Why Bath vs Cambridge?
Having been brought up in an army family, I’ve lived in a variety of places in the UK, as well as Malaysia, Germany and Hong Kong and don’t regard myself as “coming from” anywhere in particular. While at school in Liverpool, I made my choice of university, Bath, largely because it offered a sandwich course in Electrical/Electronic Engineering and it looked a nice place in the UCCA book (as it was called then).
Although in retrospect I could have chosen a course that suited me better, I didn’t have the knowledge to make that decision at the time. My judgement about Bath, though, was spot on.
Cambridge is where I live now, and this came about shortly after the university decision. For a sandwich course, an industrial sponsor is required, and for Bath was part of the offer of a place to study.
From the list of candidate companies provided, Pye Telecommunications (at the time reputed to be the second largest employer in Cambridge) was the first to make an offer, which I gratefully accepted, providing me with experience and gainful employment outside term time and eventually with a full-time job.
Philips, which owned 60% of Pye Telecom, struggled with profitability, and after several name changes, sold the telecommunications side to the venture capitalists CinVen and kept the pager operation for a while, before moving it to Mexico.
Renamed as Simoco, the telecoms company sold off the buildings and land as it struggled to get a viable digital communications product developed, which used the new TETRA standard. The product was in itself was fine, but the project suffered from the lack of capable project management, a new software platform, a new operating system, a new and untried automatic code generation system, and expensive, bought-in contract expertise, as well as a complete sense of denial of anything being wrong.
Because of my reluctance come into work at weekends, unpaid, when there was nothing for me to do, so that the manager could look good to his superiors, and daring to want time off to move house, I was made redundant. Fortunately there was still money left for redundancy at that time, which was more than can be said for those who remained when the inevitable happened.
I was in another job within a week, also having the sweetener of supplying Simoco with an automated method of testing their radios which I had devised.
Sepura was the company that rose phoenix-like from the ashes, once located on the same site, now in the Cambridge Research Park, near Waterbeach on the A10.
So: Bath and Cambridge; I have ties to each. Both are historical cities of roughly the same size, but each different in its own way.
Bath
Cambridge
City Status
A city since 1090, currently in the county of Somerset after a spell in the now defunct county of Avon. A city by virtue of the abbey.
Cambridge is in the county Cambridgeshire and was granted city status in 1951.
Population
Population: 88,859 (2011)
Population: 128 500 (2014)
Nearest (Larger) Cities
Peterborough (41m), Norwich (64m)
Bristol (13m), Cardiff (56m)
London
Fastest train 48min non stop to Kings Cross. 64 miles by road.
Fastest train 1hr 15min to Paddington, via Reading, Didcot, Swindon and Chippenham. 115 miles by road.
University
an “Ancient University” comprising 31 colleges, the earliest founded 1284, located in the city.
A “Campus University”; in its current from, dates from 1966 located in Claverton Down, about 1.5miles from city centre. Has roots back to a technical school in Bristol in 1595.
The Other University
Anglia Ruskin University, formerly Anglia Polytechnic University, formerly Cambridge College of Arts and Technology.
Bath Spa University, formerly Bath College of Higher Education; sites at Newton Park (5 miles from Bath) and Sion Hill
War Damage
30 people killed; 51 houses destroyed; 1271 damaged.
A target of the Baedeker raids; cities were chosen from the tourist guide of the same name, with the aim of undermining moral by destroying cherished targets; 417 people were killed in three raids. A further 1,000 were injured. 19,000 buildings were affected; 1,100 seriously damaged or destroyed, including 218 of architectural or historic interest.
House Prices
Cambridge price to earnings ratio is currently 12; second only to London. It has hit 13 in the past.
Figures for 2017 show that with a ratio of 10.1 Bath is now the fifth least affordable city behind Oxford, Cambridge, Greater London and Brighton and Hove.
Local Papers
Cambridge News (number of my letters published: >20 ~95%); Cambridge Independent
Bath Chronicle (number of my letters published:1 ~ 100%)
Sports Teams
Cambridge United FC – League 2
Cambridge City FC – Isthmian League North Division
Cambridge University Cricket (Fenners)
Boat Race
Bath City FC- National League South
Bath Rugby – English Premiership
TV Regions
Anglia TV
Nominally West; however, I can testify to having received signals from Wales, Southern and Midlands regions in the university campus tower blocks. This was prior to the advent of DTT.
