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Leeds

Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
I live in London and in many respects am spoilt rotten. There are great transport links, some great club nights and lots to do...

I'm applying for a part time Masters in Leeds and am visiting the city for the weekend soon. I have a few questions, as I likely will be moving next year...

1. Roughly how much is rent for single rooms, council tax and going out?

2. How are transport links?

3. Where's a good place to live? Not too far from the university... I live in an Asian area of London and love the shops... It needs to be a relatively gay friendly area too.

4. Is it realistic to get a part time job around studies?

5. How's the vibe? Good night life? Rock clubs? Friendly people?

Comments

  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    how do you feel about dayglo and tans?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I know this won't be any help...but, I know a day rider is £4:80....

    I went to leeds for the day :P
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Poke Purple_roo with a stick. She lives there and did uni there and a masters there and works there and everything. She owns a car but I don't think she uses it ALL the time, but maybe she'll give you a lift.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    my inability to drive puts paid to lift offering!!

    Rent- shared room or single flat? I reckon shared room from £270 and single flat from £450, but more like £550 depending on area. Council tax depends on house size & sharing, budget between £50-100. Going out, do you mean drink cost or taxi costs? Taxi are reasonable, certain bus routes run really late. You can find student prices all the way through to professional prices :)

    Transport is good, particularly on the main uni stretch, though that's a busy road that can get quite delayed when there is traffic.

    I'd say your best bets are immediately around the uni (ls2) , kirkstall/burley (though not too far out) Hyde park or Headingley. Headingley is like its own little town, very student. A bit further afield you would love meanwood and chapel allerton is nice but a bit too far I think. Workhouse is a bit rough, as is burley, and Hyde park is Victorian back 2backs, Headingley a bit greener.

    Yes lots of part time work available- good break from work too!

    Vibe is awesome, I love it here. The unis are great, most of the immigrant population is awesome, you'll find a niche and fit right in :)
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Yeah, Headingley is a good bet for student vibe. With work there's plenty of call centre work, etc etc, but it depends how fussy you are. I still maintain that Leeds smells of poo though.
  • **helen****helen** Deactivated Posts: 9,235 Supreme Poster
    Another vote for Headingley here. Anyone remember Kimono? She lives in Leeds as a freelance artist these days.

    Namaste, a plus point for Leeds is it's really well connected to other cities - Manc, York, Sheffield etc.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    My mother's side of the family are all from Leeds and about 90% of them are racist. If that helps any.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    **helen** wrote: »
    Namaste, a plus point for Leeds is it's really well connected to other cities - Manc, York, Sheffield etc.

    Yep. The best bit about Leeds is definitely the M621out of the place ;-)
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    North Leeds - Meanwood, Moortown, Chapel Allerton, Roundhay are my favourite areas. Nice parks, bars and shops and not too expensive rent wise. They have a good mix of postgrads, families and young professionals. It's a slight trek to the uni though, anything from 30 mins to 1 hour by bus. It all depends what you're looking for really.

    Headingley is well served with shops, banks, bars, a train station, but it was too noisy and full of drunken teenagers for my liking. Hyde Park is very similar. Burley and Kirkstall seem to have a better mix of students, families and young professionals so feel a bit more civilized and these areas are still close to the uni. Woodhouse is probably best avoided as it's rundown, expensive and has a particularly high crime rate.

    I lived in Harehills for a couple of years which is predominantly Asian. It's known for being a rough area and generally has a bad reputation, but I liked it for it's cheapness and interesting shops.

    The uni does alternative event nights - Rock of Ages and Wendyhouse are good for the alt scene.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I always found Headingley a bit up itself and overpriced. The facilities are pretty good, but I wouldn't choose to live there, I'd find somewhere nearby and bus in to socialise or shop.

    I assume by asking about transport links you don't drive, but if you do, I'd avoid anywhere in LS6 like the plague because your insurance will be astronomical. We are going back some years now, but when I lived there, LS6 was the most burgled postcode in the UK, and my car insurance literally halved when I moved from there to LS17.

