Advice needed on places to live in Durham

Hello wise gentlefolk of GD.

I will be moving up to County Durham in April and would like any advice from the locals on areas that are nice to live and places to avoid.

I'm looking to rent at the moment and budget is around £500pm. I'll be working south of Durham near Ferryhill (not a place I intend on living ) but not too bothered about commuting.

What I'm after really is a place that's close to pubs/bars or have good access to these holiest of facilities and possibly a supermarket. I'd rather not be too far out in the sticks though.

As a very general starter rule, try and avoid the eastern side of Durham, some of the pit villages there are easily as rough as Ferryhill, or rougher.

Western villages vary, but you might not easily find everything you're after in one place. Supermarkets tend to be spread about among different villages, but you might find that pubs/bars you're interested in are primarily based in Durham itself, so you'll need to travel to them wherever you live.

With that in mind, pop up a couple of rental suggestions in the area if you like, and I'll try and give you a general idea of what the wider area may be like, if I know anything about it.

Most of the houses I've seen which like alright are mainly in Langley Park, Bearpark, Sherburn Village, Brandon and Bowburn.

there seemed to be a lot of availability in Consett but I think that'll be to far out

Stay away from Chilton and Newton Aycliffe. Some decent areas in Spennymoor, but nightlife is poor. Bishop Auckland used to be a good night out - but again be careful with certain areas.

What about Durham itself (straight down A1) amazing night out and loads of lovely students or Darlington (up A1) - again excellent night out.

Hartlepool, Newcastle, South Shields etc have an excellent nightlife, all depends on how far you want to commute?

I used to work for Black & Decker in Spennymoor, 10mins from Ferryhill. Can i ask what you're doing up there? Also, my ex lives in Ferryhill; say "hi" for me!!

I'd love to live in Newcastle but I've experienced what its like driving around there during the rush hour. I'd probably be willing to commute 30-40mins each way (to Ferryhill/Coxhoe area). Morning rush hour shouldn't be a problem as I'll probably be working at 7am just hitting the traffic on the way home

If you have a car, you can consider Newcastle, Gateshead, South Shields and Sunderland. The commute south of the Tyne would be about 30 mins max. North of the Tyne you could look at up to an hour in peak time.

I personally am considering Whitburn!

Is there much going on south of the Tyne? I honestly have no idea about the area other than drinking in Newcastle city centre and going to St James Park

Avoid Crook.

Darlington isn't too far from Ferryhill, simple enough commute. Nice town centre and it's OK for a night out... it's not Durham or Newcastle but it's not bad. Like any town it has its good and not so good places to live.

Durham is nicer City and has more going on, it isn't actually that much bigger than Darlington, but given it is a city it does have a bit more to offer in terms of bars, night life and shopping.

If I was making the choice, I'd be opting for Durham. I live and work in Darlington, but Durham is nice. Plus you're much closer to Newcastle.

Gooner Leroy said:

Is there much going on south of the Tyne? I honestly have no idea about the area other than drinking in Newcastle city centre and going to St James Park

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Well it's all relative I suppose, but South Shields has a pretty good selection of stuff going on: pubs, bars, restaurants and even a few clubs. And the connections to Newcastle and Sunderland make it entirely viable to head there for a night out.

I live in Gateshead (near Metrocentre) and it's a 10 min journey into Newcastle. I personally only go to the Central Pub in Gateshead center, the others are awful. I would look at Durham itself if I were you. Cracking night out, loads to do and less of a commute. Its also only 15mins away on the train to Newcastle if you fancied a change.

Egon said:

Darlington isn't too far from Ferryhill, simple enough commute. Nice town centre and it's OK for a night out... it's not Durham or Newcastle but it's not bad. Like any town it has its good and not so good places to live.

Durham is nicer City and has more going on, it isn't actually that much bigger than Darlington, but given it is a city it does have a bit more to offer in terms of bars, night life and shopping.

If I was making the choice, I'd be opting for Durham. I live and work in Darlington, but Durham is nice. Plus you're much closer to Newcastle.

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I was thinking about Darlington at one point as I know a couple of people there but I'd probably enjoy being closer to Newcastle like you say.

Thompson_NCL said:

Well it's all relative I suppose, but South Shields has a pretty good selection of stuff going on: pubs, bars, restaurants and even a few clubs. And the connections to Newcastle and Sunderland make it entirely viable to head there for a night out.

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Will my car be left in one piece in South Shields??

Binmilk said:

I live in Gateshead (near Metrocentre) and it's a 10 min journey into Newcastle. I personally only go to the Central Pub in Gateshead center, the others are awful. I would look at Durham itself if I were you. Cracking night out, loads to do and less of a commute. Its also only 15mins away on the train to Newcastle if you fancied a change.

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What is there to do in Durham other than drinking of course and harassing charming young students?

Durham - normal high street, but with beautiful scenery. The Cathedral, the surrounding area.

Major bus and train stations etc.

Durham itself is a beautiful city - but you will pay a bit more because of this and the closeness to the Uni.

Gooner Leroy said:

Will my car be left in one piece in South Shields??

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It's a decent sized town, so it depends where you live. But if you have £500 budget, I assume you'll be in a reasonable area. I mean, you can obviously search for properties in the £600 mark and negotiate down.

Another plus is that you're on the sea front and have lots of events like the Great North Run taking part there. There is also a decent beach, parks and the like.

I like Durham, it is very pretty. But for me, I'd rather be a bit further north so I go to Newcastle, the Metro Centre and so forth. It's not a huge chore to travel there in a car of course, but if you want to drink you're limited to public transport, and the Metro doesn't run that way.

if you're gonna be working in Ferryhill, then have a look at Sedgefield, not too far away, has a few pubs there and isn't that far away from Durham/Darlo and Hartlepool. Personally I would stay away from the likes of Shields and Newcastle unless you want a 40+ mile commute each way. I commute from NW Durham(derwentside) to Sedgefield which is a 20mile each way trek an can be a PITA as I also start at 7am, the A1 is a joke at times.
Also have a look at Chester-Le-Street, plenty of nightlife and amenities there.

Seaham, on the coast, went through major development in the past 10 years to modernise the place and has some nice new housing estates, the pit village feel is practically non-existent anymore unless you want to drink in some of the old pubs.

Durham would not exist now if it wasn't for the University though. Every house within a couple of miles radius of the centre are student digs. When the students are gone the place is empty except for tourists. I work at the University and go into the town most days, you truly cannot fault the scenery

Thanks chaps. Unfortunately you've given me more of a headache for suggesting places that I wasn't looking at before

One of my best mates in the lower part of Brandon, it does have a little bit of a reputation but he lives well away from it. Seems very quiet when i've stayed over and the like.

I wouldn't pay much attention to people saying stuff about rough areas.

I live in newcastles west end (arthurs hill area) which people constantly tell me is a dangerous area and you shouldn't walk around at night...
I've never had a problem with the local teenagers or rough looking adults.

I pay 320pm for a 1bed flat and can see stjames park from my window.
Whilst my neighbours are fairly rough looking they always say hello when they see me.
I think you would be worse off living in a student area which attracts the criminal elements rather than living where the criminals do.

I've gone for walks around the local area at 3-4 in the morning sometimes and walked straight past loads of rough people that are walking home from the city centre after a night out drinking and the worst thing that happened to me so far was 2 guys asking if I wanted to buy some weed lol.