Liverpool

it's a nice city, my folks are from there, and definitely on the up. The nicest places to live, IMO, are south of the city centre. There is some are fabulous but run down Georgian terraces quite close in, around the cathedral.

They used to have a famous football team (or two).

what about clubs, pubs etc.?

I loved Liverpool, people seemed very outgoing, nice accents, and by the Tate Modern was really nice.

it's my hometown (though i don't sound much like it, thanks to the folks moving away in my formative years). however, i spent another 5 years there doing my degree and working. love the place but don't go back as much as i should. the houses ed's talking about are round faulkner square and gambier terrce. i used to live on gambier terrace, too - home to john lennon in his art-student days as a bit of trivia - and b. there's a lot of great pubs round and about that area, like peter kavanagh's, the craic and the pilgrim. hope street is beautiful and aigburth, round about lark lane and livingstone drive are plum places to live, too, with sefton park a stone's throw away. the people are great, there's a couple of good clubs, notably t-funkshun which is run by two friends of mine for really great techno and plenty of gigs due to it being a great student area. however, it is a little lacking when it comes to the hardcore continuum (nowhere near enough drum'n'bass when i was living there and precious little garage now. the philharmonic orchestra is also a good night out - my grandad often used to take me as a kid and the philharmonic pub actually has grade-1 listed toilets!!! best thing to do is take a wander around, meet people and see what you think. however, word of advice - get a job before you go there as the employment situation still sucks. if you're going as a student, just go and have a fab time and feel free to email me re areas you're thinking about living in - some are best avoided and a bit of local knowledge is useful if you want to hang onto your belongings!