Nice places to live near Southampton airport?
 

I'm thinking of applying for a post at Southampton airport - the job would mean I would have to live within about 30 or 40 minutes from the place.
I might go and have a poke around there beforehand - can anyone enlighten me as to the nice places to live, and the ****e places I need to avoid?

30/40 minutes is not that far if you will be travelling during rush hour - you are probably looking at about a 10-15 mile radius.

Avoid:- Weston, Sholing, Lordswood, Lordshill, Merryoak, St Marys, Pilands, most of Eastleigh and obviously anywhere with a PO postcode!

Hamble is quite nice (some good pubs) but full of yachtie tosspots

Hedge End is ok, but no decent pubs

Fair Oak/West End are ok

HTH - if you find anywhere you like the look of PM me and I'll let you know what it is like.

Matt

Do what my cousin did. Buy a place in Jersey, and fly to Eastleigh every day.

Re: Nice places to live near Southampton airport?
 

Portsmouth :thumbsup:

Avoid Millbrook as well. There are a few ok bits of Shirley. Depends what you mean by nice, though. I don't think St Mary's is that bad, but then, it is the red light district of Southampton.

I have thought about going out to Jersey to work, however Jersey laws no longer allow non-residents to purchase property, unless they have stacks of cash, and renting there is probably on a par with central London. I would get accomodation with the job however it would be a poxy little flat somewhere. Plus I don't think my bike could cope with the 40mph speed limit there!

Flying in and out of Jersey is great - apart from the fog which can shut the whole airport down

I'd prolly get free flights too!

Thanks for the replies so far, I figured Hedge end, West end etc would be mentioned, think my company has moved a lot of staff there.
I would not be traveling in rush hour, I'd be doing shifts like 0600-1400, 1200-2200, 0600-1800 etc.
Is there anywhere to the West, (from the map) Chandlers Ford, Romsey for instance?

'Nice' by my description would be detached with garage (essential) and garden, quiet neighbourhood - I need my sleep :D Pubs, shops, trainlines and schools don't matter - I head west into Somerset on my free days.

I wouldn't live in Southampton, then. Get out into the forest to the west and you'll find loads of nice towns.
Unless you want nightlife, in which case, you are far better off in Soton.

Chandlers Ford & Romsey are both nice - can be a bit pricey though especially for a detached with a garage - for a 3 bed detached with a garage expect to pay around £270k upwards (if you can find one!) by comparison, I have a 4 bed semi with garage in a quiet cul-de-sac in Hedge End, which is worth around £220k.

If you decide to have a look around the New Forest, there are some rough areas in Hythe and Totton - Ashurst, Lyndhurst, Ower, Cadnam are all ok with pretty good accesibility to M27 - Lyndhurst can be a nightmare in the summer though due to all the grockles.

Nothing much worry about though if you're gonna use the bike to commute :D

You might also take a look at Whiteley - not particularly cheap - but a 'nice' neighbourhood.

i live about 5 miles from eastleigh/southampton airport have lived here for all of my 37 years, there's loads of lovely villages in the radius you've given, and as with all areas there's a ton of ****holes too (pardon the language)

give me a shout if you find somewhere you like the sound of and i'll try to give you the lowdown

Thanks guys for all the offers of assistance - great to see so many of us are down that way.
Had a chat with the airport general manager this morning, going to do the paperwork this week and then wait and see if I pass the initial sift.. [-o<

Unfortunately, that's not true in Lyndhurst. At the bit that causes most problems, the road is a narrow two lane one way system, so an absolute ******* to filter through. Still substantially quicker by bike than by car but I choose to avoid the area completely in the summer and as for when the New Forest Show is on, that's a whole other headache.

What’s your budget? Before making suggestions we need to know what sort of price range we are talking about.

I can tell you lots of nice places to live if you have >=£1m!!! :lol:

Dunno, I was thinking £300 - £350K, but depends on the value of my current house, of which I only have a vague idea.
Doesn't have to be big, 2 bedrooms are plenty.

you'll get plenty with that budget. you can afford to be choosy and look for somewhere with exactly what you want. if your budget is 350k and are happy with 2 beds, lets say 3 you'll get a pretty good place in a rural area, away from the towns.

its just finding a place like that is hard

if the job comes off and if you like pm me your address and i'll send you a copy of the local property paper so you can have a gander

Yeah that sort of budget should see you somewhere nice. Lets face it you are unlikely to find a £300k+ house that is in a carp area, so I am not sure you need much advice on places to avoid. But there are plenty of nice places out and about that way. Basically if you stick East of the M3 and north of the M27 there are quite a few nice rural areas that with that sort of budget you should be able to find somewhere nice and yet convinient :)

Just to resurrect this old thread:
I got offered the job at Southampton airport :D
Been to see the airport GM today, for the handshake, sandwich and paperwork in the post.
So, I'll be looking out for some of you in the new year - I expect to be working there sometime February.
Meanwhile, I'm going to have to find a house. Budget and location unknown just now, but when I know I might be asking for some of you 'locals' for comments on the houses/places I like the look of.

