Bristol CT (Hartford, Waterbury, Southington: insurance, apartments, condos)

[thedammsfamily]

How's Bristol ? The schools? Neighborhoods? Employement? Housing? Thinking of moving to CT from NY, any advice would help.

[skytrekker]

Bristol is an old New England mill town that has seen its better days. Schools are not as good as other surrounding towns. Housing is going to be far less then the NYC area for purchase or renting. The town has had some gang related activity in recent years- I do not know the status of this situation.

Employment in the town itself would be service related. ESPN world headquarters is located in the town.

Some neighborhoods are very pleasant. The downtown is in the early stages of redevelopment.

[glxyman21]

Bristol is a city of about 60,000 residents. It is an alright place, but nothing special. Some neighborhoods are nice on the outter edges of the city while towards the center it appears quite a bit run down. If you're looking for rents you will find a lot in Bristol and at decent prices from homes, condos, to apartments. Housing is cheaper than the surrounding towns. The schools do have low test scores, especially at the high school level.

If you're working in Bristol I would say its fine, but if you're working in Hartford or any place up that way there may be quite a bit of traffic. Bristol lacks any highway system or connection to it. You will have to drive into Southington or Farmington to catch I-84, or take route 72 (which is only a 2 lane road in Bristol) and catch the 72 expressway that is in Plainville. Considering everyone uses these roads which are only two lanes, traffic can be hectic in and out of the city during rush hour. The state is in the process of continuing the 72 expressway into Bristol.

Housing is cheaper in Bristol, compared to the neighbors of Southington and Farmington which are also suburban communities. If you're looking for schools and quality look into those towns as they're more family oriented with better kept homes and businesses, but you will pay a higher price.

[davfar]

Being born and raised in Bristol, I can say that it's a decent town for it's size. I haven't heard of ANY gang activity at all in town. Bristol Eastern HS is blue ribbon, and there is also a catholic HS. Bristol residents can also go to Southington HS since it's a VoAg HS.
There are a lot of decent neighborhoods in town. The Forestville section of town is closest to the highway on the Plainville/Southington town lines. This is also where ESPN is located and Otis Elevator. Chippens Hill is also a nice part of town on the Burlington/ Plymouth town lines. Expensive homes with amazing easterly views. Then there's the Edgewood section of town on the Farmington/Burlington town lines. Nice suburban feel up there. Cedar Lake has expensive homes as well on the Wolcott/ Plymouth corner of town. That area is also considered Fall Mountain. A lot of growth up there recently that they had to continue city water/sewer up the mountain. Then there's the center of town on Federal Hill. Total mix of apts and very nice old homes/mansions near the hospital. It has it's mix of good and bad neighborhoods.

Route 6 aka Farmington Avenue has been seeing insane growth lately as well from say Rte 229 (King St) all the way to the Farmington Line. There is a lot of commercial growth.

As for employment, that depends on what field your in. We have Bristol Hospital (medical) Cigna (insurance) ESPN (always hiring different fields) ...it goes on. And that's just in town. Southington, Farmington, Waterbury, and Hartford have lots of employment close by as well.

Good luck. Don't discount Bristol. It's affordable, taxes aren't bad, and any amenities that aren't in Bristol itself are close by.

[JayCT]

Bristol schools perfrom under the state average on the Connecticut Mastery Tests and have class sizes that are a bit over 20 students per class. It is located somewhat out of the way and has had a difficult time in rehabing its older neighborhoods. On the plus side it is the home of ESPN and has a lot of reasonably priced homes. While not the most desirable community in the area, there are worse. Jay

[JViello]

Once RT72 is completed to the Terryville line I think you are going to see a lot of improvement in Bristol.

I lived on a lake up in the Fall Mountain area on the Terryville line for a bit and like everyone has said "eh, Bristol is okay". With no real easy way in or out of the city, traffic is a bit of a bear and the RT6 madness has only gotten worse.

[davfar]

The highway is only going as far as Rte 229 and Memorial Blvd.

[JViello]

Originally Posted by davfar

The highway is only going as far as Rte 229 and Memorial Blvd.

Well that stinks...the last proposal I saw had it going almost to RT6 in Tville...past West Street.

But even extending it to 229 will help a ton.

[davfar]

Oh yeah man...I'm so excited! I live right off Pine St so I can't wait to see the decrease in traffic!

They recently started taking trees down too so you know this time it's definitely happening!

[sun]

The medium sized City of Bristol has a vibrant economic base, and hasn't experienced the flight of the middle class like many other CT cities. It has an older central core unlike the smaller surrounding towns which distinguishes it from them because most have none at all, but it also serves as an area wide hub of commercial, medical and industrial activity and jobs.
Over all, it's a safe, clean and enjoyable place to visit and shop. There are many other cities in CT that are much worse to reside in, but which I shall leave nameless because the list would just be too long.