[Closed] So, tell me all about Accrington...

I lived there for a couple of years about 7rs ago.
Honestly? I'm glad we got out.
The Town Centre has died, all the shops are going, so unless you're after a Hipster Barbour, there's not a lot else going on..
Honestly, I'd be looking elsewhere.
Cougar & hrs Mrs still live there iirc..
I'm glad to have escaped.
Great location, shite town imho.
YMMV...
I'd say Great Harwood, or surrounds may be a better bet..

I guess the question is more about crime/personal safety. This is someone who will keep herself to herself and just fancies a quietish life.

Quiet life ?

Barnoldswick - [url= http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-64005386.html ]http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-64005386.html[/url]

<£60k

They have a bloke there called Stanley, allegedly.

Ian Rush doesn't like it.

Smokey - bizarre, just looked at that 30 seconds ago. Didn't think you could get anything there for that little.

Where are they at the moment?

Other end of the country - Cornwall. Not the first place most people would associate with hellishly rough, but there you go.

Unfortunately none of the areas will be particularly nice, north east lancs has had a lot of money thrown at it over recent years but she will really not find anywhere pleasant for that kind of money.
There is an awful lot of new build in the area and a lot of it has low cost starter homes, miht be worth a look a bit further afield for somethin like that. Clitheroe is very nice but very pricey, but could be worth a call to Ribble Valley homes to see what starter homes are bein planned. Schools are fantastic and the countryside is lovely

I never thought I'd find a more miserable and depressing place than Aylesbury. That was until I had to kill two hours in Accrington waiting for a tyre to be changed on a car.

I'd say that pretty much anywhere else would be better.

This is all encouraging stuff so far! Obviously, if Aylesbury was your previous marker of human misery, I'm not sure your frame of reference was suitably calibrated. 🙂

As above - i've worked in Accrington for 13years. Its dying/dead/ on its arse. High unoccupency of property hence dirt cheap prices.

Saying that there are some nice bits but you need to have a wander about.

Have a look at Waterfoot, good prices and rising values, some nice contemporary properties and money tooked away on the quiet. Some negatives to the place but im happy so far - renting at moment whilst waiting completion on purchasing a big renovation project just round the corner.

This is all useful, thanks. My knowledge of the area is limited to looking out of the window while driving towards Bury.

Agree with other posters.

There are a number of unlovely post-industrial East-Lancs towns where you can get a Victorian terrace cheap. Bacup is another one.

The problem is, a lot of these properties will be bought-to-lets, rented out cheaply, and so there's a chance your neighbours will not be the fine, upstanding houseproud citizens your relatives probably are. Think crime, drugs, racial tensions.

Nice riding on the doorstep though 🙂

With her budget it's just a question of minimising the bad stuff rather than eliminating it completely.

Who are they?

This mountain biker loves Accrington: http://www.idonohoe.com/ he's a friendly helpful sort of chappie too.

Tell your friend to check out Summerseat, a few miles to the south. At the moment it's blighted by the problem of the bridge that got damaged in the Boxing day 2105 flood when the Waterside pub got washed downstream. Locals are trying to get the bridge repaired and I'm guessing there might be a few properties on the market that won't sell until the issue is resolved.

I was about to mention waterfoot/stacksteads but RNP beat me, next town over from Accrington is Rishton, it aint too bad and seems to have money thrown at since I was there 10 year ago, or Great Harwood just around th'corner

Chorley is a massive upgrade over Accy IMO [lived in accy for 30 years and chorley for 25]

60k is just enough for a 1 bed new build house on buckshaw village or a terraced house in some areas

Forget Summerseat bridge or not for £60k also no local facilities - post office etc.

The whole Rossendale valley is 'up and coming'. Ramsbottom has been 'done' and is up in values, Edenfield even more so, Helmshore same so the flow of Manchester commuter's / BBC Salford employees has steadly expanded further into Rawtenstall and to a smaller extent Waterfoot.
We are renting a large 3bed / 4floor solid victorian terrace on a quiet tree lined avenue, two others in the street are for sale for £100k, bloody bargain compared to the overvalued £170k 2 bed in Edenfield we sold. Good local facilities, pretty level ground if elderly for accessing local ammenities (co-op shop, post office, decent bakery etc).

We nearly bought our 'dream renovation' project in Accrington and heavily invested some serious thought into Accy's future but it just didnt look like it would ever recover as a town.

Gentrification creeps up Rossendale valley. I drive down the M66 every morning and back up every night and every time I wonder why somebody can't open the ELR as a commuter line. I know nothing about this kind of thing but surely it's not beyond the wit on Man to link the line into the Metro at Bury?

