Thanks for the replies.
I'm most interested in the social side of living there. With it only being 221sq miles and a population of 80,000 I'm wondering if it would be like living in a town that I can easily leave. Is there much to do?
I'd also be interested in house prices and what areas are good to live it / should be avoided.
Depends what you like doing. Theres loads to do if you're into any sort of sport, and its a cyclists paradise. Basically the outdoors life is superb, as is motorsposts. Theres a big paintball and laserquest following if you're into that sort of thing. Other than that I suppose its like any other UK town, with all the same high street stores and brands. I lived in Onchan, near Douglas, and I'd recommend it as somewhere to live as you're only 5 mins away from the main town but at the same time its almost like a village. To be honest there not really any bad areas compared to the UK - the council estate near the swiming pool in Douglas used to be relatively rough, but relative is the key word. I'd avoid the temptation to live in the small villages miles from Douglas though. It might be a smallish island, but a 15 mile commute is still a 15 mile commute and traffic into Douglas can be bad.
There are loads and loads of good pubs all over the island - it used to be described as 60,000 alchoholics clinging to a rock (population has grown now!).
Technology is pretty good - they had 3G before the Uk and when I was there the Government would pay for you to have broadband installed (and before that ISDN)
Liverpool is a cheap day trip on the ferry as a foot passenger, but it is expensive to take a vehicle on the ferry.
Oh, if you're into *ahem* substances I'd stay away - they have a zero tolerance of drugs. A young lad that worked for me was found with 2 ecstasy tabs and sent down for 3 months (served 8 weeks) and that was a first offence.
Bascially its like the UK should be - tough on crime, no nanny state, very little in the way of dole scroungers and low tax
