Moving to Belfast Megathread

6679

Also does anyone know where I can get a second hand bike around Belfast?

el tel

6679 wrote: »

Also does anyone know where I can get a second hand bike around Belfast?

You could try gumtree but be careful of stolen bikes and sellers with unrealistic valuations of their bikes.

Also, you can get some excellent value new bikes at Chain reaction Cycles on Boucher Road,

6679

Anyone recommend a good dental surgery near the Lisburn Road/Queens?

Had a look at http://www.theguildpractice.com/ but prices seem a bit high like £70 for a new patient check up.

niallhy

hi all.
i'm moving to Belfast for a months work soon and after checking up on daft most of the rents seem to be for a year and i'm not going to fork out for a hotel either for a month so can anyone here please recommend something like a b&b or suchlike i could stay in.i'm from kilkenny and catholic so would be looking for somewhere quiet and without parties going 24/7.all help much appreciated.and i will be working near the M1 if thats any help..

pow wow

Gumtree Belfast has a short-term lets section, usually B&Bs looking to fill up or cash-strapped folks who let their spare rooms on and off. The link is here. We used it to let our spare room here and there and found it great. You can also post a free ad there yourself in this section - a friend's done it before and had oodles of responses. I wouldn't put your phone number on public view though as you'll get all sorts phoning you

niallhy

thanks a million pow wow,i'll get on it straight away:)

househunter1

hey guys i see this thread has been inactive for a while but hopefully some of you can help. Myself and 3 friends are moving to Belfast to start work in Bombardier in Queens Island. We've been looking at property around the lisburn road, malone, stranmillis and ormeau road areas. Would this be a good area to choose in relation to heading into the city centre for nights out travelling to and from work? Also we're moving up from the south, would this area suit us? Thanks.

Isotonik

househunter1 wrote: »

hey guys i see this thread has been inactive for a while but hopefully some of you can help. Myself and 3 friends are moving to Belfast to start work in Bombardier in Queens Island. We've been looking at property around the lisburn road, malone, stranmillis and ormeau road areas. Would this be a good area to choose in relation to heading into the city centre for nights out travelling to and from work? Also we're moving up from the south, would this area suit us? Thanks.

Hmmm you can access the town quite easily from those areas but Queens Island is the other side of the city centre. Still it's not beyond impossible.

househunter1

Hi just on the off chance would anybody know anything about local soccer clubs in Belfast? I'm moving up from Dublin in the month or so and need to find a team up there. I found the Antrim league and divisions on line but I don't know if I should avoid teams from certain areas because i'm from the south. Would that even be an issue do you think? Thanks

Riverfarset

a few clubs in North Belfast you might be interested in:

Www.hibsbelfast.co.uk (a bunch of eejits but good craic as a i know a couple of them)

http://www.malachiansfc.com/index.html

http://newingtonfc.com/

south belfast club; Rosario Fc http://www.facebook.com/pages/rosario-football-club-belfast/158921324662

Hope that helps

ddogsbollix

Very sorry in advance for repeating everything..... just got a job in belfast working in the docks in the east. im from mayo so i would appreciate any advise on housing and soccer and gaelic teams that i would 'suit' as in im from mayo (self explanatory)

scared_to_move

Hej Hej!

I'll probably be moving to belfast from Stockholm early next year. I have two girls, 7 and 4. Can anyone give some tips on schooling? Whats the best way of transferring in the middle of the school year? Is it difficult? Both kids are fluent in English, so hopefully that shouldn't be a problem.

Also, what areas of the city are good to live in? I'd like to be outside the city, where I can afford a larger house. Is it better to rent or to buy? Whats a nice upscale neighbourhood thats ok with a non-catholic-protestant family who may have foreign sounding accents?:)

Thanks for the help!!

FarmersSon

Hi,

I would recommend living in Hillsborough Co. Down.

It is a large village 25 minutes from the center of Belfast by car. It is on the main arterial route to Belfast / Dublin, with good bus services to and from Belfast city center.

Large out of town shopping center 10 minutes away, with the largest Marks & Spencer on the island of Ireland, Sainsburys, Boots, Next, etc etc.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillsborough,_County_Down


Lots of good primary schools in the area, Downshire Primary in the village itself, and Meadow Bridge Primary further out.

Plenty of restaurants & bars, shops and amenities, too.

Large forest park, with historic fort, lake, ducks, etc.

Regard to any accents, no one will bat an eyelid. I have heard plenty of Irish, German, English accents about the village.

