Bradford and back again each day - it's about an hour each way at peak times. As you can imagine, he was mighty pleased when the department got moved back to his (and its) native Harrogate. It turned my commute from 10 minutes to 35 minutes, but it was more than worth it for the massive improvement in quality of life that working in Harrogate gave, compared to working in Bradford. My house to Harrogate is 15-17 miles, (depending on whether you take the main road, or the twisty back roads) - working 8am to 4pm it used to take me an easy 35 minutes each way, with little traffic. Nothing like the stress-fest that commuting 13 miles round Leeds ring road at rush hour used to be.

nicklouse

used to do Huddersfield to Harehills. no that was a pain. no meetings in leeds before ten for me.

suppose my idea of a commute is not the same as yours. dont want more than 30mins these days.

but again it all depends on which side of what you are. York ring road what a joke. the 64... can be fine but ... one good thing about ´gate is that it still has a train station and most of the villages along the line have stops near by.

but again it is all quite pointless until we know where in the Hgate area he will be working.

Kowalski675

A64's a nightmare at peak times. As for bank holidays - god, I'd rather shoot myself, lol (it's bad enough getting down there on two wheels, lane splitting and making dodgy passes between outside lane and armco, lol).

Kowalski675

nicklouse wrote:

one good thing about ´gate is that it still has a train station

Two of 'em, even.

welshkev

I have family in wetherby and boroughbridge, they're both nice areas too.

nicklouse

Kowalski675 wrote:

nicklouse wrote:

one good thing about ´gate is that it still has a train station

Two of 'em, even.

you could say three if you include Starbeck.

Kowalski675

Damn, didn't think of that.

sloppycowpat

Right quick update:


The office I will be working in is on Cornwall road, looking out over the valley gardens, great view. Traffic maybe an issue.

Plan at the moment is to get a houseshare with 'young professionals' somewhere within Harrogate, or just outside somewhere to the south or the East. I'l be in a hotel to start off with so can look when I arrive, but I think it is the best option.

Have no intention of using a train to commute, had enough of them going from Portsmouth to derby all the time, and they are way over priced, I did get the train up there from \Portsmouth for the interviews, which was a pain in the a***. Leeds service was very slow, but good to know that the option is there though.

Plus gives me a good excuse to finally get a car as I don't technically need one I just want one (until I'm 24 -9 long months) Plan is to commute via a bike as it is just better, so closer to the office the better I suppose.

Cheers for the replies they are really useful.

sloppycowpat

Moving down tomorrow :? slightly apprehensive

nicklouse

sloppycowpat wrote:

Moving Up tomorrow :? slightly apprehensive

fixed for you.

sloppycowpat

Oops,

Always say that :roll:

Kowalski675

nicklouse wrote:

sloppycowpat wrote:

Moving Up tomorrow :? slightly apprehensive

fixed for you.

You beat me to it, lol.

nicklouse

sloppycowpat wrote:

Oops,

Always say that :roll:

you will find that London is Down and Scotland is up.

just look at a map

thelonegroover

nicklouse wrote:

a lot depends on exactly where you will be working.

best currys in the UK can be found in Bradford. but bradford to harrogate is not a comute.

traffic can be a pain some routes best to miss. bikes are good.


get on google maps and hve a look where work will be best to find living on whatever side of town work is.

20 miles isn't that far, lots of poeple comute further than that. Agree Bradford has the best currys though.

FishFish

sloppycowpat wrote:

great, really useful,

I'm thinking it will be an improvement over flat as a pancake Portsmouth, meh not 24 yet for the engine 2 wheelers I want a 600 though have since I was three.

So basically avoid Bradford and enjoy the location.

MSc probably not in English then.

Kowalski675

FishFish wrote:

sloppycowpat wrote:

great, really useful,

I'm thinking it will be an improvement over flat as a pancake Portsmouth, meh not 24 yet for the engine 2 wheelers I want a 600 though have since I was three.

So basically avoid Bradford and enjoy the location.

MSc probably not in English then.

Obviously. English would be an MA...

sloppycowpat

^ hehe

Nope, MSc in Engineering geology 8) .

Seems great UP here. Not got a house sorted yet though, but not to worry as I'm UP in Stirling next week. Gotta love hotels, three weeks and counting :roll: .

Kowalski675

Passed through the edge of Harrogate today (Killinghall), but with an engine between my two wheels, rather than pedals, lol. I started BSc geology at Leeds Uni 22 years ago, but didn't finish it.

sloppycowpat

why did you stop?

Bombing around in an corsa sri(hire car ) the other day was rather good fun traffic to York was bl@@dy abysmal. Little cars are defiantly getting better not as much little grot boxes any more. Need to get a car at some point soon me thinks, starting a new job is rather expensive :roll:

Kowalski675

sloppycowpat wrote:

why did you stop?

Chose the wrong course at the wrong university. I dropped out towards the end of first year, and got a place to go to Manchester and start again the following year, but then couldn't get a grant, so couldn't afford to go. Biggest mistake of my life, but hinsight's always 20-20.

Karlos69

Hope you're enjoying Harrogate.
If you do happen to have a day out in Bradford, you simply must visit Buttershaw.

Kowalski675

Christ, that would make him appreciate Harrogate even more...