# Moving to Liverpool



## PDXers (Jul 3, 2011)

Hello. I am new to this community and found a lot of my questions answered just through reading others' posts. My husband and I are moving to Liverpool in early September for me to do postgraduate studies. I haven't read anything on this board about Liverpool, and was wondering if anyone has lived, or currently lives there that could tell me what they think about it. I definitely have my reasons for choosing Liverpool over other great cities in the UK, so I am not looking for anyone to change my mind. We are coming over from Portland, Oregon USA and we just want to get an idea of how different things will be.

Thanks in advance for helpful responses.


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## Joppa (Sep 7, 2009)

PDXers said:


> Hello. I am new to this community and found a lot of my questions answered just through reading others' posts. My husband and I are moving to Liverpool in early September for me to do postgraduate studies. I haven't read anything on this board about Liverpool, and was wondering if anyone has lived, or currently lives there that could tell me what they think about it. I definitely have my reasons for choosing Liverpool over other great cities in the UK, so I am not looking for anyone to change my mind. We are coming over from Portland, Oregon USA and we just want to get an idea of how different things will be.
> 
> Thanks in advance for helpful responses.


I don't live in Liverpool but about 60 miles away further up the Lancashire coast, but have visited often and know a thing or two. Let a local fill you in on further details.

Liverpool was a great centre during the Industrial Revolution, and the signs of its former power and grandeur are still there to see, such as the Liver Building, Albert Dock, museums, concert hall and cathedrals. It prospered as the leading port of the North, esp through the cotton trade.

It was badly damaged in WW2, and subsequent decline in industry and the port affected the city, and at one point in 1970s it hit rock bottom with urban decay, high crime and general squalour.

Since then, things have looked up markedly and now it's a modern, vibrant and culturally rich city. There has been much redevelopment in city centre and along the docks, with new shopping centres, Hilton Hotel and conference centre springing up in the last few years. There are three universities - the renowned University of Liverpool, Liverpool Hope and Liverpool John Moores, and there are many bars and clubs catering to younger crowds. Good selection of restaurants too, with some gourmet places. It has vibrant music scene - as home of The Beatles of course. You get all this with the cost of living among the lowest in England, esp for rent. Two Premier League football clubs - Liverpool and Everton. Good public transport links, and the great outdoors of North Wales is on its doorstep, and the Lake District and Yorkshire Dales only a couple of hours away by car or rail. Liverpool Airport is a great hub for budget airlines, with many cheap flights to Europe.

Having said that, it has its gloomier parts, and crime can be a problem so choose your area carefully. There are still some depressing-looking high-rise apartments and soulless council estates (social housing), but there is no reason for you to live there.

All in all, Liverpool will be a good place to live and study, and hope you enjoy your stay.


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## steveg63 (Sep 5, 2010)

The best 2 things about Liverpool are: The M62 and the A580 road, both of which will take you to Manchester.


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## PDXers (Jul 3, 2011)

Thanks Joppa. We'll be living in student housing at the U. of Liverpool, so I know we're going to be in a good part of town. I definitely like the gritty, urban environment more than suburbia and high class ones. It's great to know that the airport has great low-fare airlines, as we will surely be traveling while we're there.

Also, as a football/soccer fan, what are the colors for Liverpool and Everton? My city's colors are green and white - and I don't want to be caught wearing the wrong colors.


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## Joppa (Sep 7, 2009)

PDXers said:


> Also, as a football/soccer fan, what are the colors for Liverpool and Everton? My city's colors are green and white - and I don't want to be caught wearing the wrong colors.


You are fine. Liverpool is red (and known as the Reds) and Everton is blue (the Blues).

And don't worry about the reports of rioting in Liverpool. It's unfortunate it has happened, but it's untypical, first serious disturbance in 30 years, and fuelled by bored teenagers in vacation time, copycat, saturation TV coverage and egging each other on social networking sites.


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## m0e (Aug 10, 2011)

*What would you like to know?*



PDXers said:


> Hello. I am new to this community and found a lot of my questions answered just through reading others' posts. My husband and I are moving to Liverpool in early September for me to do postgraduate studies. I haven't read anything on this board about Liverpool, and was wondering if anyone has lived, or currently lives there that could tell me what they think about it. I definitely have my reasons for choosing Liverpool over other great cities in the UK, so I am not looking for anyone to change my mind. We are coming over from Portland, Oregon USA and we just want to get an idea of how different things will be.
> 
> Thanks in advance for helpful responses.