Check out propertynews.com . That is the main source of information regarding properties for sale and to rent within Northern Ireland.

http://www.propertynews.com/

hawkwind23

Hillsborough is a good shout

i would recommend Holywood or any of the towns along the coast from there to Bangor.

excellent rail links to the city centre and an easy commute with the car.

can walk along the whole coast

schools some of the best in Northern Ireland.

It can be expensive however

hungry hippo 4

God help ya mate!

martinedwards

North Down is REALLY expensive.

Jordanstown on the North side of Belfast Lough is a bit cheaper and the schools are just as good.

as to trains, Jordanstown & North Down are equal

driving in, Jordanstown has more free flowing traffic than North Down. Hillsborough will take a LOT longer to drive into Belfast in rush hour.

Hillsborough is very nice, but also expensive (because its very nice!) after all, its got a castle where the Queen stays when shes in the province......

The housing market is at the start of an upturn after a LONG dip, so it's the perfect time to buy.

as to schooling, schools have to keep a few spaces for kids moving into the area. the later in the year you are, the fewer spaces will be available.

the general standard of education here is pretty good, but just like every where else, there are good schools and not so good.

we moved house by 300m when our eldest was 2 to get into the catchment area of an excellent school.

each school has it's own set of admission criteria. heres a wee linky that might help......

http://www.nidirect.gov.uk/applying-for-a-school-place-admissions-criteria

one wee thing, I taught kids who had moved from Holland.

perfect English, the integrated very well, but where everyone else was taking their GCSE exams at 16, they both took GCSE Dutch at 14 and scored very high marks because they were obviously fluent.

your kids are too young for that yet, but well worth remembering (and pushing for) as very few schools will run classes in Swedish, but entry for the exam is very simple, so long as you don't mind doing a (tiny) bit of home schooling for it.

catrionanic

Holywood and Hillsborough are indeed very pretty, but very expensive to boot!

I was brought up on the upper Antrim Road, just before it becomes Glengormley. Fantastic schools there and never any trouble. It's a majority Catholic area but there were quite a few people from further afield living in the community and there was never any trouble - if anything, as kids we were MORE interested in new students who moved to the school if they were from somewhere abroad as it made them more interesting.

The schools up there are awesome - Our Lady of Lourdes Park Lodge is one of the best in the city. St Therese of Liseux is also very good. Transport links to city centre are great, and if you're driving in it'll only take less than 10 minutes.

The only downside is that you're never too far away from an interface.

Zcott

South Belfast is good too, around Ormeau Road/Saintfield Road.

IS_a_Class

hey guys, galway lad here. Thinking of moving up there with my wife and considering an offer. What do you think is the minimum net income that a couple could live on up there?

el tel

If you don't mind me asking, would you be working in Belfast and do you have a budget for rent or house price?

I would not necessarily recommend living outside of the city, but rather on the outskirts.

Saintfield Road is nice, good new schools (e.g. St Ita's). As is Rosetta area.

Malone and off-Malone (Lisburn Road) is great too but expensive.

martinedwards

scared_to_move wrote: »

non-catholic-protestant family

if you aren't religeous then a state school might be a better bet than one of the (excellent) RC schools

scared_to_move

Thanks all fro the great feedback!

El Tel, not sure about my budget yet, since I still don't have a salary figure quoted to me, but I assume I should be able to afford something in the region of 200K GBP if I want to buy a house. Looking to buy a new-ish place if possible. with 3-4 bedrooms. What do you say?

el tel

Get on to

http://www.propertynews.com/

and/or

http://www.propertypal.com/

and see what £200K gets you in and around Belfast.

There's also Hollywood and Bangor to the east of Belfast.

Certainly Bangor would get you a lot more house for the money.

barry181091

Just been offered a great graduate job in Belfast. Think im going to take it, big move from Galway though!

Was up there for an assessment center and was impressed by the city, my god Queens is amazing!

I would need a car though in reality, just because that 'two bus tango' back to Galway is horrible!

Does anyone know is insurance more expensive or whatever for the UK, for new drivers? I still have my provisional and will have to get my full this summer!

Is it nice to live around Queens? Looked like a really nice area to live.

jimbo007

I think insurance is less - I moved up here 3 years ago, and definitely found insurance to be less expensive, and stayed with the same insurer (Axa).

barry181091

Oh yeah it is, just looked it up and we are talking maybe 400 less

In terms of income tax, how does that compare? Less tax the better better!