Mourned Shops
Joshua Taylor, Eaden Lilley, Andy’s Records, Gees – light bulbs tested before sale; cash total added up on paper bag, Dillons, Borders, Heffers stationery shop
Ryland Huntley, L F Hanney – shut for lunch, Kiss Components, Jolleys Delicatessen, The Great Western Antique Centre, Owen Owen, Prey, Woods, Duck Son and Pinker, Gillards Tea shop in Broad Street – Seat for customers, purchase wrapped in paper and string, mechanical cash register
Railways
Cambridge Station has had two extra platforms added in recent years. It has the uk’s third longest platform at 470m after Colchester (620m) and Gloucester (602m).
Cambridge North opened in May 2017. Cambridge South is in the planning stage.
Hopes that some previously closed lines may reopen took a dive when the guided busway made use of previous railway routes.
There are plans to connect Cambridge to Oxford via rail.
Direct trains services are now available to Brighton; via London Bridge.
Bath Spa station has had modifications to exits and entrances to mitigate problems with large passenger numbers.
Moves are afoot to reduce journey times to London.
Connections are now available to London Bridge, as well as Paddington.
Bath’s other mainline station, Green Park, saw its last train in 1971 after being a casualty of the Beeching report. It is a grade II listed building and now hosts the main Sainburys supermarket.
On the journey from London you pass through the historic Box tunnel – at the time of its completion in 1841 it was the longest in the world at 1.83 miles. 100 men died in its constructions.
At Bath, the line passes through the historical, landscaped Sydney Gardens.
Listed Buildings
There are 1500 listing buildings in Cambridge, 67 grade I listed.
There are over 5000 listed buildings in Bath, 663 grade I listed in Bath & NE Somerset.
Terrain
Largely flat; 6-24m above sea level.
Hilly; centre about 25m about sea level. University about 215m asl.
Pavement Width
Obviously varies, some very narrow
Some very wide; e.g. Great Pulteney Street. The street is 100ft wide and the pavements are designed for walking six abreast.
Only the fronts of the buildings were designed by the architect Baldwin; the house interiors were designed by others and vary between buildings.
Getting About
There is a certain amount of animosity between drivers and cyclists. There is a high level of pavement cycling when and where it is not permitted, ignoring of red traffic lights and cycling without lights after dark.
The police sometimes have a purge after the clocks go back, describing it as like ‘fish in a barrel’.
Most traffic lights at junctions are sited to prevent pedestrians from anticipating the sequence. Tolerable at peak period, but an unnecessary delay otherwise.
Systematic removal of pedestrian islands, making crossing the road in two phases no longer possible.
Buses painfully slow; often quicker to walk.
Need for hill starts when driving: rare.
Walking is actively encouraged. Cycling is made difficult by the hilly terrain, though is still popular.
Road congestion is common on certain routes, but seems less prone to knock on effects common in Cambridge.
Like the idea of the ‘London Style’ countdown of time left to cross the road.
Proficiency in hill starts essential for driving.
Once told on a driving lesson in Bath, to stay close to the curb when turning left, to avoid cycles cutting in. Don’t try this in Cambridge.
Music Venues
The Junction – capacity 850. Corn exchange – capacity 1681. Portland Arms, Blue Moon pub venues. College venues not generally open to non-students.
The Bell – a cooperative – run pub and music venue. The Forum – capacity 1640. Moles – capacity 200. Pavilion – capacity 1400. Further options in nearby Bristol.
Professional Employment
Vibrant tech scene with the Cambridge Science Park, Business Park, with numerous companies in the area, in the biotech, software and electronic fields; Arm, Microsoft, AstraZeneca, Amgen, CSR, Cambridge Consultants, Sagentia, Samsung. Addenbrookes Hospital is also a major employer in the area.
Bristol and Bath Science Park. There are also a number of tech companies in the Bristol area.