Moving to Kendal

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 steveoracle 28 Feb 2023

Hi all,

I’m moving to Kendal soon (yippee!) and looking for climbing partners for the wall and outside (when it dries out!). Done loads in the past and looking forward to a great season this year.

Drop me a line if you fancy a look out.

Cheers,

Steve

 Clod Hopper 10 Mar 2023
In reply to steveoracle:

Have dropped you a PM.

 bouldery bits 10 Mar 2023
In reply to steveoracle:

Enjoy. It's a wonderful town. 

 Dark-Cloud 11 Mar 2023
In reply to bouldery bits:

I live Kendal but wonderful is stretching it a bit.

I may be slightly jaded having been here for most of my life but it’s not a patch on what it was 20 years ago, the high street is useless unless you want a haircut, kebab or charity shop, empty shops everywhere, the traffic system is diabolical (traffic lights rule) the new housing developments have swamped the town and house prices are insane, I’m actively looking to move out of Kendal…

2
In reply to steveoracle:

Just waiting to complete on a house we bought just south of Kendal and can’t wait. We took a short term let near Cartmel in the intervening time. The wall is great, and I’ve been really impressed with Kendal itself, it’s a really nice town. Actually all we need from a town is supermarkets and a wall, so perfect. It must be good to have dragged us away from Sheffield/Peak. Apart from the obvious stuff to climb, I’ve got a real soft spot for the local limestone bouldering for evenings after work. You should have a great time!

Post edited at 08:27
1
 Phil1919 11 Mar 2023
In reply to paul_in_cumbria:

There are still a few market stalls and one or two local shops, including Booths to support, to try and stem the 'driving to supermarkets' culture. 

4
 C Witter 11 Mar 2023
In reply to Dark-Cloud:

The highstreet is dead everywhere: supermarkets, online shopping, underinvestment/austerity, and a cost of living crisis... it's not just Kendal!

The housing markets are also in crisis everywhere: a stagnating/recession economy caused by underinvestment and policies to encourage asset inflation has meant all the wealth being horded in property, which no longer functions as places for people to live but instead as a way of making money: a rentier economy.

The good thing about Kendal is that you can briefly escape our compound economic, social and political crisis by getting out onto the fells!

2
In reply to Phil1919:

There’s a Booths in Milnthorpe which is close to where we have bought, a nice shop but really not great on their vegan selection compared to, say, the Sainsbury’s next to the climbing wall in Kendal. I’m sure we’ll find some better outlets once we move in though. 

1
 plyometrics 11 Mar 2023
In reply to steveoracle:

Great choice moving to kendal. It’s a great town for many reasons. One thing’s for sure, there’s such a huge community of likeminded folk here you’ll never, ever, be short of people to go and do outdoorsy stuff with. Enjoy!!

 Phil1919 11 Mar 2023
In reply to paul_in_cumbria:

Milnthorpe has a market on Fridays with one or two stalls worth supporting. 

 Exile 11 Mar 2023
In reply to steveoracle:

I've lived in Kendal since 1995. It's great. Good choice. 

 bouldery bits 11 Mar 2023
In reply to Dark-Cloud:

I loved my time there but maybe it's changed a bit. 

The Brewery is great, wall is fab, coffee options plentiful and the climbing and outdoorsy opportunities many and varied. 

BB

 Neil Williams 11 Mar 2023
In reply to Dark-Cloud:

> I live Kendal but wonderful is stretching it a bit.

> I may be slightly jaded having been here for most of my life but it’s not a patch on what it was 20 years ago, the high street is useless unless you want a haircut, kebab or charity shop, empty shops everywhere, the traffic system is diabolical (traffic lights rule) the new housing developments have swamped the town and house prices are insane, I’m actively looking to move out of Kendal…

That's high streets anywhere.  We did it to ourselves by buying from Amazon and supermarkets.

 Rog Wilko 11 Mar 2023
In reply to paul_in_cumbria:

Kendal is a great spot for culture of all sorts. Just got back from the leisure centre where the amateur Westmorland Orchestra and a local choir performed Beethoven’s Choral Symphony. Not a top orchestra, obviously, but not bad for a town of 35,000 souls.

Lots of other culture on offer too. Just looking forward to the re-opening of Abbot Hall art gallery after a 2 year makeover. One of the best provincial galleries in the country. 

You haven’t moved to Heversham/Leasgill, have you?

 

1
 montyjohn 11 Mar 2023
In reply to Neil Williams:

> We did it to ourselves by buying from Amazon and supermarkets.

I would argue the high street failed to innovate and therefore killed itself.

14
 Neil Williams 11 Mar 2023
In reply to montyjohn:

> I would argue the high street failed to innovate and therefore killed itself.

There's an element of that too, yes.  I've said it before regarding greengrocers etc, if they opened say 1pm to 8pm instead of 9am to 5pm they'd not have lost custom when both adults in a household working became the norm, for instance.

Also the landlords usually won't lower rents enough for the genuine small guy to come in like you see in other countries.

