We currently live in Prestwich but have been looking at moving north of Bury (so Walmerlsey up to Haslingden) or the other way west of Bolton (so Horwich onwards). Anyone live that way and commute to Manchester / Salford? How bad does the traffic get and are there any areas to avoid?

I’ve been warned off Bacup by a few people (sorry if you live in Bacup!) although it would be handy for Lee Quarry 😀

I live just north of Chorley and commute down to Warrington. Sometimes I go in down the M61/M60/M62 if im calling at the depot on the way in and the M61/60 can be a killer around rush hours. It depends if youre fixed at times youre using it (ie 7-9 in the morning).

It is very handy for the train into Manchester which is regular, cheap and quicker than motorway in rush hour.

I grew up in Rawtenstall (now live in Oxfordshire and not looking back), my Dad used to commute to Ashton every day in about 30 mins and I did a 3 week course near the airport and commuted from my Mums everyday in under an hour.

I agree that you need to avoid most of Bacup, but there are some nice bits of Rossendale if you look.

2nd top of my list would be Ramsbottom which seemed to have developed into a nice little town recently

My top choice stays with me cos I will be living there again and dont want you poaching my trails 😀

I’ve commuted to various parts of manchester without much issue but I always try to get in early and out early

Cheers for the replies, just got to get our house finished then its going up for sale! We’ve 2 young uns so I don’t want to miss out seeing them by having a couple of hours sat in traffic each day but would prefer them not to grow up with some of our neighbours kids either… 🙄 Sounds a bit snobby but you’ve not met my neighbours! Ever seen Shameless then you’ll have some idea.

my girlfriend lives in horwich and i’ll most likely move there or very nearby later in the year (despite my work being in knutsford to that’ll increase my commuting time by around 45 minutes each way). i’m yet to see anything that would even slightly put me off from living there. it seems pretty quiet, but that’s fine by me- i don’t do lively nightlife any more!
even during rush hour, you can do horwich-salford in half an hour (as long as there’s no crashes on the 61/60!), or the train from horwich parkway/blackrod takes 20 mins or so.