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Hang on a minute though. We don't just let anyone into Chorlton you know. There are standards. The committee will vet you. You will have to answer yes to at least all of the following questions
1. Would you rather open a vein than contemplate starting the day without a latte and the Guardian?
2. Though you do regard George Monbiot's editorials a bit tame. He claims to represent the environment, but his views don't go far enough?
3. Do you own a hat knitted from yaks-wool by a goat-herder in Nepal?
4. Does the thought of non-organic vegetables horrify you?
5. Could you eulogise rapturously when asked the question 'what is Acid Folk?
6. Do you think facial hair perfectly acceptable?
7. Are you a blind black lesbian (post-op)?
8. Do you have a direct debit for Greenpeace
9. Despite being in your 30's do you think its ok to wear friendship bracelets
10. Have you ever dug up a field of GM crops?
All that stuff about Chorlton middle class smugness is rubbish. Everyone in Chorlton is smug, not just the middle class. It's because we have the Turkish Delight, natch.
I grew up in Cheadle Hulme and Cheadle, both ok but to be honest they are about as boring a place to live as you can imagine. Suburbia. On the plus side it's not far to decent riding and the BMX track.
I'd avoid Chorlton. I used to live there and had the pleasure of 2 muggings, 3 house break-ins and having to leave the car unlocked for its daily search by the local scumbags (no that's not a joke).
I also lived in West Didsbury which is good for both pubs and crime.
I'd go with what most are saying - New Mills, Marple, Whaley, Chapel, Hayfield etc. My parents live in Birch Vale between New Mills and Hayfield - can't beat it for local riding and rail links. I've got friends in Chinley and Chapel (which are ok and great for riding) and Buxton (let's just say your wife will have enough custom).
Buxton (let's just say your wife will have enough custom)
Girlfriend, not wife. I like to point that out to her too 😉
And I've heard Buxton has plenty of people for her to work with!
West Didsbury - when you say good for crime do you mean there's not much or it's a good place to be a criminal?
[i]Buxton (let's just say your wife will have enough custom). [/i]
PMSL! Harsh but true! 😉
chorlton- wasnt surprised when Marmalade shut. Great example of a good place/location/goodish food ruined by appalling indifferent service.
11. Do you shop at a vegan, organic, ethical grocery shop called Unicorn?
Unicorn! FFS!
😛
Nobody mention whalley Range - thats where I used to live. cheaper housing and nicer houses than chorlton ( on the chorlton side of it)
Hang on a minute though. We don't just let anyone into Chorlton you know. There are standards. The committee will vet you. You will have to answer yes to at least all of the following questions1. Would you rather open a vein than contemplate starting the day without a latte and the Guardian?
2. Though you do regard George Monbiot's editorials a bit tame. He claims to represent the environment, but his views don't go far enough?
3. Do you own a hat knitted from yaks-wool by a goat-herder in Nepal?
4. Does the thought of non-organic vegetables horrify you?
5. Could you eulogise rapturously when asked the question 'what is Acid Folk?
6. Do you think facial hair perfectly acceptable?
7. Are you a blind black lesbian (post-op)?
8. Do you have a direct debit for Greenpeace
9. Despite being in your 30's do you think its ok to wear friendship bracelets
10. Have you ever dug up a field of GM crops?
hahaha! binners, that's you and me both looking for somewhere else to live then mate!
11. Do you shop at a vegan, organic, ethical grocery shop called Unicorn?
not as much as i used to. it's getting too busy now, full of that smugness mentioned earlier. used to be easier to get stuff when genuine vegans were the only people that shopped there!
elitism > smugness. that's my own personal mantra...
11. Do you shop at a vegan, organic, ethical grocery shop called Unicorn?
The only problem with Unicorn is the hordes of smug middle class chorlton-ites who frequent it. I remember it in the good old days before it became trendy when the only customers were hair-shirted vegans and there wasn't a sun-dried tomato in sight!
another decent place [b]so far not mentioned[/b] is Whaley Bridge
Ahem!
West Didsbury - when you say good for crime do you mean there's not much or it's a good place to be a criminal?
