blonde poker forum

Im sure it will induce a barage of jokes about the place, but whats the place like?

Is it nice? Is there plenty to do? Is it cheap compared to 'oop north'?

I have no particular reason to stay in Sheffield because I work from home and my missus is miles away from her friends and family (Kings Lynn)- so we are looking at places that are ideally located for a lot of things.

Northampton is on the M1, not too far from Sheffield, not too far from her family, not far from DTD, not far from London, not far from Luton etc etc - all places we go a lot. Just seems ideal but I know nowt about the place.

As a location for a poker professional, it's great. Near everything but not as "busy" as if you lived in a city. Cheaper to live in as well. I'd say up north is cheaper though.

It's got a few places to go, mainly restaurants and pubs rather than massive clubs though. One or two places to see semi-famous live bands, but again if you wanna do that you have B'ham and London an hour in each direction, and lots of direct trains there.

Cool, thanks for that. Im way passed my clubbing days and rarely watch live bands, so thats fine. All good so far.

You can pick up a cheap pair of Doc Martens in Northampton.  thats the best thing i can tell you about it.

Thinly veiled 'I have feet' post imo

Good colonic irrigation centres, cobblers, rugby union teams is about as big as the football team.

Only ever been to the football ground, i didn't enjoy it that much, something to do with the result

I completely forgot DingDell works there.

Oh well, looks like Im staying in Sheffield.

And for some reason it has 3 casinos, 2 of which offer poker.

Some of the villages around Northampton are very nice, I wouldn't live in the town centre though, its a little bit "busy".

I was born and raised in Kings Lynn and Leicester uni sent me Northampton to study - awful commute Lynn to Northampton, crap roads whichever way you go.

As a place I quite liked it, as you point out close to lots of stuff, as a town its not to big, has plenty of social opportunities good golf courses, football, rugby and Cricket and in my day had a great nightlife.

Now I am sure its like everywhere else, overpriced, closing pubs, all Chicargo's and Prezzo's and generally souless.

Follow your lady back to the paradise that is Kings Lynn - you will always be happy to go anywhere then.

I've lived in Northampton for 20 years and I don't think it is a bad place at all.  There's pretty much everything here that you would expect in a big city, only it's not so busy, although still very lively.  As a place it has it's good areas and bad areas, but if you are looking for somewhere to live in the Midland on the M1 I would have thought it's probably the best place.  There are three casinos, two galas - one with a poker room (but only smallish games), and a newly opened Aspers so you wouldn't be lost for poker here either.

Areas to avoid living: Semilong, Kings Heath,  Eastern District is also a bit rough
Good areas: Duston, Hunsbury, Abington, Kingsthorpe, and most of the more outlying areas

Northampton is traditionally a pub town, so you'll find quite a few of those, but basically all the usual stuff I guess.  We've got two good theatres, and not to mention the legendary hot air Balloon Festival that happens once a year... ::) (I can see I'm tempting you already)  Anyway, there's loads of stuff I could say about it, but if you want to know anything else I've lived here a long while so I can probably help.  All in all though I'd recommend it as a good choice.

Having had to go there for work a couple of months ago, I defo wouldn't want to live there. The centre looked an absolute hole

I don't think it is at all, maybe on the outskirts and in the red light district, but the actual town centre where it is pedistrianised is actually quite nice.  I hear we are about to get a brand new shopping centre too!

Oh yeah, forgot to mention that it's a market town too, so you'll find a full market in the square in the town centre at least four days a week which is a bit unusual these days.

sorted

Lol, I was waiting for that

Northampton is also known as being a load of cobblers ,as it once was the shoe centre of England

The football team is called the cobblers too.

A famous landmark is the lift testing tower built by Express many years ago

The Express Lift Tower is a former lift testing tower built by the Express Lift Company off the Weedon Road in Northampton, England. The structure was commissioned in 1978 with construction commencing in 1980, and was officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II on November 12, 1982.

Designed by architect Maurice Walton of Stimpson and Walton, the tower is 127.45 metres (418.1 feet) tall, 14.6 m (47.9 ft) in diameter but tapers to 8.5 m (27.9 ft) at the top. The only lift testing tower in Britain, it was granted Grade II listed building status on October 30, 1997, at the time making it the youngest listed building in the UK.