Congratulations on the job mate.

£300k should get you something half decent round these parts!

the closer to Portsmouth you go the more bang you get for your buck.


there's a reason for that too....

where are my manners! congratulations on the job

huge expansion programme for the airport, you've joined at a good time. the next 25 years will see the place quadrupled in size.

that may be an influence on where you buy too!

As much as 40mph. My cousin eventually split from his missus. and now has a place on Sark. Something to do with the people to pubs ratio and the speed you can drive a tractor at. (If he owned one)

Any comments on Rownhams as a place to live?

Rownhams is not a bad area - similar to Chandlers Ford, the newer estates in Rownhams are quite similar to Grange Park in Hedge End.

might i be so bold as to suggest if you're going to look at rownhams, to ignore that particular dump and move a couple of miles along to North Baddesley.

imho rownhams isn't that nice.

I grew up in Romsey, about 20 minutes drive from the airport IIRC. Lovely little town, no idea what property rpices are like but there are some newer estates within walking distance of the town center for pubs and grub etc.

If you want to be closer then Chandlers Ford has some nice bits. Never really got to know North Baddesly very well despite going college at Barton Peveril.

The Cricketers used to be a good pub for a bike meet, can't remember the name of the road but is very close to the college.

Congrats on the job!

I wasn't considering it especially, just that a house adjoining the Rownhams House estate has turned up, looks suitable. Hedge End is current favorite.

Thanks for all the congrats from you all. I will be meeting a new crowd next year...

Traffic is an absolute nightmare in that neck of the woods. I'd only take a job round there if they were okay with me commuting by bike.

ahh, thats the sort of info i need. Do you mean in peak hours? Or are you referring to the M27, which sucks wherever you come and go from along that lower stretch?

hedge end is a nice area. from the budget you have am i to assume you're not going to get a place on Grange Park? Altho there are some fairly decent sized gaffs on there. nice pub in amongst it too, the Shamblehurst.

That your recommendation? They all seem a bit tudorbethan round that area, all the same but different if you know what I mean.
However, there are plenty that are suitable, maybe I could run my rightmove.com list past you sometime?
The Romsey house was a good 30 or 40k less than equiv in Hedge End, (enough for a car or two :) ), but there may good reason for that..

no i'd not recommend grange park, its an ok estate, i lived there for a year or so, but like you say its a bit "tudoresque and cheesey"

romsey is a really nice area, shouldn't take you more than 20 mins to get to work too.

The M27 is the worst, but the surrounding roads are almost as bad as all the locals use them to try to avoid the motorway when heading to/from southhampton itself. The airport is actually nearer Eastleigh than Southhampton. I was recently visting a client there by car, rather than bike and apologised as I was 10 minutes late due to traffic (in spite of leaving half an hour early for a 10 mile journey!). They were fine about it and say it's routine for non-locals to be an hour late on average and it's just something they live with. :)

It's obviously worse during rush hour, but it's attrocious at weekends too. I've only ridden/driven there a few times around there at times other than those (eg middle of the afternoon) and it's still worse than most places, but by no means intolerable in a car. My brother lives there and is considering re-learning to ride and getting a bike, largely because of the traffic problems. Bearing in mind he works unsociable hours and avoids the worst of it, yet still finds it a big problem should be indicative of the extend of it. That said, this is all largely irrelevant if you have a bike. :wink:

Hope this helps.

It does thanks.
On my last visit to the airport I tried to go see a house at Fair Oak, at about 4pm. The journey was so bad I dismissed the house because of it.
The Airport employees I have spoken to reckon its 20 mins to just get onto the M27 from the airport in peak times, but once on the motorway its usually predictable wherever you are going.
I'll prolly be using the bike as much as possible, parking in the short term car park is free for bikes :) However, I still need to have an alternative strategy.

Thanks for your input.

i live in fair oak, and you're absolutely right. the journey - at rush hour - is about 30 minutes for a 3 mile trip. awful.

nice place tho :D