Hello! Hope your move to Liverpool goes smoothly. I'm an American expat living in Liverpool with my Scouser husband. I've been here for 6 months now with no plans on leaving!  If you'll be at the U. of Liverpool, you will be close to the area where we are located. What kind of things were you looking to know? Restaurants, pubs, general attractions, schools?


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## PDXers (Jul 3, 2011)

m0e said:


> Hello! Hope your move to Liverpool goes smoothly. I'm an American expat living in Liverpool with my Scouser husband. I've been here for 6 months now with no plans on leaving!  If you'll be at the U. of Liverpool, you will be close to the area where we are located. What kind of things were you looking to know? Restaurants, pubs, general attractions, schools?


Hi m0e. I basically want to get people's opinion about living in Liverpool. What are the first reaction people had to moving there, or if they have lived there for years, how would they describe it in their experiences. I know that there will always be people who love or hate an area for their own reasoning.

Also, is there anything that I should know about the city that tour/guide books don't say? For example, are there pubs, restaurants, activities that we should definitely should check out that may be a well kept secret?

Thanks!


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## m0e (Aug 10, 2011)

PDXers said:


> Hi m0e. I basically want to get people's opinion about living in Liverpool. What are the first reaction people had to moving there, or if they have lived there for years, how would they describe it in their experiences. I know that there will always be people who love or hate an area for their own reasoning.
> 
> Also, is there anything that I should know about the city that tour/guide books don't say? For example, are there pubs, restaurants, activities that we should definitely should check out that may be a well kept secret?
> 
> Thanks!


I've always liked Liverpool from the moment I came here for a 3 week visit (about a year or so before we moved here permanently). The people, I think, are very friendly. They love to sing! 

The city itself is of a nice size, not too big, not too small. Liverpool has gone through many changes in the last 10 years - and it's not this hub cab stealing place that everyone not from Liverpool will make it out to be. Every city has it's "bad" area but I've yet to be in a part of Liverpool that made me feel concerned for my safety.

And don't forget the SuperLambananas! 

I don't know if they'd be mentioned in tour guides or not, but I really liked the Barcelona Bar and Ye Cracke. I've yet to find a restaurant that I'm crazy about - unless you head up to Crosby. I'm sure there are some out there. 

If you don't mind cursing, feel free to peruse my blog...I'm a new member on this site so I can't post the URL, but just search for "Badgers with Knives" in Google and you'll find it. I moan a lot but there's a bunch of Liverpool stuff tucked in there too. 

Best of luck to you on your move!


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## PDXers (Jul 3, 2011)

m0e said:


> I've always liked Liverpool from the moment I came here for a 3 week visit (about a year or so before we moved here permanently). The people, I think, are very friendly. They love to sing!
> 
> The city itself is of a nice size, not too big, not too small. Liverpool has gone through many changes in the last 10 years - and it's not this hub cab stealing place that everyone not from Liverpool will make it out to be. Every city has it's "bad" area but I've yet to be in a part of Liverpool that made me feel concerned for my safety.
> 
> ...


Hey, thanks. I have heard some moaning and groaning about how "bad" Liverpool is, but I also know that what some people consider "bad" others may not see it that way (it is all in how one defines a situation). I know that where I'm from there are a great many people who think it's crime ridden and dangerous, when in fact most of the violent crimes happen in the suburbs - surprise.

I'll check out your blog, and thanks for the advice. Perhaps when I get settled in, meeting a fellow American may be comforting.


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## m0e (Aug 10, 2011)

PDXers said:


> Hey, thanks. I have heard some moaning and groaning about how "bad" Liverpool is, but I also know that what some people consider "bad" others may not see it that way (it is all in how one defines a situation). I know that where I'm from there are a great many people who think it's crime ridden and dangerous, when in fact most of the violent crimes happen in the suburbs - surprise.
> 
> I'll check out your blog, and thanks for the advice. Perhaps when I get settled in, meeting a fellow American may be comforting.


Absolutely! You might need someone who you can properly understand after awhile.  (I still struggle with the Scouse accent - and my husband is a Scouser!)


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## Nignoy (Jun 4, 2010)

Liverpool is a great place, every time we are in Uk we pop up to Upper Parliament street to visit my car satnav and stereo system, wonderful people who will rob you blind as soon as look at you, but in the Uni area you should have no problems


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## georgina deary (Aug 15, 2011)

i have generations of family living in liverpool and have lived there 2 years myself. the people are friendly and chatty you will find out everything you need to know as soon as you get there. like anywhere be cautious at night. go clubbing in a group, always take a friend to the loo. dont queue jump.


