Hello, I am moving to the UK in a year or so and am trying to decide the best city to move to.  I know there is no such thing as trans-friendly, however some places are more accommodating than others.  Does anyone have thoughts?

Quote from: Zoe the Obscure on May 29, 2015, 09:43:33 PM
Hello, I am moving to the UK in a year or so and am trying to decide the best city to move to.  I know there is no such thing as trans-friendly, however some places are more accommodating than others.  Does anyone have thoughts?

Brighton

I hear Brighton has a reputation for being gay friendly.  Do you or did live there by chance?

Blackpool but it's a bit of a dump.London was OK when I lived there for a few months but expensive.Manchester's not bad

Yeah Brighton is probably the most accepting place in the country, but Manchester is good as well. I think a lot of the major cities are fairly lbgt friendly. You'd probably be fine in London as well but it's a very expensive place to live. When it comes to smaller towns you have to be a bit more careful.

Won't where you live be dictated by jobs?

Quote from: big kim on May 30, 2015, 01:20:42 AM
Blackpool but it's a bit of a dump.London was OK when I lived there for a few months but expensive.Manchester's not bad

I grew up near Blackpool and went to college there. It has a strong gay scene but as far as trans goes it's more drag queens. It's a town blighted by poverty and violence having sold its soul to stag dos and binge drinkers and I'd strongly advise anyone to avoid it. The surrounding area is actually very nice but there's very little in the way of jobs.

Blackpool is near Liverpool.  Do you have an opinion of that city?  Both Liverpool and Manchester interest me the most.

London is probably out of the question.  I intend to work and travel.  There is little chance of affording that in London.  As for Brighton, well it seems nice, but are there any jobs there?  I heard it is very hard to find work there.

I think you will find that it will depend more on you, than where you are on a big scale. Most UK areas, vary from street to street more than from town to town. So for example I live in southwest london in a nice middle class street, but three roads down is a council estate... Totally different area!

I've been postop for well over 30 years. In that time I've lived in many many places around the UK without any problems but then again I'm not hooked into the LGBT scene at all either.

I've heard of a few people having trouble everywhere, even Brighton, but on investigation its seems they have mostly been either, simply living in the wrong road (make sure you do your research before choosing a street), engaging in sex with risky partners, or openly heavily hooked into the LGBT scene. Either way increased visibility seems to be what made them most vulnerable.

In my experience the UK is a place where you can do almost anything in MODERATION and people will let you get on with it without any problem. That only changes if you become, loud, extreme, flashy, in your face, overfriendly, or any other non "middle of the road" thing. In short if, like me, you are an ordinary, respectable, middle class professional, no one will bat an eyelid, because they will be too busy complaining about the loud music from number 47, and the man with the huge mercedes who blocks up three parking spaces!

I've never been to Liverpool,for some reason I just never went there.It's on the to do list at some point though.

Quote from: Zoe the Obscure on May 30, 2015, 02:16:00 AM
Blackpool is near Liverpool.  Do you have an opinion of that city?  Both Liverpool and Manchester interest me the most.

London is probably out of the question.  I intend to work and travel.  There is little chance of affording that in London.  As for Brighton, well it seems nice, but are there any jobs there?  I heard it is very hard to find work there.

I know a trans woman who lives in liverpool, she's very happy there and runs liverpool trans. The city has recently been celebrating the life of April ashley and it has a yearly pride festival.

As rejennyrated says there are obviously different areas of cities and attitudes can vary wildly between these. I live in Didsbury in Manchester, and chorlton is a very bohemian area as well. Between those two places and the city centre I have no problems. But I would be a lot more careful around parts of salford and areas like moss side and levenshulme. Big cities are like that though, you can go from affluent streets to run down estates very quickly.