Never been to Accrington but I'd just like to back up what someone said about Chorley being quite pleasant.

It's even got a booths.

60k is just enough for a 1 bed new build house on buckshaw village or a terraced house in some areas

Buckshaw is grim in a modern matchbox large scale estate with no character type of grim. The sort of place that's full of lease cars and big screen TVs. The Tesco doesn't even have a cafe!!

But it's got a cracking LBS!

Perhaps try looking at the crime maps for different areas?

https://www.police.uk/lancashire/E26/crime/

But it's got a cracking LBS!

I wonder why somebody can't open the ELR as a commuter line. I know nothing about this kind of thing but surely it's not beyond the wit on Man to link the line into the Metro at Bury?

Money/private ownership.
It'd cost an awful lot to upgrade it to mainline standards, they are limited to 30mph currently, with 1950's signalling, and lower track standards. It'd all have to be upgraded to modern standards which will cost millions. Then there is ownership, it is privately owned, and they wont want to sell up.They would have difficulty starting their own commuter services too, it is run by Volunteers, who dont mind Sat and Sundays, but when it is 7 days a week, you need staff available, so they would have to pay Staff to man the ticket office, trains and signal boxes. Add in the need for modern trains with disabled access, extra insurance for general publi travel, and it's all getting very expensive now.
TfGM could come in and offer to upgrade it and run the services, but is there really a market for it currently, and enough of a potential market to justify the £50M+ cost of opening it?
Light rail/metro is a slightly cheaper possibility, but again, it is in the multi millions to do that - the bridges are undoubtedly too low for the electric overhead cables, and you'd need new power supplies to supply the trains - the current ones were designed to get to Bury, add another 10 miles and there wont be enough power/voltage to run the trains.
It's possible, but at the cost, there are more important schemes currently.

try whitworth.. i ve seen recently new build flats recently go for 45k.. no glamour though..

try whitworth

Not a bad shout, that

Might be able to get a place in Todmorden... I really enjoy living here.

That comment about Buckshaw says more about you than the place.

I don't particularly like new build homes either, but it's a perfectly decent place and if you can really buy a 1 bed house there for £60k, I'd say it's definitely worth considering.

We probably need somewhere in range for when said relative needs a bit more help on a regular basis. We're in Skipton, and I think Rawtenstall and maybe Waterfoot is as far as we can consider. Are there any other bits of Burnley or surrounds which are worth looking at?

Accrington stanley!!? 'Oooo are they?!!?

Exactly!

Cougar & hrs Mrs still live there iirc..

Yup, sadly I've been here all my life. Trying to get the money together to get out.

Great location, shite town imho.

That's about the size of it. Location wise it's absolutely brilliant, you're in spitting distance of the M66 to Manchester and the M65 which runs between Preston and Colne. Pick a direction and drive for an hour and you'll hit a national park (or the coast). Preston and Manchester both have regular mainline train services up and down the country. I'm five minutes from an ASDA, Tesco Extra, Lidl, Aldi.

The town itself has been slowly dying for years though. The centre is awash with pound shops and pizza-kebabbery-chicken takeaways. If you want a large ham and mushroom pizza for two quid where the ham is turkey painted pink, you're in the right place. Ale's cheap though, going rate for a pint of something nice is about £2.40.

I live in a Victorian terrace built in the 1890s. Had it valued last year and the guy spent about 30 seconds looking at it before going "yeah, about 50K is the going rate." It's the primary reason I'm still here, it's owned outright but worth Geoff all.

The area has a high percentage of Asian families, and in the last few years I've seen a marked rise in Eastern European accents (along with the appearance of a couple of Polski Skleps). Everyone seems to get on though, I've seen little in the way of real racial tension since the playground wars in the 80s. You're probably more likely to see bother from Blackburn and Burnley football supporters knocking bells out of each other.

There are better and worse areas to be in around here. Baxenden used to be the "posh bit" of Accy, these days that's a bit like saying "the talented one out of Jedward" but is still ok. Burnley gets a bad press, arguably deservedly, but there's some rock-bottom house prices and some districts in the outskirts of Burnley are very nice. Blackburn's had a ton of money thrown at the town centre, Ramsbottom is lovely, bits of Haslingden / Rawtenstall aren't bad (and has Nino's which is the best pizza shop outside of Italy), and so on and so forth.

Sounds like a good investment to me. They're not making anymore land, the population is growing and there's a housing shortage. At some point the prices will start going up, they always do...

