Depends where you live. There are areas of Stoke that are proper, proper shitholes and parts of it that are simply just shite. I survived living by the canal on the outskirts of Hanley, walking distance from the "high street" and Potteries shopping center and a couple of minutes drive (or a bit of a trek) to the big 24hr Tesco. Thinking back, the 24hr Tesco was probably what kept me pissed all the time sane.
Newcastle is definitely nicer. There's some nice old pubs around the Ironmarket (although they are a bit "this is a local pub for local people" sometimes, then again all non-chain pubs in Stoke/Newcastle are) and a few decent restaurants.
Nightlife in both places is very student oriented so depending on your age that'll either be right up your alley or be utterly tiresome. I found it utterly tiresome because I'm an old git and you'd usually find me grasping the bar like my last anchor to life in one of the old man 'spoons while praying that this speed overdose wouldn't be the one to kill me. Stoke is just that kind of town, really.
Local transport is a joke and everyone uses minicabs (there are maybe a dozen competing firms and it's no joke cheaper to take a cab than to take a bus, especially if there's two or more of you).
If you can drive my advice would be to find a place in one of what the locals call "the villages", which are usually about a thirty minute drive outside the towns, and only commute in for work or shopping. The rent is cheaper, the houses are bigger, and you have the added bonus of not being in fucking Stoke.
To sum up I would like to present my favourite memory of Stoke, which I hope provides you with a true feeling for the place: A small child, joyriding a mobility scooter while eating a Cornetto and screaming "I'm on fucking steroids!".
Sage for a decidedly rambly and probably fucking useless post. Please feel free to ask anything more specific.
>>3355 That pretty much sums up what I expected.
I don't have a nightlife, so that doesn't bother me.
I drive so no problems with transport, apart from friends or family who might come in on the train.
I have no day life either, so being in the backwater outskirts and driving down the A500 every day suits me fine.
Much of Newcastle and Trentham seems a bit beyond my price range, not helped by student digs pushing up prices probably. So my thoughts are leaning towards Meir/Longton/Blythe bridge, as far as I can tell, they're pretty quiet and decent places, compared to Tunstall/Burslem etc?
>>3358 A staffordshire oatcake. AKA the best reason to visit stoke.
It's made with oatmeal and yeast, so it's quite light and savoury, then you put bacon and cheese in it.
>>3355 >
To sum up I would like to present my favourite memory of Stoke, which I hope provides you with a true feeling for the place: A small child, joyriding a mobility scooter while eating a Cornetto and screaming "I'm on fucking steroids!".
Have you never had a sausage sandwich? A sausage roll even? It's pretty much the same thing.
Speaking of which, I briefly worked in the finest baked goods shop in Stoke. It was so fine most locals considered it too dear and never went there, thus it shut down. But we used to make these ace sausage rolls with Brie in, that's what reminded me.
>>3356 Tunstall, Burslem, Fenton, and the area near the station described as "Stoke" (as in the town of Stoke not the "city" of Stoke On Trent) are all worth avoiding like the plague.
I think you're definitely thinking in the right direction when it comes to Meir/Blythe Bridge/ Sneyd Green / etc.
>>3357 It might not be the worst place I've ever been but it's in the running.
>>3358 >>3359 Frankly the best reason to visit stoke is the near-orgasmic rush of release you feel as your train pulls out of the station and you realise it's over, you're getting out. Staffie oatcakes are pretty good though. I used to eat mine with peanut butter and banana because I'm a soft southern pansy.
>>3365 Incidentally, one of the most interesting uses of google earth, is gauging how shite an area is by counting the number of houses with a trampoline in the garden.
I count four trampolines in the 20 square kilometres around my house. Is that good or bad? I thought my area is quite nice, and I base that on my car insurance being 400 quid cheaper than if I was in the next town over.
Lads, I've done it. I've moved to Stoke. (Not stoke really, it's Newcastle, but they're pretty much the same place more or less.)
I've got a problem though, I'm the least Stokey person I know. Even the French guy I work with is more Stokey than I am.
>>3377 To be fair, most of the people who would get an inflatable hot-tub are the same type of people who are replacing their lawn with astro-turf.
>>3377 I believe they specifically say that they have to go on soft ground - I imagine on hard ground, they're a bit easy to puncture if a small stone or something is underneath.
