What Arbury is really like?

Hi,

I have a possibility of moving to Arbury through the councils transfer scheme...Anyway we went with the housing officer to view the other day (nr Sackville Close / Hanson Court way) and although it looks OK - Someitme syou don't see whats going on in the background....Like my area, looks OK but you need to be careful at night and stuff...

Havent live in Cambridge long so don't know anyone to ask what Arbury is really like to live in...

TY

EVIE

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It's not the best part of Arbury, but on the other hand i know plenty of people who live in that neck of the woods and it's still not particularly bad. Ozzyfrogspawn and Carney both live around that area and Hannah Mcstar also used to live around there too.

Arbury is fine unless you're a complete softarse. Mill Rd is far more "dangerous" at night.

there's nothing really to worry about in Arbury. Where you are going is not the best part of arbury and it may prove hard to move on from there but the fact of the matter is most people live there without problems.

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If you've lived in pretty much any other major city in the country, Arbury would be described as an average lower-middle-class suburb. There are kids who hang around smoking weed, people who cruise around in souped up Renault Clios, the occasional fight between drunk people, etc. It's just like anywhere else. It's also within walking distance from town, has good local shops, a decent bus link and is generally fine. Just because it's the nearest thing Cambridge has to South Central LA doesn't mean it's South Central LA.

But Mill road violence DOES involve council estate violence... all those little scrotes from Chinton ride the Mill Road passage to town and back...

The biggest problem in Arbury is the staff at Budgens. Useless.

Aw, the staff at Budgens are all right :-)

I miss the Green Grocers...

It's still there.

I'm sure the staff at Budgens are very nice people, but it really amazes me that people wearing badges boasting of 7 year's service can't use a scanner.

You don't need troublesome greengrocer snow Simon, you have the M&S Grafton outlet... all of your needs catered for.

Isn't the greengrocer pikey cart outside the bakers any good then?

Arbury is like a creme egg.... shite.

Just because it's the nearest thing Cambridge has to South Central LA doesn't mean it's South Central LA.

What he said, though i would like to point out that i believe that Romsey is officially South Central Cambridge.
Also i never see any trouble on mill road, and got started on within seconds of arriving in arbury on a sunny sunday afternoon..... but one experience does not mean it's bad.
Shittest in cambridge though

evieuk: I think i'd worry more about parts of Abbey and Ditton Fields in all honesty.

Not too bad really. I'm not so keen on the part that borders Chesterton (near the Golden Hind), but most of Arbury is ok, if not that picturesque. It's great if you like bland 1930's housing!

Don't be put off by some of the posts you get on this board, a lot of people haven't lived here for that long and have never actually been there.

Or been there once...

I really want to try Arbury Court chips but just can't bring myself to enter that court... even though I have some superb childhood memories from that place... the library where I'd hire out Tin Tin illustrated books... the Post office which sold Matchbox cars in a carousel... Forbouys where I'd buy my candy digarettes... the bakers... their awesome baby white finger rolls, Andrew McCulloch's where I hired Dawn of the Dead out back in 1983 and skived off school that afternoon with my friend... we even had girls in school uniform come round to watch it with us.

Budgen's (nee Bishop's) where my mother would buy me tasty yoghurts and cockles from the deli counter. Jungle Fresh peanuts too.

The chip shop... always superb... people tell me it still is...

It's a great chippy. The prices are seemingly stuck at the level i remember chips being at as a teenager too. 80p for a bag!

children play in the street and say fucking a lot,

Yes ABA - still great fish'n'chips. They take telephone orders now too so you can make sure you're getting the freshly-cooked stuff.

I suppose I could sneak round the back way... park end of Ley's Avenue and run through that passage... is that still there? I just haven't been round that way for years and it was my "home" for so long.

Yeah it's still there.

Yep I live in Leys Ave ABA - the passageway is still there.

Has it be turned into a kebablishment yet? Or is it traditional like that one on Cherry Hinton Road... I did try pie and chips from the one on Histon Road (which was good in 1982) a few months back and it was so-so... cold more than anything.

Arbury Court... AKA the centre of the universe in 1970's Arbury.

It's run by Indian? guys now and yes they do a nice line in kebabs - but the fish is still tops.

Arbury Court chip shop is one of the best in Cambridge if not the best! I lived in Arbury for 8 years and now live in Cambourne but sometimes go all the way to Arbury court chippy for a decent meal (Fish'n'Chickn here are crap). For middle class people Arbury is the slums though I'd argue Barnwell and Chesterton are more slummy than Arbury.

I grew up in inner city Birmingham where even getting to school was a dilemma dodging alcoholics and junkies in the park - and that was a good day!! Having lived in some real shitty areas in Brum when I came to Cambridge and got a place in Arbury I saw it as being as good as any of the posh estates in Brum!!

There's nowt to worry about there if you keep yourself to yourself, the trogs that cause trouble generally are all linked together and have issues with each other, dont get involved and you have no worries, I never did in my 8 yrs. But because of it's stigma for some people some parts are harder to transfer from such as Kingsway but on the whole, don't worry!!

The alley still smells of wee though. We can put a man on the moon etc but we can't stop estate corners smelling of wee. all those boffins, but no sense of what's really important.

Yep, it smells of wee, and there are always bits of cabbage from said kebabs adorning the pavement...

stay out of the pubs though... the arbury breed is a strange one!!

Someone got stabbed in the ship in front of a pretty full bar... The Carlton should be renamed the convicts, and the grove/snow cat whatever it's called now has it's moments too!!