That's about the size of it. Location wise it's absolutely brilliant, you're in spitting distance of the M66 to Manchester and the M65 which runs between Preston and Colne. Pick a direction and drive for an hour and you'll hit a national park (or the coast). Preston and Manchester both have regular mainline train services up and down the country. I'm five minutes from an ASDA, Tesco Extra, Lidl, Aldi.

Sounds exactly like my town but I'm near the M61 not the M65 and it's just a base for getting to places.

....better and worse areas to be in around here. Burnley gets a bad press, arguably deservedly, but there's some rock-bottom house prices and some districts in the outskirts of Burnley are very nice....

Lived in Burnley for four years now and am still surprised by how nice it actually is.

The streets are clean and free of litter.
The parks are immaculate and staffed by proper old-fashioned Parkies.
There is plenty to do.
Good cinema, decent theatre, some excellent pubs and restaurants, decent music scene.
Shops are fine too.

The surrounding countryside is amazing, loads of access, plenty of walking and riding.

There has been an awful lot of money invested in the area, as above.
People are proud of the town and it's recently been voted the friendliest place to live in the UK, which I can well believe.
Love it to bits.
Much, much nicer than Todmorden, which is insular and unfriendly compared to Burnley, imo.

We live on the south east edge, just behind Towneley Park.
Some very reasonable property around, Brunshaw Estate is just down the road from us and seems a very pleasant place to live by all accounts.
Cheap as well.

As above, Rawtenstall is an excellent little town, but not massively cheap anymore.
Water, Waterfoot and Weir are ok IF you're lucky with your neighbours.

Avoid Bacup and Haslingdon, but lots of bits of Accrington itself are very pleasant and it again is a very friendly place.

Happy to give anyone a quick tour of Burnley.
There are bits to avoid, but on the whole I find it pretty hard to fault.

Accrington is sadly only going one way. Surrounding areas are great but I would avoid Accy. It makes the rest of east lancs look like belgravia

The best bit about Accy was I could ride over the road, down a ginnel or two, and be out onto the moors.
The riding was fantastic, it's just the place itself..

I grew up in Barrowford, so I'm obviously dead posh and haven't lived in the area for 20 years.
I do have friends who still live there, though and visit my parents two or three times a year.

Colne can be quite "real" but at least the town is still going, unlike Accrington and Nelson, and there still seems to be plenty going on there. You just have to pick your area, as with everywhere!

If I moved back I'd probably live in Barlick, though. Earby might be cheaper.

I grew up just outside of Bacup and loved it. Lots of cheap houses.[url= http://oldfieldsofhistory.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/the-mystery-of-broadclough-dykes-was.html?m=1 ]Lots of hills to wander[/url]
And it has Cornish links through the [url= http://www.coconutters.co.uk/history.html ]Britannia Coconutters[/url]
I don't really know Accy other than the fact that I don't like it.
I'd probably choose somewhere up Water area. Plenty of cheap terraces. It's out the way and quiet.

Might take you up on that at some point Rusty. Friendly and welcoming (even to incomers) would be a big plus.

Thanks everyone for your help. I've got no idea when it comes to East Lancs (apart from not liking Nelson!), and good to hear that at least some of you like the place!

Does anyone actually *like* Nelson? 🙂

Here's the Guardianista view of Colne:

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2015/apr/10/lets-move-to-colne-lancashire-former-mill-town

I've been lodging in Colne for the last 3 years and quite like it.
We have a couple of micropubs, a good [url=

shop[/url], [url= http://www.deerstonesbakery.co.uk/ ]artisan bakery[/url], thai cafe, vegetarian restaurant, a record shop, a [url= http://www.liveliketheboy.co.uk/ ]vintage/retro homewares shop[/url], and gorgeous countryside right on the doorstep.

The countryside and some of the villages in Lancashire are absolutely gorgeous (and the riding is great) However most of the larger towns have been ruined by bent councillors bending over backwards to obtain the Asian vote, the result being no-go areas and ghettos being created in a lot of towns.
There are still a lot of unspoilt areas in Lancashire, although house prices are at a premium in most of them.

Is power kite flying allowed in Burnley?

I've been lodging in Colne for the last 3 years and quite like it.

The only thing wrong with Colne is that it desperately needs the M65 extending past it. It's a complete pain in the harris to get through at the best of times. I used to visit the Hyundai dealer there and it takes longer to get down Vivary Way than it does to actually get to Colne in the first place.

