Moving to Oxford soon. Accommodation needed!

carbold

carbold

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Hi guys, I'll soon be moving to Oxford from sunny Sheffield due to a new job. When I went down for my interview I had a chance to see the countryside which is as beutiful as the peak district :D Some good GS roads! Looking foward to riding over there and maybe meeting a few of you. I'm now looking for accommodation in Oxford central, do you guys know any private landlord?
 
Thaks! That's a great website, I've arranged 7 viewings on Saturday...Rent is on average twice as much as in Sheffield for the same kind of flat... :eek:
 
Yeah - welcome to Oxfordshire, land of the unaffordable house! My one-plus-a-bit bedroom cottage in leafy Bampton is worth (apparently) a shade under £250k...

Rents are daft down here too, but if you fancy living a bit out of the centre it gets a bit better. Drop me a PM if you want any advice about the bits to avoid! Generally, in Oxford, the nicer it sounds the nastier it is:

- North Oxford. Sounds horrible. It's actually packed with megabuck houses and foul people who'll look down on you unless you're the Emeritus Professor of Arsehole Studies at Buttfelch College

- Blackbird Leys. Just do a search on Google. That'll tell you all!
 
EEK!

vicki _WRITES "Blackbird Leys is the epicentre of chav scum.
As a kiwi backpacker I had the privilage of living there for almost a year for my staff accommadation!
Our next door neighbour was and still is a complete chavette. Only 19 years old and already with child. She had numerous male friends who used to seem to be a rota of what night they stayed, also used to take it in turns to beat her. Not very nice.
Her boyfriends offered some of our flatmates some crack for a good price. How Generous.
The local spar was there hang out, also seemed to be a breeding ground for pitbulls.
Even if you were just running in for a second you locked all your car doors and alarmed it, just in case.
I have to admit I have never been scared before of under 12's but Blackbird Leys showed me fear of a new kind.
Chav scum are the WORST.

PS In NZ we call them bogans, but they are no where near as bad as the Chavs of England. "
 
I have a spare room/house share but I am 40 mins from Oxford (near Tring)
if thats any use.

Also have some Mushy peas
 
Thanks to all for the advice, I came down on Saturday and had a look at a couple of flats in Oxford central (MMC, that link was very useful).
My problem is my girlfriend...well, at least the fact that she'll have to commute to London, so we needed something close to the station. That means at least £1000 rent a month :eek
Anyway, we chose one with off street parking for the GS...It will do for the time being. Surely at that rate it makes sense to get a morgage asap at least you don't have the feeling that you are throwing your money away...
 
carbold said:
Thanks to all for the advice, I came down on Saturday and had a look at a couple of flats in Oxford central (MMC, that link was very useful).
My problem is my girlfriend...well, at least the fact that she'll have to commute to London, so we needed something close to the station. That means at least £1000 rent a month :eek
Anyway, we chose one with off street parking for the GS...It will do for the time being. Surely at that rate it makes sense to get a morgage asap at least you don't have the feeling that you are throwing your money away...
Click to expand...

True enough. £1000 a month would buy you something with a bit of character in O'ford if you had a decent deposit to put down. For trains, there's always alternatives like Radley, Cullham, Appleton outside the City, but then you're into commuting into work too.

Now you've found somewhere (near Domino's Pizza too... mmm), it's time to find the good spots to eat and drink...

- the cafe right by the station in a little prefab; absolutely the best breakfasts in Oxford
- Peppers Burgers (double Hawaiian - wow) on Walton Street
- Aziz on Cowley Road for curry
- the Turf Tavern, tucked behind Hertford College, just under the Bridge of Sighs
- the cafe in MOA (Modern Art Oxford) - the tourists never find it, it's almost student-free and it's superb and cheap
- George and Danvers on St Aldates and Little Clarendon Street - coffee and bagels on Sunday mornings. Laugh at the most incompetent and grumpy staff in the city.

Then you've got the whole of Oxfordshire's pubs to discover. You're in for a good time I reckon. And if you make it out as far as the wilds of Bampton, be sure to look us up. Drop me a PM, the coffee's always on. :thumb
 
If you're prepared to commute a little distance into the City (that's a big IF BTW - try it before you make any decisions as Oxford's goal in life is to stop anybody getting in though the Park & Ride can be quite good) and depending what part of Town your girlfriend works in, consider somewhere within easy reach of the Chiltern line which runs thorugh the area North of Oxford to Marylebone. IMHO an infinitely superior train service to the main Paddington drag, more reliable, cleaner and cheaper (and, touch wood, I have never ever had to stand).


Paul

PS If you like cricket, it is also dead handy for Lords.
 
Thanks Paul, useful info again, but my girlfriend and I would rather live in the city centre for at least a year, to enjoy the action a little bit. We loved Oxford (she loved the massive Primark in town :nenau ) and we are looking forward to going - and eating - around. Now my priority is to find a nice Italian place to get a decent capuccino - no Starcrap, Nero, Costa and so on.
Any suggestions?
 
carbold said:
Thanks Paul, useful info again, but my girlfriend and I would rather live in the city centre for at least a year, to enjoy the action a little bit. We loved Oxford (she loved the massive Primark in town :nenau ) and we are looking forward to going - and eating - around. Now my priority is to find a nice Italian place to get a decent capuccino - no Starcrap, Nero, Costa and so on.
Any suggestions?
Click to expand...

Ah - everything you want should be in Oxford, or nearby...

The best coffee in town is in the covered market. Right at the front, near the High St, there's a little cafe that does pannini and other grub. Best coffee in Oxford in my view. OK, the guy who runs it is French, but it's a start, eh?

But if you're hankering for a taste of home, you'll need to head for Witney and Cafe Messina Run by Tony and Laura - Tony's Sicilian and cooks like an utter god. All those pics on the website are of Tony at work making stuff from scratch. It's a really unprepossessing little place in an alleyway, but don't let appearances deceive. The food is incredible, and Laura and Tony are really friendly. It's our 'other office'...

Too much else to list - we should get together over a coffee!
 
If you have not looked already think about heading out of the centre and up the Cowley Road. You can easily walk to the station but failing that there are lots of buses. It is generally a bit cheaper than the centre thoug not much, but its much more vibrant.

Loads of pubs, some good, some awful... aziz for curry as has been mentioned but lots more as well. The Oxford Thai is there too which is a cracking resturant. There are a fair number of characters about, the Cowley Road massive, as we used to call them but it makes living there a laugh. There is never an excuse for not going out there and you can be out of Oxford within 15 mins traffic permitting if you need to be.
 
Thank you guys. Just for the record, moving to Oxford is costing me £3400
That is a deposit of twice the monthly rent, plus one month rent plus agency fee (£300). If God exists those estate agents will go to hell!
 
Nippy Normans supply Touratech, Wunderlich, Desert Fox and many other makes of accessories.
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