What it's like to live in Cheltenham

Cheltenham's housing mix leans private. Just 12.2% of homes in the council area are socially rented, below the England figure of 17.1%, split between council homes at 7.7% and housing association homes at 4.5%. Owner occupation accounts for 63.6% and private renting a sizeable 23.4%. In short, social housing is a smaller slice of the pie here than in many towns.

Cheltenham Borough Council is comfortably the largest social landlord with around 4,556 homes, followed by Bromford Housing Association with 894 and The Guinness Partnership with 716. Cottsway Housing Association and Sovereign Network Group hold smaller numbers. Average weekly social rents in 2024/25 were about £93 for a one bed, £104 for two beds and £117 for three.

The age profile is close to the national picture, with 27.1% aged 25 to 44 and 19.3% aged 65 and over, slightly above England. The council's housing register held 2,670 households at the end of March 2025, with 262 social homes let in the year and 43 council homes swapped by mutual exchange. A register is not a simple queue, but those numbers show how much demand sits behind each move.

Primary choice near the centre is varied. The Catholic School of Saint Gregory the Great is about 0.3 miles away, with St John's Church of England Primary and Holy Trinity Church of England Primary both around 0.4 miles, and Dunalley Primary School roughly 0.6 miles. Dean Close Airthrie is also nearby. Worth checking admissions and recent inspection reports yourself, as catchments and places shift year to year.

For secondary, Pittville School is about 0.9 miles from the centre. Several of the other nearby secondaries, including Cheltenham Ladies' College and Cheltenham College, are independent, so the state options are worth researching carefully alongside schools slightly further out.

Family life beyond school is well served. The Children's Library sits beside the Central Library, both within a few minutes' walk, and the squares and gardens give younger children somewhere close to run about. Community centres including Gas Green Youth and Community Centre, Parklands Community Centre and The Cornerstone Centre host local activity, and Cheltenham General Hospital is under a mile away if you need it. Around 17.2% of the council area's population is under 16, close to the England average.

The town centre is the easy bit. Royal Well bus station is right in the middle, a couple of minutes from the Promenade, and it is the hub for local and longer-distance services. Arle Court Park and Ride sits about 2.4 miles out, which is useful if you drive in from elsewhere or want to leave the car and finish the journey by bus.

Cheltenham Spa station is about a mile from the centre, on the mainline, and Cheltenham Racecourse station is around 1.7 miles away. That gives you rail options for commuting and for trips without needing a car.

On foot, GL50 is one of the better places in Gloucestershire to be without a car: shops, pharmacies, the library, cinemas and parks are mostly inside half a mile, and the Chelt Walk gives a greener route through part of the town. Drivers get decent links out towards Gloucester and the motorway network, though town-centre parking is the usual compromise. Most households here find they can mix and match depending on the day.

For a town of its size, Cheltenham punches above its weight for going out. There are two cinemas close to the centre, the independent-feeling Tivoli and Cineworld, both within a couple of hundred metres of each other. Pubs and bars are plentiful right in GL50, including The Bank House, 18th Amendment, The Chapel, Coco Lush and Oliver's, and late-night spots such as 2 Pigs, Under the Prom, Home and Botanic and Maggie's.

Green space is the town's calling card. Imperial Gardens, Clarence Square, the Knot Garden and Royal Well Open Space are all within walking distance, and the Chelt Walk follows the water through town. They are the sort of places you use weekly rather than once a year.

If you like to keep active, there is a cluster of small gyms and studios near the centre, among them F45 Training, The Studio, Orange Yoga, Ikigai Studios and Ella and Fleur Hot Yoga. Shopping is anchored by the Regent Arcade, with independent food shops filling in around it. The Cotswolds start just beyond the edge of town for walks further afield.

The labour market in the Cheltenham council area looks healthy on paper. Around 60.1% of adults are in work, above the England figure of 57.4%, and unemployment sits at 2.8% against 3.5% nationally. Unemployment-related benefit claims were also 2.8% of working-age residents, compared with 4% across England.

That tends to mean more competition for homes than for jobs, but it also means a reasonable spread of work locally. Cheltenham General Hospital is a significant presence close to the town centre, and the retail, hospitality and leisure trade you can see on the Promenade and in the Regent Arcade employs plenty of people too, with the usual shift patterns that come with it.

For anyone commuting, the mainline station at Cheltenham Spa and the road links towards Gloucester widen the options considerably, so you are not limited to work within the town boundary. It is worth weighing travel costs into any move: a job that pays well in Bristol or Birmingham looks different once you add a season ticket.