Thetownend.com

Anyone know the area? Near the Football club apparently.

Anyone commute to Cheltenham from Swindon? What's it like? Google maps says 40 mins or so.

I'm not sure of the way you'd go, but if it's a419 then nettledon bottom (aka the missing link) can be an absolute shit at peak times.

I don't know what the peak times are mind

What do you want to know about it? It’s just north of town so if travelling from Swindon  you’d need to go through town which adds a bit of time in peak times. I live on south side of town and when  I travel to matches it takes me about 40 mins each way but that is clearly not peak time.

Well depends whether you are are actually in Pittville or in reality Whaddon as the latter is a bit of a dive, I’ve played plenty of football matches on Whaddon Rec and on multiple occasions there’s been burnt out scooters and what not there. You can draw a line down the centre of Cheltenham whereby you have Charlton Kings, The Park, Pittville, Montpellier and Prestbury as the nice bits then you have the other half of Lower High Street, St Pauls, Hesters Way, Springbank and Whaddon as the places to avoid.

In terms of commute it’s not too bad as you can go round the back and avoid Birdlip and Nettleton Bottom by going via Seven Springs.

I know it pretty well. It is next to Waddon but they really aren’t much to do with each other and the football ground sits somewhere between the two. Pittville has the park as it was founded as a separate entity but really it runs into the to town itself for some pretty good pubs and stuff.

40 minutes seems optimistic although obviously depends where you are headed in Swindon as theakston above says the back way via Seven Springs means you don’t have to go through town.

Went there once,  it was shut.

Thanks all.

Have a job interview. £7k more money but twice the distance commute.

Decisions decisions.

Me personally I would allow an hour travelling each way to allow for traffic etc, then there's the extra fuel cost unless the new company are going to fund it

Easily another £1,500 a year on fuel, plus an extra hour a day commute. Plus another 7,500 miles on your car per year including wear and tear etc.

Nice place to work and be - traffic can be awkward though as people have mentioned.

Would they consider shifting the hours, i.e. earlier start or later finish etc to allow for traffic? Or even some working from home time.

Sounds like a good raise financially, but break that down into extra travel time, fuel, car maintenance - then the figure may reflect differently.

I think the commute would be dreadful from Swindon and well over an hour at peak times. I was living in Stroud and was doing training in Pittville for 3 months and the drive was 45 minutes plus each way.

They do a car salary sacrifice scheme which would mean an electric vehicle.  If they do that, I think it would be silly to turn it down. If I leave at 6.45am that should give me enough time to get there for 7.30am.

If I was starting at 7.30 I would want to leave by 06.30 at the latest just to allow for any adverse weather etc in the winter months.

Birdlip/Nettleton Bottom is the choke point. Massive multi-million pound work planned to sort it out, but its been promised for years and keeps slipping. I try to get past there before 7am to avoid traffic (in either direction).

I like the fact that the collective wisdom of the TEF can afford to turn down a £7k pay rise because the job isn't in Swindon!   :eek:

I think the pandemic has made a lot of people realise there's more to a job than the salary. You could boil it down to money vs. quality of life.

Ultimately Sippo, the decision is yours. Flip a coin, if you don't like the option the coin decides then you'll know the other option is the one for you.

Like Sam said, the money helps but at the moment I have the flexibility. I can wfh at my convenience, have a day off and leave early to get kids from school.

It's not straight forward as more money unfortunately.

All I would say is allow much more time to get to work than you think you need plus the same if leaving early to pick the kids up.

As others have said the choice is yours, but don't underestimate the ability for a long commute to fuck up and totally drain you.

I did 4+ years into Manchester on the train just over an hour each way and probably with traipsing to and from stations added 3 hrs to each working day. Add into the equation trains royally fucking up one a month (at least) turning the 1 hr into 2, plus having a baby at home.

When I reverted to full time WFH the money was broadly the same but the lifestyle made it so much better, especially with a young 'un, yes I could have undoubtedly have climbed the corporate ladder if I had stayed down there and made more cash, but it would have been at the cost of my life and family.

Its not a choice I envy!

I spent 4 years doing Eldene to Barnwood in Gloucester, so pretty easy at either end.  On a good day I was there or home in 30 mins, but there are days where you may be sat at Birdlip for 15-25 mins alone.  On the whole I found it manageable - in fact the return journey was quite good because you'd have less traffic and could wind down after work before getting home.  There are much worse commutes to be done - into Bath for example, by car.

Is there room to negotiate some flexibility in location for one or two days a week, or ad-hoc as needed?  I migrated to that towards the end myself an d was good for allowing those days of needing to cover a school run.  In the current environment most companies are a little more flexible when pushed.

Also, the A419 section is notorious for having accidents block it up.  Consider there will be days where the trip will need to be abandoned or a call into work to let them know they won't see you for another hour or two.

If 45 mins in a car, with some traffic but in a straight line is OK with you, it's a decent enough drive.  If you are the sort of person that gets irritated at not moving for 5-10 mins almost everyday in your journey, it will quickly become an annoyance.

Impressive. Must've been fun bombing down the A419/7 at those speeds :D

I have no idea what you are inferring sir!

The a419 has been an absolute shitter recently. I commuted to central Bristol for 2.5 years. In the summer it wasn't too bad but the winter used to get to me. You'd get up in the dark and come home in the dark and do that for a few months. Also the driving knackered me out so social life went down the crapper. It can out you in a shit mood occasionally and you can't guarantee being home by a set time.
On the positive side I got to listen to a hell of a lot of music.

J11a off the M5 was always my favourite junction on the way back from some crappy trip to an ingrate customer site.

The knowledge that the Metropolis was only 29 miles away made for putting the foot down on the A417/9.

Picked up the only 3 points of my driving career just before the Ciren junction.
Just a couple of miles a week in the car these days.

Going up Birdlip Hill at all times of day & night can't recall never seeing at least one truck struggling up the hill.
The 60mph limit up there was for guidance only wasn't it?