Thread: What is the best place for UK property buying?

Having said all that about the Valleys, of course, with all of the economic problems that there are, it's not an area that would be entirely unattractive to actually live in:



The Centre of Cardiff, of course, has the aforementioned stadium, a castle, and a large park:


Modern Shopping Centres:


And main streets that fill with good-natured rugby fans, all mixing happily together (note the Irish fans among the Welsh fans below) on international match day:

Cardiff received a Globe Award back in 2009, so I guess it must be a nice city to work and live in.

Originally Posted by janpor

Cardiff received a Globe Award back in 2009, so I guess it must be a nice city to work and live in.

These days somebody will give you an award for anything that gets them publicity .
For example , The Channel Isles , for being the leading EU exporter of potatoes per capita .

Originally Posted by janpor

Cardiff received a Globe Award back in 2009, so I guess it must be a nice city to work and live in.

The award was for sustainability:
http://globeaward.org/winner-city-2009

I don't live there, but I know many people who do, and it's certainly a great city to live and work in, and also to visit. Some people seem to have a tendency to hang on to outdated images of former industrial cities, many of which were probably not entirely accurate in the first place!


Here's a couple of videos of the city area, and what it has to offer, just to give you an idea of what it's like:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Au1n9MsfFsI"]Visit Cardiff[/ame]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=275VPcD_3xU"]Britain's Best Breaks - Cardiff[/ame]

Thanks for the videos! I have to say that, judging on the pictures, I think it is pretty weird to have a sportsstadium right in centre of town. I've never seen that in my life. I think it is pretty dumb too, with all the traffic it generates, the parking it requires, etc.

Originally Posted by janpor

Thanks for the videos! I have to say that, judging on the pictures, I think it is pretty weird to have a sportsstadium right in centre of town. I've never seen that in my life. I think it is pretty dumb too, with all the traffic it generates, the parking it requires, etc.

It's pretty unusual for a big modern stadium, but it makes for a great atmosphere on match day, and it's only used for internationals - there isn't a club based there or anything, so it's not every weekend. The whole city centre is full of rugby fans for the day, and rugby fans mix together without the segregation of football fans, so there's a real international party feel to the whole place. All the pubs and streets are full of fans from both sides just enjoying themselves all day - it's great! In fact, alot of people (including 'away' fans) come down to the city on match day just for the atmosphere even if they haven't got tickets to get in to the stadium, and watch the game in one of the pubs.

Traffic and parking aren't a problem - they operate 'park and ride' system from large car parks a couple of miles outside the centre of the city when there is a game on, so you just park up and the specially provided buses take you into the centre, and back again afterwards (it takes about 5 or 10 minutes on the bus) - it's very effective and efficient (and not expensive, either). The main streets nearest the stadium are closed to traffic for safety for the day, but they mostly aren't major through-routes anyway, and are easy enough to avoid. The main roads out of Cardiff can be quite full just after the end of the match, obviously, but they are good roads, and it usually keeps moving pretty well.

From an economic perspective, of course, it's great for the city's businesses - on the day of an international, more than 72,000 people descend on the city centre. Most of them come early and are there for the day (park and ride operates from about 9am until about 7pm for a 3 o'clock kick off game), so the shops and pubs get great trade from it.

When the new stadium was being planned, there was a proposal to move it out of the city centre, but it was decided that it was best kept where it was because of the atmosphere and the income it generated for city businesses - I think they made the right choice.

Edited to add - the main city bus and train stations are also right next to the stadium, so there are excellent public transport links for the stadium, too.

Just to illustrate how close it all is, have a look at this street map of the centre of the city:


The purple areas are the main shopping streets and shopping centres, and the stadium is right next to them (and the train and bus station). The castle is also right in the centre, with a huge park behind it (and with the main part of the University just beyond it). You can just see the map scale (in yards) at the bottom - to walk from the bus/train station to the castle takes about 10 minutes.

Canada....

I reckon the site moderator is Posting to everybody as a commission earning salesman for the Welsh Tourist Board .( Post not person comment !!!!!!!! )
Incidentally , the number of tourists intentionally visiting Wales last year was 453 . But research shows 264 did so because they were lost .
Oddly , 5428 wrote letters of complaint .93 are pressing compensation claims .
Welsh per capita figures are unavailable , Janpoor , but are thought to be negative

Thanks everyone for the great pieces of information.

And thanks for the pics too, great stuff. My motivation is speculation, and it seems that since you are saying Cardiff is growing, those extra low prices between Cardiff and the valleys may start rising at some point.

Also, you mentioned good pricings around North East England. Zoopla.com correlates to this too, and my other targeted area is the Leicester area, as around the M1, A6, and A60 corridors. (Or maybe I am wrong picking these roads.) Do you know about Leicester?