Contemplating a move to the UK, which city to pick?

[O-car]

I'm getting bored with life here in Iceland, and am currently thinking about giving myself a fresh start by moving across the ocean and find myself a place to live in the UK.

Which cities would you recommend I try out? Based on overall cost of living, awesomeness of the city/town, night life, job availability and that sort.

I can bring my unemployment benefits with me for three months, after that I need to either have a job lined up or go back to Iceland to keep getting paid.

I need some place fun and exciting, where the basic things I'd need to buy aren't overly expensive, problem is that most of my knowledge about cities in the United Kingdom is about how the football teams are doing, so I definitely need suggestions

 

[Alex]

Why the UK? I really love London, not sure why you'd live any where else. But it's expensive, and not much like the rest of Britain

 

[yoyo913]

You should go to Manchester and support United.

Or Gateshed.

 

[ShiftyPowers]

Yeah dude don't go to England; may I suggest Tampa, Florida?

 

[Tom]

Great 'big' cities in the UK:

Manchester
Leeds
Newcastle
Bristol
Birmingham (if you can get past the **** bits)

Great smaller cities (or are they towns..):

York
Oxford
Cambridge
Stratford
Durham
Rotherham

 

[Alex]

Birmingham and Newcastle? Yuck!!

 

[fender]

Go look for Lee, should provide an interesting insight into life in England.

 

[O-car]

I'm picking the UK mostly because I can speak the language. Don't really fancy looking like a retard when I'm applying for a job somewhere without really knowing the language.
I would love Tampa, Florida, but the U.S. makes it so damn difficult for someone to move there. I've already looked into it and have friends over there that are ordering me to move over pretty much every other day, but it's an extremely difficult process.

I mostly just need a change of setting, getting a bit depressed out here. Europe offers me the luxury of moving between countries without having to go through a whole legal ordeal first. Plus I've always wanted to go to the UK, only been there once when I went to a Liverpool game a few years back.

 

[Seán D]

I like Manchester. Newcastle is good too.

London is great but very expensive, especially the tube.

Edinburgh in Scotland is decent enough. Don't go near Glasgow, worst place I've ever been and that includes Haiti.

 

[Alex]

Haha funny when Londoners say the tube is expensive. It has nothing on Sydney public transport AND is so convenient.

The others don't compare to London as a place to be. But thrash it in costs

 

[O-car]

that's something i fear. I would love to move to London, but I've heard about it being rather expensive, which is why I've ruled it out mostly, I'm speaking with my niece in the next few days about how to find places to live in the UK, she lives in London, and I'm hoping to get the scoop on life in London, expenses and other stuff.

Anyone here know a thing or two about living in either Liverpool or Brighton? I feel it would be nice being in Liverpool so I could go to the occasional game, and Brighton is close to London and the beach.

 

[Alex]

Liverpool is full of scousers, and so not a great place to live (coming from a fellow Liverpool fan).

Brighton has a huge gay community, and has what British people call a beach. Also quite close to London. But I'm fairly sure because of those two factors is quite pricey

 

[O-car]

don't mind scousers, as long as living there isn't too expensive.

anyone with real brighton/liverpool knowledge? the Brighton beach isn't really my main focal point for moving there, Iceland has one "beach" so that's not really a factor. would like being close to the tunnel between England and the rest of Europe though

 

[Alex]

London would take less time to get to the tunnel than Brighton.

Brighton is ok. I've visited it quite a few times, but don't think it'd be worth the price you'd pay. Pretty good nightlife though. Generally you find anywhere with a big gay community has a decent nightlife.

Liverpool is full of petty criminals. It's a stereotype for a reason.

Manchester has a reasonable nightlife.

 

[ShiftyPowers]

I honestly don't think I'd go anywhere other than London, somewhere south and from your suggestions I guess that means Brighton, and Newcastle. I've just heard nothing but good things about Newcastle; heard it described as a drunken college town which fits the bill perfectly. And I'd also like to point out that the random hookup girls on Geordie Shore are FAAAAR better than on Jersey Shore. The drawback for Newcastle would be not being able to understand anyone, but that would be true of most places with big soccer clubs.

 

[Alex]

Haha. I think Americans struggle with British accents more than most other nations. Geordies are hard to understand, but most cities with big football clubs? I've never had an issue with the Manchurian accent, Liverpool is a funny accent, but again I've always understood it. Leeds/Yorkshire is another funny one.

 

[ShiftyPowers]

Yeah, those are the ones I meant.

 

[Sir Calumn]

Norwich! I'm actually not even joking, it's great.

You might like Edinburgh. It's pretty beautiful and not scarily scottish.

Cambridge is also pretty nice, Brighton has a good atmosphere, York is pleasant, Manchester has a good vibe if you can take it....

I actually wouldnt recommend living in London at first, just visit it regularly. London living is not easy and not cheap.

Anyway I am British and know the cities pretty well so if you have any specific questions you can ask me.

 

[Tom]

Norwich! I'm actually not even joking, it's great.

You might like Edinburgh. It's pretty beautiful and not scarily scottish.

Cambridge is also pretty nice, Brighton has a good atmosphere, York is pleasant, Manchester has a good vibe if you can take it....

Agree with all that.

 

[Sir Calumn]

You are from Rotherham and live in Birmingham, the two worst cities in Britain