The Carlton? It's really polite and middle class now it's gone real ale pub! The only stabbing i've ever heard of involving the Ship was when some poor bastard got chased and stabbed, staggered up to the pub to escape and the regulars had to help him out and call an ambulance...

that was the one... they attacked him in car park, quite shoicking at the time.... is the carlton a real ale place now? finally someone saw the way to get the louts out then... but where have they moved on to?

It's been a real ale pub for years now. When did you move out of Arbury? To be fair to the Ship, the stabbing was nothing to do with the pub, the poor bastard just sought refuge in there and the people drinking in there helped him.

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still not the nicest of pubs though is it!! I left Arbury 4 yrs ago but stopped paying attention to the carlton about 6yrs ago after several needless runins with idiots when just trying to have a quiet drink and game of pool with local friends.

The Carlton is an ace pub. Real ale, friendly atmosphere, etc. Good mix of people and no trouble.

They do a good beer festival too

the ship I was on about not being the nicest

My x husband threw a pint of beer over my head in the carlton years ago and walked out. At least ten very 'well built' chaps ofered to go and have a chat with him. Which was kind..

I went in the Carlton a few times a couple of years ago when some friends were living at Kingsway Concentration camp. It were alright. Haven't been in the Grove since 1988 and The Ship... never been in there as an adult... The Jenny Wren? Same... Golden Hind... Christmas Day 2001... Pikeandeelferryboat whatever... 1992... Haymakers... ooh, 2006... yeah, must be as I used to me my old workmate in there and I didn't see him in 2007 at all... nor this year... I had to ask a mutual "friend" last night if he was indeed still alive.

I drink a lot on the Portland but do like The Castle and The Pickerell... does that cover "Arbury area" public houses?

I used to frequent the Golden Hind when it was £1.40 a pint, though it was rumoured that the cheapness was down to the fact that you paid more in life insurance. A friend of mine used to work there and would often ask me to go and keep her company during her shift, mainly because of the newly released murderer who frequented the place. I went to the Snowcat (now The Grove) once in 1994 and the whole pub turned round and kept staring at us so I never went back, and I 'unfortunately' already had other plans when I used to play for the Portland pool team and we had a match at The Ship once. I'd be a little unnerved by the comment someone who used to live in Arbury made earlier on this thread: "There's nowt to worry about if you keep yourself to yourself". I don't like the idea of having to keep my head down just to be able to go out.

All that said, a lot of it comes down to perception. Maybe Arbury isn't actually so bad an area to live in, but if you perceive that it is or might be then you're not going to be very comfortable walking about there or living there.

I often walked home at night on my own through Arbury and always felt safe.

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I think it;s the Campkin Road walk that has seen a lot of folks come unstuck with "hassle"... and Cameron Road is it? Nunns Way? But then again, unless you lived there why would you walk through there?

The area behind Kingway Flats is really nice... Roseford Road, Harding Way... they are really quite "well-to-do" areas.

Arbury was not a bad place until some cunt built Minerva Way and linked it to the gateway to Hell.

when I lived in arbury I was deeply involved in the dance scene and I have wandered thru arbury in many a "clubbers state of mind" and suffered nothing!! It is rare for trouble to come to you in arbury if you dont have much to do with the chavs

I know people who live on Nunn's Way, as does Sprouts and i've never heard of too much going on there, but it's quite a closed off area, so i can see how easily it could attract bother.

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Like i've said LOTS before, there's an irrational fear of Arbury. Something bad happens in other parts of town it's a spot of bother. Someone hassles someone in Arbury and it's the ghetto. Snobbery?

*but hardy sodding joburg or early nineties compton*

nice combo sprouts.

Someone needs to put up that link to those ace Arbury t-shirts again...

Arbury is a surburban sprawl... a lot of folks live there... a lot of good people live there and it does have that "estate fear"... you'll get lost in there, lots of kids hanging out bored... what is missing from those dark streets are the pissed up idiots looking to abuse and fight people... the very brave inebriated confrontationalists... those are special features of high streets and city centres.

I think 24 hour petrol stations seem to have the highest ratio of "hassle". Elizabeth Way anyone?

Anyway, the Fair is in town... Joosey stay away from that river.

*sighs* If you want something doing, do it yourself...

http://79435.spreadshirt.net/en/GB/Shop/Index/index/category/Our-Frien...

i lived on campkin road for years and it could be scary in parts after dark, but in almost 10 years only a couple of times, less than the agro i've passed on newmarket road, ditton lane, mill road, even east road

I lived in Arbury, Alex Wood Road for nine years and no real problems although my land lord did seem to know most of the local villians so maybe that helped. Only occasionally used the Grove, Carlton or Jenny Wren. Boring but no trouble.
Have heard a few tales of racism towards asians though over the years. Indeed I did get called a paki bastard once by local chavs. The result of a months greek tan and sun bleached hair. Not sure how they worked that one out.
Kingsway is pretty crap though although the kebab stand used to be good. And Arbury Court Chip Shop. Budgens was also handy as a local shop and better than Mill Road Coop.

the kebab van on arbury rd by the meadows is the best now, kingsway van has gone proper downhill

I passed that one by the old Arbury Rangers playing field the other day... may have to suss it out...

I've lived in Walker Court (pretty much next to Hanson court) for 2 years. And I've had no problems. I would much prefer to walk through arbury alone at night than anywhere south of the river.

do you know babyface?

I know babyface - lives up in manchester - nice lad..