My husband wants to move out of Bath (where we've live for the last 35 years) to somewhere nearer the middle of the country where he comes from. He is thinking more Stoke-on-Trent area but I am trying to persuade him to go left towards your area! I am a piano teacher and would be looking for jobs in the area.
What would convince him? It looks beautiful but is a it a good place to live? What's the music scene like? Any comments welcomed as I start this search.

I'd say it's a good place to live (or I wouldn't be here!). It's miles better than Stoke-on-Trent in my opinion. When you say music scene do you mean for teaching or going to concerts etc?

Hi Pamsie
I am trying to teach myself to play the guitar,and for that reason alone i would not recommend the Castlefields area of Shrewsbury,joking aside,why not stay in a b&b for a couple of nights and have a good look around.

Thanks guys. Coming and staying for a few nights might be a good idea. I am looking to teach piano here but am also interested in choral singing/concerts of any good music/starting children's choirs....I don't know what you have already.

Well Shrewsbury is superior to Stoke-on-Trent, but there are lots of great places to live in the Shropshire-Staffordshire area. Take a look at Bridgnorth, Ludlow and other Shropshire towns. Maybe also extend your search to south Cheshire (Nantwich, etc).

Places I would suggest you skip though are: Newport, Telford (in fact, Telford & Wrekin in general), Stoke-on-Trent (sorry!) and Wolverhampton.

Oh and there is a new theatre under construction in Shrewsbury (at Frankwell) which may take your fancy! It will have a 650 seat main auditorium as well as a 250 seat chamber for smaller events.

Also: when looking at property please remember to check if it floods! ;)

Actually our Theatre was going to be designed by the same architects as the award winning Stoke Victoria Hall, Levitt Bernstein Architects but sadly they, after protracted negotiations and undoubtedly huge fees were relieved of this commission. The theater proposal we are consequently left with has been heavily criticised by our Civic Society and CABE but it's what wer'e getting.

The huge problem with Shrewsbury is the lack of a University which has unfortunately designated the place as a 'blue rinse' attraction.

There is more obvious poverty in Stoke on Trent but Shrewsbury is a low wage area too.

I think after Bath you might find Shrewsbury a cultural desert, no art gallery,museums disappearing but all looks well on the surface, private schools aplenty and crime is pretty low.

All (sadly) correct.

Shrewsbury is a nice place to live, as with Shropshire in general, but there are problems here. Mostly a lack of things.

Though some people might welcome that!

Music scene of all sorts is very vibrant in Birmingham - and it is only 40 miles or so away from here; although it's a bit too far to be comfortably commutable (and the train service leaves a lot to be desired) it's fine for a day/night out. Manchester is about 75mins by train and Liverpool and Chester are not too far away either.

There seem to be a reasonable number of general teaching jobs coming up in the TES from what I've seen. As other people have said, Shrewsbury is big enough to support a number of maintained and private schools, which is not the case with Ludlow, Bridgnorth, etc.

What I really like about Shrewsbury town centre is that it has an old-fashioned and genteel market-town feel about it - it has a nicely bustling centre with quite a few independent shops. Stoke (where I was born and lived for a while, so I hope I'm entitled to be rude about the place!) has all the problems of a seriously declining industrial area. That said, there are some great house prices around Stoke and Newcastle-under-Lyme.

Here are my personal views:

I know Bath and I know Stoke. If you're used to life in Bath over 35 years and like it, could you really settle in Stoke? The two are so different. Comparing Bath to Shrewsbury - well, there are definitely more similarities than Bath versus Stoke. Shrewsbury has no Roman baths or mellow cotswold stone, but like Bath it is an attractive town, looked after, and a focal point for visitors. The centre here is smaller than that of Bath by a fair margin, I would estimate. Despite what some would say about traffic here, I am sure the traffic congestion here is not anything like as bad as Bath, from my personal experience.

As for Stoke - I am sure Stoke appeals to some as a home town, but it's not for me personally.

I came to live here two years ago. I deliberately chose to live here and Shrewsbury is my favourite town in the region. It is big enough to offer a good selection of shops and eating places, and big enough to be a centre of attention for shoppers and people coming from around for a night out, but it is small enough to be, well, people-scale. There are no big fast dual carriageways cutting through the centre becuase of the river loop, which makes it so special. There are lots of nooks and crannies to explore and compared to many other places, it is visually attractive (on the whole!) As an incomer, I have found the people as friendly as anywhere else, and more so than many places.

If I miss the big city, I go to Birmingham in a group on the train for a day out or a night out, and get an urban fix that lasts months. If I miss the country, it's all around.

Telford is, what, 10 miles away and an ever-growing population centre. Various initiatives over recent years have brought a lot of employment growth to Telford, and even though it seems a poorer area than Shrewsbury to the casual onlooker, I personally have found that employment opportunities are more diverse in Telford and the "M54 technology corridor" than in Shrewsbury. There are simply more big businesses and more people there. But I much prefer living here even if I have to travel a little distance to work now and then.

As for piano teching - I don't know about local prospects in that line of work. The private schools here in town, as others have alluded to, may be worth contacting.

I always think that whatever the town, there are always people who can find fault, and certainly Shrewsbury has many such people and many faults. But having moved with my work about eight times over the years, so far this is the only town that I have ever felt like calling "home".