But on the general point it's not exclusive to Kendal by any means.  Pretty much any small to medium sized town's high street is now a bit bland unless it's somewhere really rich and posh where small boutique businesses can make a go of it by charging a tenner for a loaf of bread etc.  The only other places they survive well are big cities where you've got enough footfall, and particularly London where car ownership is low so people are more likely to shop local and frequent.  Kendal is nice (Ulverston is very similar in a lot of ways, for example) but it's not *rich* - there isn't a lot of well paid work about.

Post edited at 22:53
In reply to Rog Wilko:

We’ve moved to the outskirts of Storth, 20 mins to Kendal and about 30 to Lancaster. Just waiting for some good weather to arrive to get outside climbing.

 wert 11 Mar 2023
In reply to Rog Wilko:

Might not be a “top orchestra, obviously” but is certainly conducted by one of the very best conductors (and musicians) in the north west who has pretty high standards. 

 montyjohn 12 Mar 2023
In reply to Neil Williams:

Hours open is definitely a huge contribution to their downfall. 

But there are loads of other things. The main convenience of the high street is I can get things now if I need them. But if parking isn't plentiful and affordable it's going to put people off.

The other issue, if there's a specific item I need, there is no easy way to research if it's available on my high street. Why haven't they clubbed together to build such a service.

They could also do a local delivery service such that you could get items in a couple of hours whilst making returns really easy.

If you offered free tea and coffee (which would be a negligible cost) you could easily encourage more people to show up.

Business rates is another big issue.

The highstreet has tried to carry on the way it always has. It doesn't matter what business you are in, if you don't innovate you'll be left behind eventually.

2
 Lankyman 12 Mar 2023
In reply to paul_in_cumbria:

> We’ve moved to the outskirts of Storth

This is the first time I've seen Storth represented as a metropolis

 Michael Hood 12 Mar 2023
In reply to paul_in_cumbria:

Username change needed? 😁

 peppermill 12 Mar 2023
In reply to Dark-Cloud:

> I live Kendal but wonderful is stretching it a bit.

> I may be slightly jaded having been here for most of my life but it’s not a patch on what it was 20 years ago, the high street is useless unless you want a haircut, kebab or charity shop, empty shops everywhere, the traffic system is diabolical (traffic lights rule) the new housing developments have swamped the town and house prices are insane, I’m actively looking to move out of Kendal…

Already deviating from the OP, sounds like his decision to move there has long been been made, he was only looking for climbing partners, but:

If you have a young family and are into the outdoors then I'd imagine Kendal is one of the best places in England to live, close to the Lakes (obviously) and very well connected to the rest of the country. 

However in your early 20s and single (as I was when I was living there, admittedly a decade ago) not so much......especially as most of my friends there worked in the outdoor industry and I was 9-5 so time off rarely tied in with other people. Hence I left after a couple of years.

I've always thought Kendal seems to desperately try to be a tourist town like Keswick or Ambleside when in reality it's much more like Penrith with unaffordable houses. 

2
 deepsoup 12 Mar 2023
In reply to montyjohn:

>  there is no easy way to research if it's available on my high street

Give over.  J R Hartley could handle that in the early '80s, and he didn't even have Google.


 montyjohn 12 Mar 2023
In reply to deepsoup:

> >  there is no easy way to research if it's available on my high street

> Give over.  J R Hartley could handle that in the early '80s, and he didn't even have Google.

Yellow pages will tell you what shops are on the high street but it won't tell you if and where you can buy a new DeWalt drill battery if yours has gone bust.

 deepsoup 12 Mar 2023
In reply to montyjohn:

> Yellow pages

..is well and truly obsolete.  But there's another clever old-school technique that J R Hartley is using in the photo there, to find out whether the shop in question has what he's looking for.

(Though, unlike JR back in the day, you do usually have the option of a quick look at their website first.)

 montyjohn 12 Mar 2023
In reply to deepsoup:

That sounds like effort. We're beyond effort now it would seem.

 Neil Williams 12 Mar 2023
In reply to peppermill:

Penrith but more expensive is probably a fair comparison.  Or Ulverston.  All three are very similar places.  Of the three I probably prefer Penrith but there isn't that much in it.

My sister did live in Kendal but they moved to Ulverston to buy a house as it was similar and a lot cheaper.

2
 Neil Williams 12 Mar 2023
In reply to montyjohn:

Yes, true, charging for parking by local Councils hasn't helped.  It's all very well to say "use public transport" but in the UK outside the top 5 or so big cities it's just crap.

 Rog Wilko 12 Mar 2023
In reply to paul_in_cumbria:

I bet you’ll go to Kendal more frequently than Lancaster.

In reply to Michael Hood:

> Username change needed? 😁

That's a tricky one, I guess I'll do it soon, but I lived and climbed from there for over 40 years so I'm still finding it a bit of a wrench. 

In reply to Rog Wilko:

I'm in Lancaster a couple of days a week with work, and the bouldering wall is very good.

 Rog Wilko 12 Mar 2023
In reply to paul_in_cumbria:

Perhaps Paul from Sheffield would do the trick?

 plyometrics 12 Mar 2023
In reply to paul_in_cumbria:

Agreed, the bouldering at Lancaster is great, way better than Kendal.

 peppermill 15 Mar 2023
In reply to plyometrics:

> Agreed, the bouldering at Lancaster is great, way better than Kendal.

Ha. Suppose the Kendal lead wall is ok though ;p


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