Not really* in my experience. But then, I've only lived around here for 10 years....
W. Didsbury is great. It's like all the things binners says about Chorlton, except everyone drives an Range Rover. Actually, there are three houses of cyclists in my street....
Seriously, your requirements would be best served by the sort 'burbs people have mentioned. Just avoid Stockport at all costs and at all times....
*We've suffered one incident only - car roof was slashed when parked on an adjacent street for a couple of days without being moved.
*I would shop there if I lived in Chorlton (fully paid up smug middle class Guardianista)
😉
I have eaten a meat pie whilst walking around Unicorn. I'm just beyond redemption.
Nobody mention whalley Range - thats where I used to live.
QED.
Actually, it's fine, so long as you choose the right bit. Otherwise it's still a bit of a gangster's paradise.
not as much as i used to. it's getting too busy now, full of that smugness mentioned earlier. used to be easier to get stuff when genuine vegans were the only people that shopped there!
I like Unicorn very much, though I do have some issues:
1. The veganism. I really could do with a decent butcher in the area. And somewhere to buy non-homogenised milk.
2. The smugness, especially on a Saturday or a Sunday. i counter it by driving there in an open top sports car.
3. The fact that it's currently pretty lacking in a lot of seasonal UK produce I'd expect to find in there.
4. The introduction over the last couple of years of way more imported food. Don#t f***ing lecture me about food miles and then sell me South African apples.
haha, i stopped buying the guardian as it's an unnecessary waste of paper when i can read it online... does that make me beyond smug?
and i do still shop at unicorn, i just try to go there at times when it's less likely to be swarming with the above-described chorltonites (complete with little tarquin and cressida running around the place hurling reclaimed timber building blocks at everyone)...
tom, there's that organic butchers/deli a bit further down manchester road from unicorn; maybe try them?
and i agree on the imported food thing, but tbh it gets pretty complex with regard to the food miles thing if you're looking at it from a carbon footprint angle as the herbivore vs omnivore thing comes into play and the raising/production of meat has far more of an impact on yr carbon footprint than eating a veggie diet, regardless of relative locations of producer/retailer/consumer. but that's another issue really.
Unicorn- the place to buy veg on its last legs (where punters think they are buying mishappen-great veg)...
There was a sign on the notice board saying 'oppose the new Express Tescos plans'. WHY I said loudly to my GF- its not a direct competitor so why worry? I had some really dirty-looks from shoppers nearby
I like the sound a decent vegan shop, being an almost-vegan myself. Shame it's become trendy. I blame the media...
Would it be fair to say that anywhere [u]inside[/u] the M60 on the southeast side of Manchester is going to be hell to drive from to Buxton?
Looking forward to having decent riding on my doorstep. It's a real pain in the ar$e living in York to get out on some decent trails (quickly).
Glossop (careful, though, not many surnames round there ),
Actually Glossop's about half and half original Glossop folk and in-comers these days and while it's never going to be a quaint village, you can look up from Glossop station and see big hills on three sides, get to Manchester by train in 35 minutes and ride from your front door. Buxton would be around half an hour or so away by car via Hayfield and the A6.
Not super cultured, but friendly, easy going and with supermarkets, shops and big hills on the doorstep. Oh, and a decent LBS in the form of High Peak Cycles. Nicer than New Mills by some way imho.
I have eaten a meat pie whilst walking around Unicorn. I'm just beyond redemption.
Surprised you got out of there alive considering they don't even stock anything with honey in it on account of the suffering it causes the bees!
hora - Member
Unicorn- the place to buy veg on its last legs (where punters think they are buying mishappen-great veg)...There was a sign on the notice board saying 'oppose the new Express Tescos plans'. WHY I said loudly to my GF- its not a direct competitor so why worry? I had some really dirty-looks from shoppers nearby
STOP GETTING LIFE WRONG MARK!
What about Broadbottom? Just for the name of course.
snowslave and xherbivorex, when I went into Unicorn it was like the Kurgan entering a church in Highlander. I had to be good.
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dazh - I know, I got told off. I should stress it wasn't to be provocative mind, I just wasn't thinking what I was doing.