I live near Stoke on Trent - if you go for the area near Stafford or Gnosall, there's some lovely countryside, jobs in Stafford, and nice houses.

A slightly delayed comment on Proud Salopian saying Shrewsbury has no art gallery. It's actually on St. John's Hill, nearly but not quite opposite the Travail employment agency. As its full title is the Victorian Art Gallery, it serves only a specific subsection of the portrait/picture market, but it's still incorrect to say there is no art gallery at all. I know it's there 'cos I live very close to it on the same street :-)

In addition, the Shrewsbury Antiques Centre has tons of pictures - just off the Square, on Princess Street, and rather unique among antiques shops as it's almost entirely subterranean.

An even more delayed comment on avronb's post about teaching himself the guitar; my current flatmate is a bass guitar player and will give lessons for money if you're interested. <plug> :-)

Eh? Where did I say that?? :o

I think you'll find that was "lemon squeezer".

Shrewsbury's museums and art gallaries, you surely must admit though, are not exactly large and don't really attract many. Shrewsbury has really fallen behind in terms of tourism in the past decade or so. I think whilst in the past it was one of the foremost visited towns in England (for tourists and the like) this is no longer the case.

Ah, but it was you who said that it was (sadly) correct, and that came after lemon squeezer, so I happened to name you. No offence meant. :-)

Just pointing out that Shrewsbury's attractions may not be on the same scale as Bath's (for example), but that doesn't make them nonexistent.

Oh I know - but they're too well hidden and tourists don't know many exist! Well that's the impression I get anyway.

Excuse me but a print shop is not an Art Gallery!!!!! :blink:

The nearest we have to an Art Gallery is the Gateway and the Bear Steps that put on show general and local artists work. We have no permanent home for Shrewsbury's quite extensive art collection, ie: art that belongs to the town that is you and me. :( Sadly it is all stored at the Shirehall not on public display as it should be.
I believe at one time that we did have a Shrewsbury Art Gallery in the dim distant past.
Some of Shrewsbury's art collection can be viewed online on the museums website.

We might not have an art gallery,but we certainly have more than our fair share of 'artists',you can see them most nights in the town centre.

I'd say shrewsbury is a great place to live. I was born and bread there (but moved to London 8 years ago - I miss shrewsbury, but probably won't be moving back). Its got alot to offer, especially if you have a young family or are retired. Its clean, compact and the crime isn't too bad.

Except for the occassional murder,traffic congestion,dirty streets,beggers,charity? collectors who ambush you on pride hill and the town centre is overun by noisy, untidy, rude 6th formers from the local colledge,actually I wonder about our future as they will be running the country in a few years time. But apart from that Shrewsbury is one of the nicest Towns in middle England and even though I moan a bit!!without its faults it would be a very dull place So any one contemplating coming to live here you wont be bored and 95% of us will make you very welcome the other 5% will ignore you but hey thats life Come and join us you wont regret it.... :lol: :lol:

Too many chavs in certain areas - come the day of the national cull of chavs and other undesireables... ;)

All towns have chavs who hang around in 'groups' not gangs (PC) !! I think the town seems to attract these somewhat outcasted young people without reasonable social facilities, I would 'hang-around' like them I think if I had no where to go :D Build facilities for them and they wouldnt hang around on corners.

As for the thread question I work In Shrewsbury, wine and dine their at weekends and personally I think it is a lovely town to work in and if I had the dosh I would set up home there. It is constantly changing which is appealing.

If you're going to live in Shropshire, a very rural county, Shrewsbury is generally the centre of activity, I suppose... unless you're able to drive out to Telford or further afield. These things are relative, and IMO Shrewsbury's issues are a lot less pressing than the number of dodgy folk you get in places like Crewe, where I work (and which was on fire in a big way yesterday :)).

You should come down to Ilford in the east end where i live - if you think shrewsbury is dirty / noisy / untidy etc you'd get a very nasty shock. Its only when i left shrewsbury i realised its actually a very nice place to live, if a bit quiet.

Why do you think we are heading in this downward spiral meercat??

Its one of those questions that would take a month to answer! Saying that I'm not so sure we are in a downward spiral really. These days i think we're more aware of crime / anti social behaviour than a few years ago. The press are very keen to blow things out of proportion - just read the daily mail, they seem to be of the opinion that we're about to crumble into anarchy.
As for Shrewsbury, of course there is crime / vandalism etc, but its on quite a small scale in comparison with other areas. I still think Shrewsbury is a pretty good place to live, even though i'm now an ex-pat. Living in Ilford is one extreme to the other - its a total dump even for London.

I used to live in Trowbridge, so I know the Bath area well.

I would say that the countryside around Shrewsbury is on a par with that around Trowbridge, and the house prices seem slightly cheaper than Trowbridge - so probably a lot cheaper than Bath!

I live on the edge of town, close to the A49, and have found that the transport links are better than those in Trowbridge - it's a lot quicker to get onto a motorway, with the A5 dual carriageway just a couple of miles from where I live, which links straight onto the M54.

The estate we are on is also very pleasant too. It dates back to the early 1970s, so the gardens are a decent size, and the houses are not as close together as they seem to be on more modern estates.

I do very much like the town of Shrewsbury itself as well. It's a pleasant town centre, with some great history and architecture, and good restaurants, etc. There also does seem to be a fair bit of culture as well, including musical activities.

So I would highly recommend here.

Richard