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## dangermouse00 (Aug 18, 2011)

I live in Liverpool for university and come from not far away. The city centre itself is good and there is plenty to do. There is Liverpool ONE which has many shops of varying price ranges from designers like Hugo Boss to chain stores like New Look and La senza. Liverpool ONE also has some restaurants nearby and a few little bars as well as a cinema. However though, if you're a bar/club type person you need to go towards concert square, although it can get a bit preppy and crowded especially from thursday-sunday when all the students are out. As a student myself, I can tell you that there are good drinks deals around and particular favourite bar of mine is called Cava. It specialises in Tequila and has many different flavours. Even if you're not a big drinker, the atmosphere is still usually lovely in there, as is the decor. 

There are also the slightly more expensive bars such as Heebie Jeebies, which is nice but as I said more expensive. Stay away from Bumper though if you like taking expensive things out with you. WHile also a nice place, it's known that thieves operate there (as I found out).

Liverpool is well-linked for travel, with the northern, wirral and city lines allowing train travel to almost anywhere in the country. Liverpool John Lennon Airport (as mentioned) is also well-linked and carries airlines such as Ryanair and Easyjet.

I hope this is helpful, and if you want to know any more just ask, I am more than willing to help


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## shaun_london (Jul 28, 2011)

*Hello!*

Hi there,

I'm not too sure if this post is a little late, but I am a Liverpudlian about to take the move to London to start my career as an accountant.

If you wanted to reassurance to move to Liverpool, I can certainly offer you that!

Firstly, as a student, you will fit right in - it is a great university city with three large universites. The amount of students living in Liverpool is great compared to the city's population, so it can quite rightly be referred to as a 'university city'. 

Liverpool has been going through somewhat of a renaissance over the past few years; as European Capital of Culture in 2008, Liverpool attracted billions of pounds of investment, with Liverpool ONE being created adding more shops restaurants (and a massive Odeon cinema) to the city's town centre and attracting new businesses etc. Liverpool is also surprisingly touristy nowadays, which it never used to be, so that is obvioulsy a good thing. 

Alot of people from around the country have been settling in Liverpool over the last ten years, with it's reasonable cost of living, and rising standard of living. You may only need to walk around the city centre around the office blocks around lunch time to notice a large proportion of those working here have accents from all over the country, and indeed all over the world.

You may here Liverpool has a 'bad' reputation, but in the present day this is far from the truth. In the past, prior to the 1990s, Liverpool had its problems with large amounts of poverty and unemployment, and the city had a very militant attitude, with a strong trade union presence, strike action etc. And of course with poverty comes crime - however, with the city's significant rise in standard of living over the past couple of decades, crime has decreased markedly; you will be assured to know that a little research wil prove that Liverpool is in fact one of the safest large cities in the country. It has had its problems with large scale/drug cartels over the past twenty years, and still does, but low level crime is not as bad as other big cities. Of all the cities to have had riots recently, Liverpool's was probably the least serious, merely copycat bored youths.

It is actually a very historic city, with the most listed buildings in the country (i.e. protect buildings of historic importance) outside of London, and a few hundred years ago was actaully the centre of the African slave trade and most important port, making it once the wealthiest city in the country. A visit around the citys museums will fill you in.

If you're planning some European breaks while you're here, Liverpool airport is a hub for budget airlines Easyjet and Ryanair, making it very cheap and very easy to vist most interesting places on the continent. So make full use of it!

Moving to London has made me very sentimental about leaving Liverpool, but you will have a great time. It's only 2hrs 15 mins on a direct Virgin train to reach London too, should you want to visit the capital.

Hope this post isn't too late.

Shaun.


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## PDXers (Jul 3, 2011)

shaun_london said:


> Hi there,
> 
> I'm not too sure if this post is a little late, but I am a Liverpudlian about to take the move to London to start my career as an accountant.
> 
> ...


Thank you Shaun, and no, you're not too late. I appreciate what most people have had to say. I'm not one who gets easily scared by what a few people say. I have lived in more dangerous places than what I believe Liverpool is today. 

Good luck in London, and like you said, it's very close, so I'm sure you'll be back to Liverpool every once in a while.

We will be in Liverpool in just a couple of weeks and cannot wait to see/do what everyone has been talking about - thanks!


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