It gained the nickname "The Northampton Lighthouse" from broadcaster Terry Wogan on his BBC Radio 2 programme. The building has never been open to the general public

A massive downside to Northampton is that the bus station was voted the 2nd ugliest building in the UK

The Balloon festival is in mid August . We once had arranged to take the mayor for a flight on launch day, but a gust of wind blew the envelope against a trailer and ripped a 6ft hole in the side of it ooouch. We took this picture as we took off the next day

I live right on that park, I can see the balloons go up from my flat!

Which one are you

I have mixed emotions about Northampton...........it seems okay but the rugby ground is the only place I have ever been spat at........not pleasant and has happened to other Leicester supporters too. I refuse to go there now. Some of the villages in Northamptonshire are very pretty and there are lunatics in every society.......and if it gets you down to blondeville aka the G in Luton then come on down

Me too!

Northampton is a town that thinks it's a village, lots of 'local people' who tend not to travel to Milton Keynes (half an hour away) unless they make it a day trip because it's such a long way....

Lots of lovely villages, close to Market Harborough another market town and obviously not far from places like Althrop and Castle Ashby. Some nice wine bars, good pub restaurants particularly in the villages just outside of town and most importantly at the moment house prices are very reasonable.

Grange Park is the new development at junction 15 of the M1 and has a higher earning limit per person than Knightsbridge, a lot of people have moved from London and commute to Mk from junction 15 and get the train from there. The Northampton train service is a branch line so most people either go to Mk or Wellingborough.

I fell in love with Northampton just over 10 years ago and have never wanted to move away. It's one of the greenest counties in the country and boasts several large parks in the town area including one with a bandstand and aviary. It's lovely, I'd recommend it.

Thanks for all the responses everyone, me and missus shoelace both like the idea for its sheer location and no other reason, so expect more threads saying 'whats peterborough like' and 'whats coventry like' very soon.

And thanks to Crow for cutting and pasting from wikipedia :)up

Wasnt 'Kinky Boots' based in Northampton?

If it was me, I'd look at somewhere close to Northampton, rather than Northampton itself.  But that's just personal preference.

However, in comparison to Coventry and Peterborough, I might have to say that I'd favour Northampton...

I'm probably biased because I've lived here so long, but if it's a choice between places around here, say Birmingham, Luton, Leicester, Nottingham, Coventry, Peterborough, and Northampton then I think it's probably the winner.  A really nice place in the general vicinity is Oxford, but it's very expensive to live there (and the nearest casino is in London... ;carlocitrone;)

Whereas I'd go for a place close to Nottingham or Leicester (out of those choices).  I'd also avoid Oxford like the plague. 

It all depends on what you want from a place, and it's so subjective.

Dave, I know Northamptonshire and Bedfordshire pretty well. Speaking specifically of Northamptonshire, some corking villages around all easily accessible to Northampton itself and via A43 and A428 to both M1 and A1

Give me a shout if you want specific recommendations

I like Northampton itself, though of the towns mentioned I'd personally pick Nottingham over any of them. Parts of Oxford are great, but the place itself suffers big time from traffic gridlock and inaccessibility at the times you are most likely to want to get around!

As an exiled Northamptonian living in The Great NorthEast I have to say I've never been tempted to move back home due to the absence of hills, coastline, moors, space on the roads and a few things besides

it's been a while since I sampled the town centre but I doubt it's much different from any other major conurbation - a mix of Greggs/Wetherspoons/Poundsave/Waterstones etc

however - Northamptonshire well deserves it's soubriquet of County of Spires and Squires and has more than it's share of old country churches and manor houses...



PS PocketLady - you must live near my dad!

Is the White Elephant still open?  I really must get back to Northampton for a weekend, so many good times.

Yes. Still full of students as well.

Ever seen an elephant with white ears ?

(http://www.e-teddies.com.au/images/romper.jpg)

Yes.

my first ever bar job was at the Elephant - back in the day when students drank at the County Tavern or The Plough