Hora, that Tescos thing was a fiasco!* On Saturday it looked v quiet whilst there were queues outside Barbakan and Unicorn also v busy. People are voting with their feet it would appear?
Edit * - as in how they over rode local opposition to get planning permission etc.
When I said Didsbury was good for crime I meant it had a lot of it!
Didn't it have one of the highest crime rates in the UK for a while (or just car crime and violent crime). I remember something like that. I used to work at Neil Walton Cycles for anyone that remembers that place.
And I'll defend Glossop - a bit rough around the edges but a great riding location again! Quite quick to Buxton in a car too.
Edit * - as in how they over rode local opposition to get planning permission etc.
Upon being caught- Tescos made their store bigger than the planning permission allowed. A Tesco spokesman said he hoped "jobs wouldnt suffer" due to the councils decision to stop them using the extra space that Tesco had sneaked in. Cheeky...
If its against the flow- I'd move closer to Manc. When I lived in central Manc- commuting up Oldham road towards Rochdale was a dream and vice versa.
Hora, that Tescos thing was a fiasco!* On Saturday it looked v quiet whilst there were queues outside Barbakan and Unicorn also v busy. People are voting with their feet it would appear?Edit * - as in how they over rode local opposition to get planning permission etc.
it's the least profitable tesco store (per sq metre) in the UK, apparently.
and they only pressed for the appeal against the planning decision to prove a point; they don't care how well it performs now, they just didn't want to be made to look like they could actually lose something. regardless of whether the store was wanted/needed in the locality or not.
and re: commuting against the flow, i do that (from chorlton to knutsford) and it's a dream, but i don't need to go near/through stockport which would be somewhat of a decider for me as that's where the problems mostly are.
Call me biased (I'm from Macc) but given that the requirements here are (i) access to central MCR and (ii) getting to Buxton by car I reckon it's got to be either Macclesfield or Buxton.
Macc: lots of quick direct trains to MCR, drive to Buxton is pretty good (unless it snows)
Buxton: train to Manchester but stops at every lamp-post, car is already in Buxton
Poynton: is just wrong on so many levels.
Both Macc and Buxton have plenty of good riding on the door-step as wellas the obvious access to the Dark Peak, North Wales etc. In fact I'll sometimes ride from home to Buxton and back.
xherbivorex all cool now at home etc?
Ps, Theres a similar tescos in Marsh/Hudds (on the land of an old petrol station)- they dont accept Scottish notes and dont give cash back either. Shithole of a place but its still fairly busy as there is only a sh1te Co-op and then nothing for probably 4mile radius.
Would it be fair to say that anywhere [u]inside[/u] the M60 on the southeast side of Manchester is going to be hell to drive from to Buxton?
Yep.
What about Broadbottom? Just for the name of course.
Broadbottom's okay, direct line into Manchester for you, 30 minutes or so, and a quick-ish drive over to Buxton via Charlesworth and Hayfield, but it's not exactly over-overendowed with shopping facilities etc and is kind of halfway between being in Manchester and being in the Peak. If you want quaint and nice with a good local riding community. Hayfield is lovely - again not many shops - and while there's no direct rail link into Manchester, you could cycle either to Glossop or New Mills and get a train in from there quite easily, though Glossop is the other side of a big climb. Riding out of Hayfield is superb and every other local seems to be a mountain biker or fell runner. Same lack of shops but Tesco in Glossop is only about ten minutes away in the car.
If your partner's driving to Buxton daily, I'd steer clear of the Manchester suggestions. Bear in mind, if the folk who live there gave more than cursory importance to mountain biking, then they wouldn't live there would they? They'd live somewhere with decent riding on the doorstep 😕
When I said Didsbury was good for crime I meant it had a lot of it!
Changed a lot in the boom years. Car insurance prices are still high, though. Neil Walton Cycles was long gone by the time I arrived there.
there's that organic butchers/deli a bit further down manchester road from unicorn; maybe try them?
