Best UK cities to live in excluding London (dangerous, stores)

[califantastic]

What are the best UK cities to live in and why?

Please exclude London from your answers as that city already gets plenty of attention.

Thank you for your opinion.

[Baldrick]

Hmm....

Britain has a lot of citys (traditionally any place with a Cathedral is a city although other places can be designated as a city by the government) from St Davids in Wales with a pop' of 1,800 to London with a pop' of 7,825,000.

I'd probably go for smaller 'old' cities like Exeter (where i live) and Salisbury, Worcester, York, Stirling, Oxford, Lancaster, Norwich places like that. Big enough to have all the amenities you could reasonably want, surrounded (or near to) open countryside but still feel like like a town. Hard to explain really but i hope it kind of makes sense.

[Mooseketeer]

Oxford
Bath
Edinburgh

For me these are the only three cities I would ever wish to live in in the UK, Cosmopolitcan but small, lots of cultural events, fantastic architecture and access to beautiful countryside. Small but perfectly formed all of them.

[dunno what to put here]

What do you want?

Do you want to live in a small city like Oxford, that is generally rather affluent, beautiful, relatively safe but not very buzzing, or do you want to live in a larger city such as Manchester, which has tons of cultural events, more to see and do, larger suburbs, more bars, pubs, clubs, museums, big name stores such as Harvey Nichols and Selfridges, a 'true' city feel, and is close to the Peak District.. but is more dangerous of course (like any city)? It all boils down to what you prefer.

[chilaili]

Originally Posted by Mooseketeer

Oxford
Bath
Edinburgh

For me these are the only three cities I would ever wish to live in in the UK, Cosmopolitcan but small, lots of cultural events, fantastic architecture and access to beautiful countryside. Small but perfectly formed all of them.

Oxford (how can you not love a town with practically more pubs than people ?)
Newcastle
Glasgow (I just prefer the west coast a little more)

[tinalimey]

I agree with Oxford and Bath.

I would also add Cantebury, Cambridge, Winchester, Chester, and I know it's not a city but I'm biased - Bournemouth.

[Jezer]

Originally Posted by Baldrick

Hmm....

Britain has a lot of citys (traditionally any place with a Cathedral is a city although other places can be designated as a city by the government) from St Davids in Wales with a pop' of 1,800 to London with a pop' of 7,825,000.

I'd probably go for smaller 'old' cities like Exeter (where i live) and Salisbury, Worcester, York, Stirling, Oxford, Lancaster, Norwich places like that. Big enough to have all the amenities you could reasonably want, surrounded (or near to) open countryside but still feel like like a town. Hard to explain really but i hope it kind of makes sense.

Thanks Baldrick- you've saved me having to make a list.

[Transmition]

I liked both Norwich and Nottingham.

[dunno what to put here]

I guess people on here like the same, boring predictable small historical cities?

[B87]

I went to uni in Southampton, that's not a bad city but if I had to choose a city to live in outside London/Surrey, it would probably be Reading or Bournemouth.