I'd like to back up what others have posted, each city/town has areas that are very tolerant but a few minutes walk away things can change.
The majority of Bristol wont bat an eyelid if they see a trans person but the area I live in isn't so friendly, i'd say that 95% of Bristol is safe for trans people and i've stumbled on an area in the 5% category

Hey girl, I moved to the UK 5 years ago . I live in Greater Manchester, but I live in Oldham, I have never had any problems with it and I am happy here but it is a mostly not great area, it has like a bigger ghetto than normal middle class areas compared to an average city,  I live in the outskirts in the more middle class area. But like someone said, I don't really affiliate in any scene and just go about my business with everything I do. I do tend to get a lot of attention for the American accent from people at work and even at random places and all that but that's as far as it goes. I do not think a non passable trans girl would be too safe in the more down and out areas. So although I agree with the girls above, I do think some towns are in general more welcoming than others, the neighbourhood is for you to make sure it's safe, but having grown up in San Francisco, even I know that even there you can't really go to certain areas and be safe, even when you're not trans or part of a minority (the ghetto!!) so I think what the girls say is kind of obvious to everywhere in the world, so having that in mind...

Just as a reminder, Brits are very reserved as a norm, and although that has its drawbacks in some ways, it also means they do not tend to be overpowering and it's not that constant or often that they are looking for trouble unless, like the girls said, you're in a bad area of town! They are on average, harmless lol.

In general from what I have heard and seen and learned some of the cities you might consider living in would be:

1.Brighton
2.Manchester
3.London
4.Bristol
5.Southampton

I have been to Edingburgh in Scotland and that seemed an ok place too. But don't know enough about its trans-friendliness...

Take everything I said with a pinch of salt. Im not in any scene so I don't know that side of things. I know Manchesters trans scene is well known.

Good luck Hun!

Rejennyrated said it best, especially on doing the research. Seriously. Even smaller towns can vary from street to street.

I plan on moving to Nottingham this summer and my trans friends there say that they generally have no trouble when they go about the city centre. In fact, I've heard that it's generally trans-friendly. For living, certain estates like West Bridgeford are lovely, others are downright scary (St. Anne's is *rife* with gang violence), most vary from street to street (places like the Meadows are horrible at the heart but I've heard good things about the outskirts). A few years ago, I lived on a lovely street in a lovely town outside Birmingham which got rougher as you went down.

Take most of this as you will, I'm just reiterating Rejennyrated's points. But do the research thing. Ask around which areas you have to avoid when alone at stupid hours where it's generally unsafe for anyone. Dress to blend in during the day. That kind of thing.

These are all great replies.  I am used to relative safety in Wellington.  It only gets a little rough in town on rugby nights really.  For some reason many drunk men threaten you with violence and then hit on you.  WTF!? 

I guess the best policy when i arrive is to get to know the trans locals wherever i go.  I don't want to cluelessly waltz into chav nests.

Quote from: Zoe the Obscure on May 29, 2015, 09:43:33 PM
Hello, I am moving to the UK in a year or so and am trying to decide the best city to move to.  I know there is no such thing as trans-friendly, however some places are more accommodating than others.  Does anyone have thoughts?

I moved to the UK almost 5 years ago so here are my impressions.

1. Brighton!  Definitely the best all around place for LGBT people.  Or, less-so, any relatively affluent place along the south coast (especially south-west) as they are more liberal/green party affiliated.
2. Manchester.  The most LGBT friendly big-ish city, host of a nice trans-centric event (Sparkle).
3. Norwich.  A very healthy alternative and LGBT friendly smaller city.
4. London.  You have all walks of life in London because of how huge it is, but do your research first about all the different boroughs.

This map might give you an idea since the number of trans-friendly venues is maybe a good guide:

http://tvchix.com/venuemap.php

You maybe want to avoid the countryside and conservative-voting areas (see the political map for Conservative and UKIP parties) where you tend to find less tolerant people.

I live in Scotland (Dundee).  There are parts of this city where you would most likely get your head kicked in if they knew you were trans but that goes for rough areas in most places.  I have a friend who lives in a village in the Highlands where she is totally accepted.  Edinburgh would be a good place being very cosmopolitan provided you can live in a good area, I imagine Glasgow likewise.

Regards

Susan

We have equal opportunity head kicking in in Blackpool also!

I went to Brighton on holiday and i had a great time, they was so kind and friendly and i would recommend it