best and worst places to live in Manchester

We may be moving to Manchester but need to know the areas that are ok and what to avoid. cheers

Manchester.

Depends where you mean by Manchester. Where will you be working. There are good bits N, S and W (not sure about E 😆 ).

At a friend’s house in Romiley at the weekend – seemed nice.

To be fairly central I’d recommend Heaton Moor, it is lovely! To be out where all the best riding can be had and only have 20 minutes commute to Manchester on the train, I would recommend Marple! I’m sure nbt would agree! But it depends where your work is as traffic can be a nightmare!

Heaton Mersey, Heaton Moor were really nice. Didsbury is great, but rather pricy.

Didsburys ok most other places not so, I’d look to live on the periphery, maybe into the peak district which is just to the south and the east.

Agree that it would be nice to live in the peak district, but if you need to get into the city then you will spend hours and hours commuting

Agree that it would be nice to live in the peak district, but if you need to get into the city then you will spend hours and hours commuting

Takes me an hour by bike, 35 mins by train from New Mills (which isn’t quite the heart of the Peak but there’s off-road riding right from my front door and Hayfield is only 3 miles down the road).
Of course if you have to drive it can take anywhere between 30 mins and 2hrs depending on time of day and whether or not there’s a bunch of overpaid tossers kicking a ball round a field at either of the 2 Manchester grounds.

@ the OP, where are you going to be working? My niece commutes into Manchester from Liverpool, and a neighbour does the same from St Helens, rail links are not bad really, so you might want to consider living further afield. Motorway links are OK, but suffer quite badly from congestion – OK, maybe not the M25 standard, but the M60 can’t be far behind!

without knowing where you will be working (if you are working that is), it would be hard to suggest where to live.

does it have to be Manchester itself ? why not live a little distance from it..

ok, i’ll be getting the train to Leeds each day and the SO will get the train to MK, so we need to be in riding distance to Picadilly.
So inside the M60 i think.

i lived in timperley then hale for 6 years, is a nice part of the world.

Lived in Didsbury so I’m a bit biased. Nice area.

Chorlton is where most people I know there live – seems pretty nice, if a little ‘smug’. 😛

I’m in Didsbury. It’s nice.

Moss Side

Sadly there’s not much within riding distance of Piccadilly that can be considered “nice” unless you like modern city centre living. You’d be better aiming for something on the west coast mainline as all the trains stop at Stockport (for MK, southbound) and Manchester (for you, you’ll have to change to get to Leeds). Anywhere else (except somewhere on the leeds line) will mean both of you going into the centre and back out again. Chorlton and Didsbury would both be terrible as neither have train stations!

Heaton Chapel / Moor would seem to be your best bet then – 15 minute commuter train into Manchester, 5 minutes train to Stockport and change for MK. Heaton Norris is NOT desirable, Heaton Mersey is too far from the station

It really depends what are your priorities. Then you’ll get recommended loads of places that are not even in Manchester. I love this topic. It always degenerates…

Anyway the answer’s Chorlton. It has the Turkish Delight kebab shop, which is oh so much more than a kebab shop. And it’s alleged to be the uk burglary capital. Because everyone from outside Chorlton comes in to rob the place, indicating that the other areas are dog rough.

Another vote for Didsbury, but if you really need to be within distance of Picadilly station every day then I’d consider living in the city centre.

Somewhere like Castlefield in the centre would be nice, along by the canal. There’s loads of luxury flats there for dirt cheap rents (because they have built far too many). You could use that as a base and then move out of the centre when you know the area a bit better.

If you lived in Didsbury you’d have to be pretty hardcore to brave the Manchester traffic everyday rain or shine and it’s going to add at least 30-40 mins each way to your day to ride in to Picadilly (or to get the bus if it’s raining). There’s no direct off road bike route to the city centre form Didsbury either – well not that I’ve found anyway.

Other than that you could live out a bit in say Hale, Cheadle Hulme or Heaton Moor and then get the train to Picadilly every day?

Avoid Salford, Beswick, Ancoats, Moss Side, Hulme, Longsight, Levenshulme, Wythenshawe, Fallowfield, or anywhere North of the City Centre – unless of course you like getting mugged 😯

I asked this just over a year ago. Have a look.

Given up the job in Manc (as it was dull) and now living in Sheffield so I can’t really comment on the manc suggestions.

Manchester and Liverpool are pretty similar in that there are pockets of niceness but most of it is horrible and not somewhere you’d want to live.

The bad areas I mean, not the city as a whole.

Maybe you should try and find a house near to a post office. It migh come in handy for posting out tyres that were paid for four weeks ago.

hahahahahaaaa……ouch

I live in Sale and that’s ok. I would suggest Didsbury, Chorlton or Hale if you don’t mind being that little bit further out. It depends on budget and wether you are buying or renting.

Didsbury has good and dod rough too – I have several friends who live n nice areas of didsbury that have been car-jacked. Heston moor is nice, but can get pricey. Chorlton is full of new-age veggies, it also has a horrific burglary rate, intact any Manchester postcode will see your car/house insurance increase significantly. I’d say marple or romiley would be a much better bet

I have a potential job lined up in Salford Quays in the new year – anywhere near there which is realistically possible on a very low paid entry-level television salary (probably not more than £16k)?? House/flat share is seeming the only option really.

tom,

flat share/renting a room is possibly the way forward.

what you got lined up?? might see you out there when they shift us!!

ok, i’ll be getting the train to Leeds each day and the SO will get the train to MK, so we need to be in riding distance to Picadilly.
So inside the M60 i think.

Is that, she will be commuting to MK daily – or just now and again?

If its now and again, and you are travelling to Leeds daily – then live in Leeds and she’s straight down the M1 to MK.

what you got lined up?? might see you out there when they shift us!!

I’ve got through the online assessments (those things where you get given a situation and have to pick the best response etc) for a place at the new BBC studio in the “media village” (or something), they said they’ll have loads of new places at all levels, and I’d be going in at entry level content production, having just graduated in July. So no specific job lined up really but it’s looking positive something might come up!

Tom, drop us a line if you move up here… can tell you where to avoid etc and show you some trails!

+1 Chorlton. The tram will be arriving in Spring 2011 so there’s your train connection (every 6 mins?). Ride into Piccadilly Station takes at a leisurely pace takes about 25 mins.

@_tom_ I rent in Chorlton and even have a room going spare at the minute. About 15-20 mins to the quays