Like listening to Ghost Town is going to give you an idea of what a place was like a quarter century ago? That's some piss-poor research.

Hi Eric,

I'm afraid I'm not an expert on housing in Leamington; I know it as a place to shop, etc., but not as a place to live. Can anyone else out there help Eric?

Stellarossa, I don't understand your comment. Audere mentioned Ghost Town but only as an indication of what Coventry used to be like in the 80s. I don't think anyone is suggesting it is still true today. (Good song, though...)

Good luck with your trip - you'll love it!

Tania

First let me just that this is my first post, so be gentle please.

I live in Leamington, and it's a pretty nice place. I've only lived here since March though, so not sure what it used to be like before then. It's got a number of good shops, most of the chain stores, and there's a big Sainsbury's on the edge of town, and 24 hour Tesco in Warwick.

Warwick and Leamington are lovely places, and Coventry is easily reachable from both. Both have a lot of areas that are pedestrian friendly, which I quite like, and public transport is good. There's a bus that runs to the uni from a few main stops in Leamington & Warwick and a few places along the way if you would like to take that instead of driving.

There are quite a few nice restaurants for dinners if you like them and a few clubs in Leamington if you like going out. The clubs aren't fab, but they're not all cheesy either; I prefer going out in Birmingham, but that's a personal preference based on musical taste. There are also some clubs in Coventry, but I've only been to one or two and I didn't think too much of them.

We looked at moving to Coventry, but we didn't really find any areas that we wanted to live in. It's a dreary town to me, full of concrete 60's & 70's housing stock. This is slowly changing, but there's a lot of grey around, and the ring roads are a nightmare.

Solihull is lovely, but a bit of a trek in the mornings; the commute isn't nice in my opinion, but the city itself has a lot of nice restaurants & good shopping. Kenilworth is a lovely little town, but it's not open that late, and they role up the streets at 5 most nights; when we looked at real estate there it was more than we'd be paying in Leamington and for a flat, not a house.

Most of the areas of Leamington are nice, though the Lillington area can get a bit dicey as there's a big council high rise and the police are seen there quite often. It's not all bad, I live in that area, but there are some streets I'd probably avoid. I pay £600pcm for a 2BR, 1 Bath semi with a garage and good size garden. Council tax is roughly £150/month.

That's all I can think of for the moment, but if you have any other questions, please feel free to let me know. :)

Tania, what bit don't you understand? To tell someone to listen to song to get an idea of what a city was like years ago is stupid and, of course, doesn't work.

unicornfl, thank you very much for your detailed response. I'm going to the area for a couple of days in October and I'll check out some apartments. I'll spend a couple of nights in Leamington, can you recommend some restaurants or pubs in a lively area (price range 20 -30 GBP)?

Eric - you're doing the best thing by going to have a look round. Will you have a car? That would be best as you can then spend some time exploring Leamington, Warwick, Kenilworth, Solihull and any other places you are considering.

I lived in Leamington for 2 years when I was studying at the University of Warwick (which is actually in Coventry, not Warwick). Admittedly, I left 10 years ago so the place could be very different now.

I used to laugh when I told people I lived in Leamington as the reaction was along the lines of how did I cope as a student living in a quiet, genteel, middle-England town like "Royal Leamington Spa".

Little do many people know that the town is lived in by thousands of students. Generally, they all live in the south part of the town and it's noticeable how the Parade (the main shopping street) changes half way down and the housing is very different from here.

It sounds like Coventry has changed quite a lot over recent years and so I probably can't say much about it - the most desirable parts did seem to be in the southern parts of the city towards the University of Warwick.

I agree with Where2Travel in that you can tell where the student section starts in Leamington. This isn't a bad thing and I've not seen the type of behaviour I was expecting in student sections, i.e. not a lot of folks bent over losing their dinners or flashing things they shouldn't, things that I saw a few too many times when I was a student a few years ago. That's not to say you won't see it, but it tends to be off the main strip that it happens.

The Thai Elephant is a bit kitsch, but is fun and has good service, and it fits your price range. It's within a 2 minute walk of the Parade as well. Piccolinos in Warwick has good Italian food with good service; there's one in Leamington but the service isn't a good. Macky's in Leamington is good for late night drinks, and not bad for lunch though can be a bit pricey as it mostly caters to business lunches. Chicos in Leamington has decent Mexican food, though it's not like you'll find in the States. The Art Kitchen in Warwick is good for nice Thai lunches or dinners. Toyk, as well as Armaan, are both good choices in your price range. There's a tapas place next to Armaan that's good as well, but I can't remember the name of it right now.

Pubs, I like some traditional, some kitsch, some studenty, so the ones on the list are probably a mix of all of them. Murphy's in Leamington for the atmosphere, Mumbaii Bluu in Leamington, Moo Bar in Leam for the beautiful people, and Cuba in Leam. The Tilted Wig in Warwick normally has some good speciality ales on tap that they rotate, but the food for lunch can be a bit pricey; they do nice seafood meals though.

All the restaurants I've listed are near the main areas of Warwick or Leamington so you should be able to find them with no problems or if you ask anyone in town they can direct you to them. :)

To be honest though, have a look around the Parade (that's the high street) and the streets surrounding it and go in a restaurant that catches your eye. :) We've got the typical chains like Ask, Zizzi and Pizza Express if all else fails or Wetherspoons or Yates if you want to hit chain pubs.

If you're not driving, most of the buses leave from the Parade and there's good transport links between Leam, Warwick and Kenilworth, with buses to Stratford from there as well. There's construction at the bottom of the Parade at the moment and it's pretty much closed off to traffic, but it should be open by the time you come to visit.

Where2Travel, unicorfl,
thanks for your replies. Yes, I will probably rent a car for a day to check out the area.