You mean Wild at Heart? Surprisingly, very little in the way of meat or dairy produce. When it first opened, I was lead to believe it would be an organic butcher, but it essentially a deli with a few non-cooked items. Haven't been in for ages, as it doesn't really do anything more than I can get from Barbakan or the little deli - Thyme Out - just down the road from me.
I've no massive issue with veganism, or much in between (though if I hear someone describe themselves as "white meat vegetarian", I do tend to have a hora-style overeaction). My mother is all but vegan, and I grew up very aware of a lot of the issues surrounding animal welfar and the impact of livestock farming. But, I choos meat. But, this is a whole other debate..!
Would it be fair to say that anywhere inside the M60 on the southeast side of Manchester is going to be hell to drive from to Buxton?
Anyway, back on topic: in spite of being a Manchester resident (though not a Manc, so I don't sport binners' rose tintend view 😉 ), I am of the view that you need to be outside the M60, and not really any further south than Macclesfield.
Bear in mind, if the folk who live there gave more than cursory importance to mountain biking, then they wouldn't live there would they? They'd live somewhere with decent riding on the doorstep
Er, this evening, I shall be riding one bike from central Manchester, via my house in West Dids, and then out on another bike to the Peaks. Last Tuesday, I was at the top of the Cat at 8.30pm enjoying the views to myself. Depends how seriously you take your cycling as to how many miles you put in from your doorstep... 😉
I love veggie food. I even chose veggie curries over meat ones as they are less-overkill to digest and taste better. However sometimes I cant stand all those vegetables being culled in their prime whilst Lamb numbers go through the roof so I like to participate in a Lamb cull with mint sauce occassionaly.
I guess there are the white meat vegetarian's and I'm a National Carrot Liberation-front and keen Lambist.
Er, this evening, I shall be riding one bike from central Manchester, via my house in West Dids, and then out on another bike to the Peaks. Last Tuesday, I was at the top of the Cat at 8.30pm enjoying the views to myself. Depends how seriously you take your cycling as to how many miles you put in from your doorstep...
Depends how many of those miles you want to do on over-crowded urban roads, I guess. I can be on the Shooting Cabin in under 15 minutes from my front door or run to the top of Doctor's Gate in 40 minutes or hit the top of Holme Moss in under an hour on the road. And none of those rides involves more than five minutes of urban riding.
Then again, I don't have a vegan delicatessen on my doorstep, though amusingly, The Globe, which is arguably the best pub in Glossop, does serve great vegan pub food and bar snacks 🙂
BadlyWireddog - Sherpa Tensing had Everest on his door step but no Turkish Delight, and for that his life was ultimately less fulfilled than it could be. You can go to mountains whenever you want, but kebabs must be local. As the bloke in Turkish Delight will tell you if you ask him. Probably...
We really should organise a local ride finishing off at the Turkish Delight. The king sized mixed kebab could feed a family of 4 for a week. Or me, beered up on a Friday night, for an hour 🙂
Chilli sauce?
chilli sauce?
Binners - bring it on! Let's do a joint raid on the peaks or somethin, rounded off with the kebab of our dreams?
EXTRA chilli sauce
We'll get something sorted. Maybe for next week. We've got a good urban-ish run that takes in Reddish Vale right the way out past Cheadle, Styal/Manchester airport , then Hale, Alty and back to Chorlton. All off road. About 25 miles if i remember rightly. Ideal for this time of year.
Turkish Delight to finish. We could go and invade the restaurant at the back so that we can wash it all down with copious Efes
Sounds a winner mate!
There is a wonderful village just north of the town centre, cafe bars, organic shops, lend a bike schemes, its called Harpurhey
I'd be up for that Chorlton ride if that's cool?
It's all about the Iskander...
We'd have to stash the bikes though. Binners - I've chucked somethin on your forum. Let's do it....
Must admit Turkish Delight is like a secret underground Bond Villians lair. From the front it looks just like a dodgy kebab shop...then theres the door that leads downstairs. Mint.
Back to the OP.
It's looking like either: Macclesfield, Marple, Glossop or New Mills then?
I know all these places really well and am thinking you couldn't go far wrong living in any one of them.
You could probably rent a small house for the money you'll be spending on a flat in York.