Squint and the broad avenues and tenements really could be Manhattan’s Lower East Side

What’s going for it? I’ve heard a genuine Glaswegian refer to Southside, and they weren’t an estate agent. It does sound like those artificial areas concocted by marketing agencies to Manhattanise a place – like NoLetUp, DoReMe, or Nuneaton North Central. In fact, it refers to the area east of the M77, south of the M74, and if you make it to Giffnock, turn around, for there be garden gnomes. Southside is a more urban affair, dense with 19th-century stone tenements, dive bars and snooker halls, and spliced with edgy spots like Tramway Arts or Glad Cafe, elbowed out for Pizza Express and Foxtons in duller cities more obsessed with property prices. Anyway, Glasgow has no need for Americanisms. It’s already spiritually twinned with the US in so many ways, and Southside is no exception. Squint and its broad avenues and tenements might be the Lower East Side, and Hampden Park could house the Boston Red Sox.

The case against Not much. This is a great, punchy swath of the city. Parts might be a bit noisy and “urban” for some. If so, head for the gnomes.

Well connected? Trains: two main lines into Glasgow Central – from Shawlands every half-hour (11 mins), or every 15 mins from Mount Florida (11 mins). You won’t want for buses.

Schools Primaries: Holy Cross, Glendale, St Conval’s, Langside, St Fillan’s, St Mirin’s, Calderwood Lodge and Braidbar are mostly “very good”, says HMIE. Secondaries: Holyrood and Bellahouston are “very good”.

Hang out at… Plenty to choose from, like the elegant Eat Cafe and Fish People Cafe, Clockwork Beer Co microbrewery, and the fantastic Glad Cafe.

Where to buy Far more affordable than the West End, with a less snooty feel. Shawlands is the heart, with Kilmarnock Road its life and soul: it attracts a younger crowd to its stone terraces and tenements. Leafier corners like the villas around Newlands Park pull in families. Pollokshields is posher, with avenues of villas between Pollok and Maxwell parks, and stately town houses and tenements by Pollokshields West station. Denser and cheaper are Govanhill and around Mount Florida, King’s Park and Hampden Park. Detacheds, £300,000-£800,000. Semis, £275,000-£450,000. Terraces and cottages, £200,000-£300,000. Flats, £50,000-£350,000. Rentals: one-bed, £300-£600pcm; three-bed house, £500-£1,000pcm.

Let’s move to Slaithwaite and the Colne Valley, West Yorkshire Read more

Bargain of the week Spacious, four-bed duplex flat with a communal garden in a handsome listed Victorian stone town house in Crosshill, £185,000 with Fulton’s.

From the streets

Lindsay Finnie “The best bakes in Glasgow can be found at bakery47. Its modest, understated cool encapsulates the spirit of the southside.”

Pamela Richmond “Catch, a great family fish restaurant, serves prosecco with the cod.”

Anne McGoldrick “It’s getting great bars and restaurants. The Salisbury and the Allison Arms.”

• Live in Glasgow Southside? Join the debate below.

Do you live in Steyning, West Sussex? Do you have a favourite haunt or a pet hate? If so, email lets.move@theguardian.com by Tuesday 23 February.