Blogs > A snapshot of UK Cities

A Snapshot into.. Peterborough

• October 10, 2022

Peterborough is a rapidly growing Cathedral city in the heart of rural Eastern England with an estimated population of 202,000. The city shares borders with Cambridgeshire, Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire and boasts excellent transport links with London being a 50 minute train journey away.

The North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust runs three busy hospitals serving around 700,000 residents living in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire and the surrounding communities and employs around 6,320 staff members. Peterborough City Hospital is a state of the art, purpose built facility, with 635 inpatient beds, a Haematology/Oncology Unit, including a recently-expanded radiotherapy suite, an expanded Renal Unit, an Emergency Centre with a separate children’s emergency department, a dedicated Women’s and Children’s unit, a cardiac unit, a respiratory investigations facility and full diagnostic imaging facilities. 

Facts About Peterborough

• In 2018 Peterborough celebrated 900 years of it’s historic cathedral
• The well renowned Cathedral is where Henry the Eigth’s first wife Katherine of Aragon is buried.
• Peterborough Museum and Art Gallery, has a collection of some 227,000 objects,
• Peterborough is one of the UK’s 4 future city demonstrators and home to the country’s largest cluster of environmental businesses.
• Relative to the rest of the UK, the Peterborough area is sunnier than many places, with annual totals averaging nearly 1,600 hours a year.
• In 2018, Peterborough was temporarily home to Tim Peake's Soyuz spacecraft, which transported him to and from the International Space Station in 2015-2016.

Cost of Living in Peterborough

Cost of Renting Accommodation per month

One-Bedroom Apartment in the City Centre	£675.00
One-Bedroom Apartment outside of the City Centre	£556.25
Three-Bedroom Apartment in the City Centre	£850.00
Three-Bedroom Apartment outside of the City Centre	£767.14

Transportation

1ltr Petrol	£1.28
One-Way Public Transport Ticket	£2.90
Monthly Public Transport Ticket	£61.52
1km Taxi Journey	£1.06

Entertainment

Meal out for two in a local pub	£22.50
Meal out for two in a mid-range restaurant, 3 courses	£100.00
Cinema tickets for two people	£20.00
One-month gym membership	£27.50
Tennis court rental for 1 hour on the weekend	£7.25
Beer 0.5ltr bottle	£3.00
Coke/Pepsi 0.33ltr bottle	£1.22
Cappuccino	£3.05

Time it Takes to Travel by Train from Peterborough to Cities in the UK:

City	Time it Takes to Travel
London	50 Minutes
Bristol	3 Hours 42 Minutes
Cardiff	3 Hours 48 Minutes
Manchester	2 Hours 45 Minutes
Newcastle	2 Hours 23 Minutes
Birmingham	2 Hours 50 Minutes
Liverpool	3 Hours 35 Minutes
Edinburgh	4 Hours 4 Minutes

Education in Peterborough:

According to Peterborough City Council Website, Peterborough has access to 60 Primary Schools, 13 Secondary Schools, 9 Special schools and a further 3 colleges for Further Education. To find out more information about term dates, applications, standards, curriculum and general education, visit the website here.

Within an hour of Peterborough you have three fantastic universities, Leicester, Northampton and the prestigious Cambridge University.

Cambridge, being part of the Russell Group universities, is ranked number 2 in the entire country. The University's mission is to contribute to society through the pursuit of education, learning and research at the highest international levels of excellence.

Things to do in Peterborough:

Queensgate Centre and West Gate Arcade

Peterborough’s award-winning Queensgate Centre has over 90 stores, including John Lewis, Superdry, Primark and Fat face, and is complemented by independent boutique outlets in the adjoining Westgate Arcade. There are also regular specialist farmers’ markets and a longstanding covered market located in the heart of the city which has seen a recent surge in new street food outlets serving up a range of tasty treats.

Nene Park

Nene Park is a country park in the city of Peterborough With 2,000 acres of park land, stretching out for 11 km from the city centre. Whether it’s water sports, cycling or golf that you prefer, there’s plenty to keep you, your family and your friends busy. 

Peterborough Beer Festival

Now in its 42nd year, this five-day celebration showcases the very best real ale, real cider, key keg and craft beer. In addition to the massive range of drinks, the location on the embankment of the River Nene in the heart of the city creates the perfect festival atmosphere. 

Vivacity Key Theatre

The Key Theatre is an entertainment venue and sits right beside the River Nene. The Key Theatre hosts over 300 plays, screenings, comedy nights and music events every year, as well as Peterborough’s longest running traditional family pantomime (since 1973). The theatre has a restaurant, bar, multiple rehearsal and conference rooms and two auditoriums - a 360 seat main house and a 112 seat ‘black box’ studio theatre.

Places to worship

Faizan-e-madina Mosque

169-175 Gladstone Street, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, PE1 2BN

St John the Baptist

Church Street, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, PE1 1XB

Kingdom Hall of Jehovah Witness

28 Hallfields Lane, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, PE4 7YH

St Kymeburgha of Castor

Peterborough Road, Castor, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, PE5 7AX

All things food

Gurkha Lounge - Hampton

2 Stewartby Avenue Hampton Vale, Peterborough PE7 8NJ England

Mai Thai Restaurant

77 Lincoln Road, Peterborough PE1 2SH Englan

Vesuvio

1 Eastgate Mews, Whittlesey, Peterborough England

Relocation to Peterborough:

If you’re an international doctor looking to relocate to Peterborough, or another location in the UK, please email your CV to [email protected] and we can support you in securing an NHS post and on your journey to relocate to the UK.

Are you a member of our Facebook group? When you join IMG Advisor, you join a community of doctors all looking to relocate to the UK and join the NHS. We post a series of vlogs and blogs to the group every day. We will also be on hand to answer all of your relocation queries.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel! We have over 100 videos on everything you need to know about relocating to the UK and joining the NHS!

Listen to BDI Resourcing on the go to IMG Advisor the Podcast. You can find us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher and Buzzsprout. We have a number of episodes with tips and advice on relocating to the UK and the routes you can take to achieve this.