    I'd say Leeds is pretty gay-friendly in general, too. I grew up there, and I was a bit shocked when I moved to a smaller town and it was a lot more close-minded. Not to say that there aren't racists and homophobes in Leeds, but it seems to be the minority.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Thanks all for your advice. I'm megabussing it t'up north next weekend for exploration and partying.

    I already have one reference for my course... next one on and I can finalise me application.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I live in Headingley. It's nice, like others have said it is like it's own town with plenty of pubs, restaurants and shops. Very regular buses into the city center too. It's pretty close to all the uni campuses, and the Leeds met headingley campus is obviously based there.
    Yes it is a very studenty area, and full of party's and drunken teenagers but that's mostly Headingley mount and the surrounding streets, can find much quieter, peaceful areas towards what is known as 'far headingley'.
    I'm not sure about council tax, as a student I don't have to pay it, but we live in a 6 bedroomm semi-detached house with a garden and drive way and it's 72 quid a week, no bills included. You could find cheaper places though.

    Hyde Park is another student area, not as nice as Headingley and doesn't have as much going on....but it's a bit closer to the city center and city uni campuses, and houses are quite a bit cheaper.....though mostly terraced and crammed together. Massive Asian population there too, and it even has it's own (massive) Mosque, if you're into living around that sort of thing.

    Burley is another student area, similar to Hyde Park.....though I wouldn't recommend Kirkstall as someone else mentioned. I lived there in first year and it is literally miles away from anything. However, 'Headingley train station' is basically in Kirkstall which is a quick way to get into the city center.

    Loads of part time work around, shouldn't be a problem if you start looking early.

    Not really my scene/music, but there is a club/venue called Cockpit which holds rock nights and gigs all the time. That's the best place to go for that sort of music, so I've been told. But in Leeds you have plenty of choices for going out. The nightlife is sick.

    It's cheaper than going out down south, especially London. But not as cheap as I thought, and more pricey than some other Northern towns. Unless you go to the student nights where you can get 1 pound drinks. Call Lane however is full of fancy bars and is basically London prices.

    Take aways are so cheap it's insane! Can get any cuisine you want.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Kaff wrote: »

    I'd avoid anywhere in LS6 like the plague because your insurance will be astronomical. We are going back some years now, but when I lived there, LS6 was the most burgled postcode in the UK, and my car insurance literally halved when I moved from there to LS17.

    I don't think it's quite as bad as that now. There are burglery's as with any student area, but this mostly happens during the summer and christmas holidays, when they know students are at home and the houses are empty. Our house got broken into the first summer that we moved in, but luckily I hadn't moved my stuff in yet. Haven't had a problem since then.
    Hyde Park and Burley are alot worse for burglery's, lots of the houses have bars over the windows.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    pill 'ed wrote: »
    I don't think it's quite as bad as that now. There are burglery's as with any student area, but this mostly happens during the summer and christmas holidays, when they know students are at home and the houses are empty. Our house got broken into the first summer that we moved in, but luckily I hadn't moved my stuff in yet. Haven't had a problem since then.
    Hyde Park and Burley are alot worse for burglery's, lots of the houses have bars over the windows.

    The majority of the crime was always further towards the city centre (I lived in one of the houses with bars on the downstairs windows ;) ) but unfortunately insurance likes to tar entire postcodes with the same brush. My parents have the same problem in LS8 - they live in a pretty nice area, but pay through the nose for car & contents insurance cause LS8 also stretches into much of Harehills and Gipton and all those lovely areas.

    ETA: just checked quickly, and it has fallen some from the worst in Britain. That said, it is still group F* (the worst) although so is the majority of Leeds. What takes it off the list are the postcodes which are considered largely uninsurable, and don't even get a code ;)
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Namaste wrote: »
    Friendly people?

    I was born in Leeds and lived in 3 different areas, and it seems that everywhere you go it's a lovely city with lovely people. Should be the capital!
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Isn't it weird, I was in leed's coach station whilst I got a notification saying someone had commented on the post "leeds" thought I'd throw that out there ;)
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