Pittville, Cheltenham

[Sippo]

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.

[Batch]

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

[cheltred69]

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.

[theakston2k]

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.

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.

[A Gent Orange]

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.

[swindonmaniac]

Went there once,  it was shut.

[Sippo]

Thanks all.

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

Decisions decisions.

[Jimmy HaveHave]

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

[4D]

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.

[CMT82]

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.

Thanks all.

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

Decisions decisions.

[Miles Mayhem]

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.

[Sippo]

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.

[Jimmy HaveHave]

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.

[Nomoreheroes]

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!  

[Samdy Gray]

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!   

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.