Blogs > Life in the UK

A Snapshot into ... Bury St Edmunds

• August 22, 2022

In the centre of East Anglia, which is quickly growing as a result of the infusion of new technology around Cambridge, sits Bury St Edmunds, a charming and prosperous market town.

Bury St Edmunds is home to around 40,000 people in the county of Suffolk, in England. The town is perhaps best known for its abandoned Abbey, which is one of Suffolk's many hidden gems and stands close to the town centre surrounded by stunning Abbey Gardens. History is vividly brought to life here; specifically during the summer as costume wearing ensembles interact with visitors and answer questions about how the Anglo Saxons lived.

A cultural festival is held every year in May lasting two weeks, which attracts nationally and
internationally known musicians and artists in several fields. The beautifully restored
Georgian Theatre Royal is the oldest purpose built theatre in England and features opera,
dance and music as well as drama from the best touring companies.

Bury St Edmunds and the NHS

West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust is a highly successful, award-winning Trust providing hospital and community services to a population of around 280,000 people who live in west Suffolk. The West Suffolk Hospital hosts undergraduate medical students from the University of
Cambridge, specifically the Cambridge Graduate Course in Medicine (CGCM). The hosting of the CGCM has seen an investment in education on the hospital site, with the
Education Centre being built to provide improved educational facilities for the hospital, and
attached community services and general practices. The Education Centre includes the
provision of library and lecture theatre facilities, the Undergraduate and Postgraduate
Medical Centre, and the Practical Clinical Skills Centre

West Suffolk Hospital provide acute hospital services from their 430-bed hospital set in parkland on the outskirts of Bury St Edmunds. The hospital has an emergency department, obstetrics, maternity and neonatal services, a day surgery unit, eye unit and children’s wards and provides the full range of secondary care services. Renowned for their remarkable training, Bury ST Edmunds hospital invest in the future workforce and provide the clinical base for the Cambridge Graduate Medical course. They value student doctors and other trainees in the healthcare professions and are a centre of excellence for education.

Key achievements:

• In 2020, 94% patients recommended WSFT as a place to receive care and 83% staff
recommended them as a place to receive care. Three quarters of the staff
recommended WSFT as a place to work.
• The endoscopy, radiology, housekeeping, catering, IT department and the Macmillan
Unit all hold national accreditations for excellence.
• They regularly receive top A grade in overall assessment by the Sentinel Stroke
National Audit Programme.
• They were best for hip fracture care 2017, 2018, 2020 (England, Wales and Northern
Ireland) according to the National Hip Fracture Database.

Facts about Bury St Edmunds

• The town has a starring role in a Dickens novel! Bury St Edmunds and the town's former ‘Coaching inn’ now hotel ‘The Angel’ feature extensively in Charles Dickens' The Pickwick Papers.
• A French Queen is buried in the town. St Mary’s Church in Bury St Edmunds is the final resting place of Mary Tudor, Queen of France, Duchess of Suffolk and favourite sister of Henry VIII.
• The Town is thought to have the earliest example of a sundial! Victorian drinking fountain, with sundial cube on the top, now a planter in the Abbey Gardens was gifted to the people of Bury St Edmunds in 1871 by the 3rd Marquess of Bristol The sundial is an extremely early example - quite possibly the earliest in the country - of a sundial that allowed the town clocks to be set to GMT rather than the local mean time.

 

Cost of Living in Bury St Edmunds

Cost of Renting Accommodation per month in Bury St Edmunds

One-Bedroom Apartment in the City Centre	£650.00
One-Bedroom Apartment outside of the City Centre	£683.00
Three-Bedroom Apartment in the City Centre	£1,150.00
Three-Bedroom Apartment outside of the City Centre	£1,151.67

Transportation

1ltr Petrol	£1.53
One-Way Public Transport Ticket	£2.00
Monthly Public Transport Ticket	£60.00
1km Taxi Journey	£1.34

Entertainment

Meal out for two in a local pub	£16.50
Meal out for two in a mid-range restaurant, 3 courses	£46.50
Cinema tickets for one person	£13.50
One-month gym membership	£28.48
Tennis court rental for 1 hour on the weekend	£20.00
Beer 0.5ltr bottle	£3.70
Coke/Pepsi 0.33ltr bottle	£1.18
Cappuccino	£1.19

Time It Takes to Travel by Train from Bury St Edmunds to Cities in the UK

City	Time it Takes to Travel
London	1 Hour 52 Minutes
Bristol	3 Hours 33 Minutes
Cardiff	4 Hour
Manchester	3 Hours 41 Minutes
Newcastle	4 Hours 21 Minutes
Birmingham	2 Hours 16 Minutes
Liverpool	3 Hours 47 Minutes
Edinburgh	6 Hours 33 Minutes

Education in Bury St Edmunds

According to the government website, Bury St Edmunds has 53 primary schools and 15 Secondary schools to choose from! To find out more information about term dates, applications, standards, curriculum and general education, visit the Gov.uk

The University of Suffolk is all about transformation – transforming individuals, the community, the region and beyond. They have absorbed the best traditions in higher education and aligned them with the modern world of employment and entrepreneurship. Fid out about courses here.

Things to do in Bury St Edmunds:

Bury St Edmunds markets

A very popular and traditional market is held twice a week. The town centre has a wide
range of shops, including high street names and speciality shops. There are also numerous
restaurants and a wide range of leisure and sporting facilities.

The West Stow Anglo Saxon Centre and Country Park

While exploring Bury St. Edmunds, you can discover a lot of Anglo Saxon artefacts. The West Stow Anglo Saxon Centre and Country Park is one location that is of great interest. This tourist destination is located on the site of an ancient town that was inhabited between 420 and 650 AD.

Theatre Royal

Bury St Edmunds has many unique features, but probably its proudest monument is the Grade 1 listed Theatre Royal. It is the only theatre open to the public in the National Trust’s portfolio of properties.

 The Theatre presents a vibrant, year-round programme of drama, music, dance and light entertainment, featuring many of this country’s leading companies and performers. We also offer a wide-ranging educational and community-based programme of activities.

Ickworth House, Park and Gardens

The grounds of Ickworth House, Park, and Gardens provide for a perfect family outing. The mansion is a sight to behold, serving as the centrepiece of the Ickworth estate with its classical Rotunda, East, and West Wings. The 4th Earl of Bristol, who was well-known for his distinctive and eccentric tastes, built it. He requested that the house be oval-shaped, and so it is!

Places to eat in Bury and St Edmunds

Voujon Indian Cuisine

We invite you to embark on a culinary journey of the Indian subcontinent and explore the many regional styles of cooking that India has to offer

The Sheesh

The Sheesh is the place to experience premium quality authentic Turkish BBQ for eat-in or takeaway.

Giggling Squid – Bury St Edmunds

Relaxed destination specializing in Thai staples, with an emphasis on seafood.

Relocating to Bury St Edmunds

If you’re an international doctor looking to relocate to Bury St Edmunds, 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.