Thoughts on Bristol (Hartford, Manchester, Torrington: amusement park, condos, crime)

joe143 · 04-06-2009, 10:21 AM

Hey everyone. I've spent most of my life in Winsted/Torrington area. My work is in winsted, my girlfriends school/work is more towards Hartford. We are looking to buy a condo in the next year or so. I've been looking and Bristol has a lot of reasonably priced Condos. We took a drive down to Bristol over the weekend and it seemed like a decent area. It had everything we need as far as practicality goes and its in a good location. Anyone have thoughts on the area?

JayCT · 04-06-2009, 10:33 AM

Bristol is a nice enough small city but would not be my first choice. It is located a bit out of the way so getting to major employment centers is a bit difficult. Be aware too that there are areas in Bristol that have some issues. Look carefully at the neighborhood before buying. Contact the local police to find out the amount of crime in the places you are interested in too. Good luck, Jay

KH02 · 04-06-2009, 10:35 AM

If it's close to between both of your jobs and you dont have to worry about schools then i'd say it's a fine place to live.
As it is affordable and the commute to winsted would be about 45 minutes though as my DH used to commute from northern Torrington to Bristol and that's about how long it took using route 8.
Bristol does not have direct highway access though.

JayCT · 04-06-2009, 10:40 AM

I should add that I do not want to discourage you from looking in Bristol. There are a LOT of great neighborhoods with reasonably priced homes there. Access to employment would really be my major concern. Bristol has just about everything you would need to live within the city or within a reasonable drive. JMHO, Jay

joe143 · 04-06-2009, 12:14 PM

Well, the area im comming from isnt the greatest. Torrington and Winsted have some real run down areas as well, but also some nice spots. After a drive in Bristol this weekend it didnt seem as run down as torrington. I did make sure to drive around more than route 6 too. We went into the downtown and surrounding areas. The city didnt seem too bad.

jjbradleynyc · 04-06-2009, 01:58 PM

There are some nice areas of Bristol, but both times I was there, it reminded me of small towns back home in TN. Kind of simple, slower, and a bit "behind-the-times." I did not feel like I was in CT in Bristol.
Don't get me wrong, I'm sure there are plenty of awesome and kind people in Bristol and I'm sure it has its fair share of great things to do and great restaurants, etc. But it felt like it was the middle of nowhere. Just my opinion.

JayCT · 04-06-2009, 02:52 PM

Bristol does seem a little slower than the rest of Connecticut but that can be good. It could be because it is a bit removed from major highways and larger cities. That said it is also home to some of the state's biggest attractions. It is home to Lake Compounce Amusement Park and is the world headquarters for ESPN.

Another bit a trivia, Alaska Governor Sarha Palin named her daughter after Bristol, Connecticut. When she was younger she wanted to work for ESPN but then found it was located in Bristol which was too far from Alaska. She settled for just naming her daughter after the city. True story, Jay

Cambium · 04-07-2009, 05:45 AM

I love Bristol. I wish I can move there! You'll be Close to Lake Compounce.

brasscitybluenwhite · 04-07-2009, 06:27 AM

I love bristol for its diversity. Not to many cities with diversity have decent schools and CT. It seems like all of the kids are involved.

And although people have mentioned tough neighborhoods, the only tough neighborhood that I can remember in Bristol is around Davis Dr. I worked at a pharmacy downtown and it seems that people were overreacting about the amount of crime in B-town. Yes, downtown Bristol does have homelessness. There are people that fill there carriages up with garbage bags and roam downtown. Downtown also does have a working-class neighborhood downtown too. But if crime isn't high, I don't get why this would stop somebody from moving there. Bristol's the closest u'll ever get to seeing a perfect, diverse city in CT.

JViello · 04-07-2009, 06:28 AM

Bristol's okay. Has it's good parts and has it's bad parts.

What I find interesting is it seems that as they are "renewing" certain things, other parts are degrading at an equal rate. It's weird.

RT72 coming all the way to the Blvd is IMO going to make a big difference.

Personally, I think it should have gone further in but that's a good compromise. Access has always been the problem with Bristol, and that should change it and at the same time perhaps spark some interest in new development.

Edit: Brasscity - I would put Manchester in that "perfect" city category you created as well.