Where to live in B'ham?

I'm toying with the idea of moving to Birmingham, and I'm interested to know what areas (within easy access for New Street) you locals would recommend.

Looking at a few places on rightmove.co.uk, theres a few flats which look like they'd be suitable. For instance:

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-to-rent/property-34538396.html

Like I say, just toying with the idea at the moment.

I think most people on here will suggest Kings Heath and Moseley.

Eeven if £495 is the going rate for a 2 bed flat, it is expensive if you consider you can get a whole house with a garden for £525. But I realise that an extra £30 a month soon adds up to a lot of money.

Yeah, they're both nice. Steer clear of Selly Oak, mostly dirty student squats

Try Gumtree btw. We found our current place (2 bedroom house) on there. The family who lived here moved up the road as they needed a bigger house, and rented it out for £475 rather than selling it. Cut out the middleman and you could save loads or get a bigger place for the same money.

best neighbourhood in birmingham-Balsall Heath. ride 10min ride into town, supported by bike path, local shops and parks (cannon hill and calthorpe)

I'm trying to figure out the logistics of getting to work (in Cov) and the costs.

Don't forget the up and coming garden suburb of St Irchley. Cheaper than Kings Heath and Moseley, and if you choose the right spot, actually closer to KH High Street than lots of parts of Kings Heath, which is a stupidly long and thin post code.

£30 per month for a house sounds nice, but in reality it'll be more like £50 on account of stupid bills and all the ball-ache lawnmowing and hedge cutting you'll have to do.

Nowhere east of digbeth

Hall green - end

Balsall heath is better than stirchley. There is heaps of shops around here, closer to town. Stirchley is closer to surburbia and a bit quieter, both around same price I think. There used to be bit of a crime issue round basall heath/sparkbrook/sparkhill/small heath in the 80s & 90's but its dropped right down.

The smethwick/bearwood side is a bit of a desert, stuff too far away from each other and interjoined by the hilliness of smethwick and the unpleasantness of hagley road/five ways.

Don't mention the crime, he''ll never move here now!

Anecdotally, I'd say Stirchley is less dodgy than Balsall Heath.

We've had several low-level intimidations from people at polo. One of LJ's mates got pushed off his bike by the courts too. Also, the entire area around Cheddar Lane is covered in litter, discarded buiding materials and chicken carcasses. Also, there was two people fucking in the park when I rode back from the tour at the spotted dog.

Don't mention the crime, he''ll never move here now!

I went to school in Hillfields, Cov... That was nice.

That being said, I grew up in "Earlsdon village", Cov. Where apparently most of the school teachers of Cov live.

Smethwick is so hilly that expeditions to Everest Train on Mill Hill.

On a serious note, you can avoid the Hagley Road, Five Ways, by using the back streets on a push bike, 30 mins if your feeling lazy to New St max.

I would rec Harbourne, nice side of town.

Steve, I'm pretty sure you've already experienced balsall heath and said it was 'like beirut'. St Irchley is, however, what the Garden of Eden was modelled on in the original bible. Tru fax!

Don't live in kings heath or any of those live central first then expand yourself after 6 months or something like that

Trying not to expand myself mate... If anything I'm going the other way ;)

Smethwick, hilly? Are you serious?

Steve try: www.spareroom.co.uk

Cotteridge is better than Stirchley, a bit further out but better park and less of an endless suburbia feel (and near historic Kings Norton Green and Bournville).

Move to Digbeth. Its really vibrant and on the brink of regeneration. There's vomit all over the place, which adds to the colourful tagging from the EDL.
It costs a fortune to insure anything, and everyone is so friendly and polite. Oh, and there's plans to regenerate the area apparently.

I've been to Digbeth a few times recently... It sort of put me off the idea ;)

I rode down the Stratford road to Hall Green last night. Bit of a trek, but Hall green seemed quite nice.

Nah, I'm just jestin'...... Well, kind of.
Living on the cusp of Highgate doesn't do us any favours, but Digbeth has character. The missus and I were clearly "roped in" to the romance of living in an area that was being regenerated, and the Irish quarter was appealing too. Suckers!!

Well, I've decided what I'm Going to do. I'm moving back to my parents so that I can do some serious saving, and look to try and buy a flat/house next year. It'll be tough living back home, but my parents are generally cool, so hopefully I won't go insane :)

Looks like I might be one of the only Cov forum people actually in Cov again soon :D