PeteEd

barry181091 wrote: »

Oh yeah it is, just looked it up and we are talking maybe 400 less

In terms of income tax, how does that compare? Less tax the better better!

You will be taxed less
http://www.listentotaxman.com/
http://taxcalc.ie/budget-2014/

will give you a rough idea

pow wow

barry181091 wrote: »

Just been offered a great graduate job in Belfast. Think im going to take it, big move from Galway though!

Was up there for an assessment center and was impressed by the city, my god Queens is amazing!

I would need a car though in reality, just because that 'two bus tango' back to Galway is horrible!

Does anyone know is insurance more expensive or whatever for the UK, for new drivers? I still have my provisional and will have to get my full this summer!

Is it nice to live around Queens? Looked like a really nice area to live.

Congratulations

For me insurance was cheaper in NI as a new driver though that's going back a couple of years now. In terms of places to live I wouldn't live in any of the streets immediately around Queen's (badly kept student houses for the most part) but less than a 5 minute walk up the road is Stranmillis (BT9 postcode if you're using one of the flatfinder sites) which is also a studenty area but is much nicer than Holylands (BT7) and is a bit more...grown up I suppose! If you were standing in front of Queen's facing the Lanyon Building with the Student's Union behind you you'd take a right up the hill past the Botanic Gardens and that's Stranmillis up there.

ShowMeTheCash

I lived on the Lisburn road, it was handy, nice place, near all the shops and a 25min walk to the city centre.

In around Queens you have the hollylands, it is handy to everything but it is all mainly students.

South Belfast is generally nicer but it all depends on what you want to splash out on in rent.

Oreamu road
Ravinhill road
Lisburn road

Are handy enough spots if you are going to be working in town.

Alternatively get an apt in town 600 - 800 squids queens money for a two bed is what if found.

barry181091

No interest in small apartments really, being a hermit in a new city...don't think so!

What I have noticed about belfast is that a lot of the houses are exactly the same inside! Seems to be tons of small terraced houses with rooms but nothing else really

BeardySi

yup, lots and lots and lots of late victorian terracing... Pretty much all of the houses close to the city centre are, you'll need to work out towards the fringes to find newer...

ShowMeTheCash

Some good duplex appartments in Alfred streed, they are expensive enough all the same.

Ardenlee just of the ravinhill road has some nice town houses that are relatively new.

rarakookoo

Great Thread, looking for more up to date information regarding Belfast city. I'm a female southerner looking to study at Queens. Looking for a quiet area close to Queens, any suggestions? Should I be worried about driving an irish reg car?

Thanks!

BeardySi

rarakookoo wrote: »

I'm a female southerner looking to study at Queens. Looking for a quiet area close to Queens, any suggestions?

Stranmillis and Lisburn road are both close and nice enough. Avoid the holylands like the plaguepit it is. Ormeau road area is reasonably nice too. The great thing about Belfast is nowhere is really that for from anywhere else...

rarakookoo wrote: »

Should I be worried about driving an irish reg car?

No. Even where I live in East Belfast it's fairly common to see houses with Irish reg cars parked outside...

magooly

There is absolutely no problem having an irish car anywhere around Queens, plenty of your neighbours will also have irish cars and they can be safely parked on the street. Noone will bat an eyelid

The only time you need to be cautious is venturing into East Belfast or anywhere near the Shankhill / Carlisle circus. In general when the marching season starts April - July just be a little more aware of where you are going and youl be fine. Driving into the city center or the local shopping centers is totally fine.

As others said BT7 BT9 ormeau lisburn road stranmillis are all suitable areas.

BeardySi

Also, Ravenhill/Cregagh Road area is decent - rents are lower and it's generally quiet. There are some streets I wouldn't want to live one, but most of the area is grand (gets a bit paradey at this time of year - though no so much this year for some reason!)...

rarakookoo

I've noticed on some of the rent pages like spare room that some houses say 'no DHSS'. I'm aware that's the department of health and social services, does that mean no to rent allowance? Anyone got any information on this, does this include the student nurses bursary or...? Also I have a bank of Ireland bank account, does anyone know if there is BOI banks in NI, if so, does it mean I would/wouldn't have to change banks/get a new bank account?

Probably really stupid Q's, but I've never moved before so I have no idea!

BeardySi

DHSS = rent allowance.

BoI do operate up here, though they are separate form the BoI south of the border - you wouldn't be able to use your account from down there up here if you know what I mean...

