I was born and raised in Quispamsis, a suburb of Saint John. I lived there for 22 years (minus time away from home when I went to university) before moving to Calgary after I graduated in 2002.
Basicly, you couldn't pay me enough to move back there, despite the fact that I have tons of friends and family still in the area.
It's a blue-collar industrial town. It's not as dirty and smelly as others have said, but it's certainly not as clean and beautiful as Calgary. The place is completely devoid of culture -- good luck to you if you want to see an art house movie or go to a concert other than the occasional top 40 Canadian band that stops through. The nightlife consists of maybe three popular bars: The Three Mile (a biker and redneck country bar), O'Leary's (an Irish pub that has pretty decent live East Coast music every weekend), and the Aquarius (a popular student hang-out). There's also a few dance clubs on Prince Willliam Street (the SJ equivalent of 17th Ave), but these go out of business and then reopen under a new name with new decor about every two years, so I can't tell you what the popular one is now.
Saint Johners aren't particularly the brightest individuals either. IIRC, something like 20% of the population can't read at a grade 10 level. Despite having a population base larger than both Fredericton and Moncton, Saint John doesn't even have a Chapters (the other two cities do). Finding a good used bookstore is all but impossible.
The restaurants are surprisingly good though. Any place owned by the Grannan family (which is about half the restaurants downtown) will get you a good meal at a reasonable price. Just don't expect much in the way of ethnic foods -- you've got American-style Chinese takeout and Italian, and that's about it. If you fancy Japanese, Indian, Vietnamese, Thai, etc., you're out of luck. Apparently a sushi restaurant opened a few months ago, but I haven't heard anything about it.
Saint John is also very much a fad town. Everything is incredibly popular when it first opens, then interest quickly dies off. When the first Wendy's opened in Saint John about 10 years ago, they set a franchise record for most burgers sold in a week. The Flames also led the AHL in attendence during their first year in the city, but by the time they left about 10 years later, they had a hard time drawing even 3000 fans to a game.
You're going to need to own a car if you decide to go. There is a bus system, but a car is mandatory. Also be prepared to be confused when driving downtown, which is nothing but a maze of one-way streets.
The one thing I do really miss about Saint John is the City Market. It's the best place to go for meat and produce, and there's lots of restaurant counters, making it a very popular lunch place for workers downtown.
That's all the time I have to write for now, but if you have any specific questions I can probably answer them. Despite my overall negative impression of the city, I wouldn't rule out moving there altogether if your offer is a significant step up from your current position. The cost of living is also very much lower there, so keep that in mind when evaluating your decision.
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