They've a board game shop too. (-: Didn't know about the veggie restaurant though, whereabouts is that?

ruined by bent councillors bending over backwards to obtain the Asian vote, the result being no-go areas and ghettos being created in a lot of towns.

How so?

Cougar, it's called Jim's Vegetarian Restaurant. It's on New Market Street (one of the crazy steep streets just off Albert Road in town centre), just past Boyce's Barrel and The Tapster's Promise.
I know what you mean about Vivary Way/North Valley Road, it's always ridiculously busy.

Gotcha. I'll have to check it out, ta.

one of the crazy steep streets just off Albert Road in town centre

Heh. A mate used to live in Colne, on an estate on the other side of Vivary Way. A few years ago in the height of summer I went to visit him for drinks one evening. "We'll walk into town," he said, "it's only a mile or so."

It was blisteringly hot ("cracking the flags") and what the bastard didn't tell me was it's a mile practically vertically upwards. By the time we'd got to the pub I was knackered and sweating like a small nun at a penguin shoot. I got to the bar and ordered two pints, by the time they'd pulled the second I'd finished the first.

However most of the larger towns have been ruined by bent councillors bending over backwards to obtain the Asian vote, the result being no-go areas and ghettos being created in a lot of towns.

Original home of Karrimor it it's hey day ie before Mike Ashely bought the brand.

Joe Brown Mk 2 - lusted after Haston Alpiniste

For the oldies - were you Karrimor or Berghaus? I felt dirty the first time I bought some Berghaus kit!!!

The key to pretty much anywhere in East Lancashire is avoid the town centres. I lived in waterfoot for 7 years which was fine and been in Weir above Bacup for the last 15. Rossendale is amazingly rural, you just don't realise driving through. Anyone with a bike quickly realises it's 70% moorland. Still got good access out and places like Rawtenstall are OK for reasonable eateries etc.

Is power kite flying allowed in Burnley?

I have no idea.
😐

And Karrimor, THM.
🙂

Nori bricks was one of Accy's claims to fame.

Took my mum out the other day, and we drove past a new pub called "The Brickworks." My mum asked if I'd ever been in, and I replied that I hadn't. Without missing a beat she said, "Nor I."

The apple doesn't fall so far from the tree I fear.

Quality Coucar.
I used to spend quite a lot of time in the karrimor factory shop in my youth. Really surprised when they went belly up

went to a rave in the karrimor factory back in the eighties , that was some night/day from what I can remember

That was the new Karrimor factory flashpaul in Clayton le Moors wasn't it?i was an apprentice electrician wiring it at the time.Working there on the friday then partying there on the saturday then working there again on the monday.

no wonder they went bust 🙂

@benw , yes the new one in Clayton , think the police turned up eventually on the Sunday , top weekend 😯

You can still just about get something in Todmorden for under £60k. I like the town and it has a station which is pretty central and connects with Manchester (30 mins) and Leeds (1 hr) and there are other towns along the line. It's just over an hour driving to Skipton - much longer by train.

Burnley is now connected directly to Manchester by train. It's something I wouldn't be without. Places like Bacup are difficult to get out of if you don't drive. I wouldn't want to be older without decent public transport. Or a decent health centre - Tod has one in the middle with facilities like x-ray so you can have a lot of minor stuff done without going to hospitals.

The only thing I know about Accrington is that I once had to spend an hour on the station platform. It wasn't the best hour of my life.

Good thread this.
🙂

Lived in Tod for 20 years and originally Manchester for 25 years before coming here, so it's interesting to hear what the natives think.

There's an awful lot of genuinely odd properties around too.
We looked at:

A recently abandoned cannabis farm (a beautiful old house) in Shawforth.

A scary, huge old terrace in Newchurch which overlooked the graveyard and stank of despair.

This bloke's old house above Waterfoot.
[img] /revision/latest?cb=20120211184142[/img]

And a wild west themed bar/bunkhouse/knocking shop? in Weir, amongst many, many others.

Yeah i loved those years,Sett End then off to party.

The problem is that a small distance can make a big difference. Haslingden best avoided, Helmshore very nice in places. Local knowledge is key

If there isn't a pub and a shop then avoid, also check the bus timetable. Has the local health centre been upgraded etc

Rossendale suffers from the lack of a trainline, that's never going to change, the Metrolink is already full to Bury so GMPTE will always kill any northwards expansion

What's wrong with Haslingden? I've heard this often but it looks OK and the people I've dealt with seem OK.
If anything they're likely to come up from the significantly more affluent Chester and kill you dead in Helmshore. Eek!