ShowMeTheCash

DHSS usually means they don't want people on the Dole.

But if you are a student you are not on DHSS.

You need to open a new Bank Account in Northern Ireland for DD and such.

If you are a student just becareful of rent agreements.
Usually they will be minimum of 12 months, Academic year usually is only 9 months, I know of few guys going back to my Uni days thet got caught for 3 months rent when they moved out...

Or at least they will look for it.

hawkwind23

southern reg car will be fine , maybe someone could offer advice on registering it in the north? can it be done?
works out much cheaper for tax, depending on the car it could likely be free.

South Belfast is a great place to live , if you like the party scene live close to town and the Uni. if you like the quieter life then the South Belfast suburbs are leafy and close to the Lagan and parklands , great for walking and cycling. Add the forestside/newtownbreda area to the list

DHSS wont apply to you , its a standard quote put on a lot of rentals.

Try get up here as much as you can over the coming weeks and get a feel for the various areas before committing , with no offence intended , its also a good time to year to look at how many flags in a street , general rule of thumb would be the less the better

azaliarazor

Me and my BF are moving to Belfast for a job that starts for him next month. I am American and he is Dutch, we are planning on marrying soon and this will be our home for at least a year. His job is close to the Docks and were looking to find somewhere to rent but all I keep hearing is to stick to South Belfast. We will have a car for first 3 months and then we won't. Our budget looks to be about 550 pounds a month or less for rent including rates, any suggestions? We want a two bedroom with a small outdoor space and we have two cats, this seems to be biggest issue, but it is also our deal breaker. Does anyone know of any apartment high rises's with balconies that we can contact or should we stick with realtors?

Zcott

Your best bet is just to trawl propertynews.com and find something that suits. Most places will allow cats if you ask nicely and won't chew the place apart. If his job is around the Titanic quarter it'll be well serviced by buses so don't limit yourself to places too close. Again, South Belfast is good around Ormeau, Saintfield Rd, etc.

pow wow

Parts of East Belfast would also be fine and you'd be very close to the Docks. Areas like Ballyhackamore and the Upper Newtownards Road are quite cosmopolitan and for the most part very friendly. There are some low rise apartments around there but I can't think of any developments offhand that would have balconies. Steer clear of the old house conversions if you can, generally not that well maintained. Postcodes around there would be BT4 and BT5 though those postcodes also cover areas that you might not find terribly desirable so check out the map/street views to figure out whether it's where you'd like to live.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Hello, I'm not actually moving to Belfast but I figured this was the best thread to ask this in...

Basically I'm wondering what are the best/nicest/most fashionable areas to live in Belfast? If you're familiar with Dublin I'm talking about the likes of Blackrock, Killiney, Howth etc. If money was no object and then also on a more realistic scale too.

Any suggestions greatly appreciated.

FarmersSon

Malone Road, BT9 in south Belfast, and the side Roads and Avenues off of it. Some of the highest property prices in Northern Ireland.

Cultra, Craigavad and Holywood BT18. Would come a close second. 15 to 20 minute drive from the city centre, on the shores of Belfast Lough.

Hillsborough, Co. Down, BT26. Historic village, 25 minutes south of Belfast. Highly desirable area to live in.

veganrun

What are the best property websites to look to find places to rent in Belfast?

ShowMeTheCash

There are nice apartments in the city centre which I think will be the most expensive. I was paying 600 - 1000 a month for a two bed apt.

South Belfast was my favourite, the Malone road and lisburn road run parallel.
They have shops like M&S, Tesco and lots of resturants and small business along the lisburn road.

THe houses between the Malone road and Lisburn road once you go past Queens are impressive some big houses big gardens very nice area.

If you go to the other side of the lisburn road like Rathdrum street you might get some cheaper rent but in an older style of terest house but still be in a nice area.

postitnote

veganrun wrote: »

What are the best property websites to look to find places to rent in Belfast?

http://www.propertynews.com/property-for-rent/

and

http://www.propertypal.com/

hawkwind23

property pal and property news are the main websites and should have links to individual rental companies.

Also worth checking Gumtree but probably more suited to room rentals.

South Belfast is a great place to live , Ormeau Road right up around the Forestside area is well served with buses.

BeardySi

hawkwind23 wrote: »

South Belfast is a great place to live , Ormeau Road right up around the Forestside area is well served with buses.

You're fecked if you want to stroll to the pub for a pint though!