St Albans cathedral (stuartrtaylor/iStockphoto.com)
Why I work in St Albans “St Albans is a nice place to work and live. It has a compact city centre with good shopping facilities and a twice-weekly street market.” — Colin Sach, pharmaceutical adviser East and North Hertfordshire Primary Care Trust and West Hertfordshire PCT.
Population 128,982
Local authority St Albans City and District Council is a Liberal Democrat controlled authority and is a “good” authority, according to the Audit Commission.
MPs The sitting MP is Conservative Anne Main.
Health service West Hertfordshire Primary Care Trust, which has offices in nearby Welwyn Garden City, covers St Albans. It has “fair” services and makes “fair” use of resources. West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust has “fair” services and makes “fair” use of resources. It runs the community hospital in St Albans and Hemel Hempstead General and Watford General hospitals. Hertfordshire Partnership NHS Foundation trust — “excellent” services and “good” use of resources — has its headquarters in the city.
Pharmacy school The University of Hertfordshire in Hatfield — 5 miles away — has a pharmacy school.
Local pharmaceutical committee Hertfordshire LPC represents 240 pharmacies, of which 29 are in St Albans and nearby Harpenden.
National Pharmacy Association The association for UK community pharmacy owners has its headquarters in St Albans.
Royal Pharmaceutical Society branch West Hertfordshire branch covers St Albans. It has 534 members, nine fellows, 13 preregistration trainees and 44 technicians.
Open space St Albans was one of the largest Roman settlements in Britain and still has pockets of Roman remains, including an amphitheatre. The city has its own cathedral, the Cathedral and Abbey Church of St Alban, which dominates the skyline and which looks out across the 100-acres of Verulamium Park.
Schools Outstanding primaries include Fleetville infants and nursery; Mandeville primary; St Aiden primary and Heathlands; Sandringham School (mixed comprehensive) and Loretta (voluntary-aided Roman Catholic girls’) are both “outstanding” secondary schools.
Commuter links Excellent train links to London (St Pancras International from 19 minutes); Luton airport (from 24 minutes); Brighton (from 96 minutes). The city is encircled by the M25, M1 and A1(M) so motorway links are good.
Property prices Two-bed flat: £190k to £275k; three-bed semi: £225k to £500k; four bed detached: £300k to £1m plus.
