Help! I have been invited for an interview for a job in Manchester, based centrally fairly close to Manchester Victoria station. I don’t know Manchester at all so need some advice on where might be an option for living. I am currently Central belt Scotland. We are pretty rural with the nearest house about half a mile away and decent riding, road and MTB, more or less on our doorstep. Ideally I would like to replicate that but suspect housing costs will be sufficiently higher that there may need to be compromises. Until I got made redundant in May I had a commute of a little over an hour and in a perfect world wouldn’t be keen to push that out much. We moved to the current house to reduce my commute to Edinburgh from 2 hours to 1 so know how much a 2 hour each way commute takes out of you over time.

Two words – Whaley Bridge.

Hour’s commute on decent train service to the centre of Manchester; I used to leave the house at 6:55, be on the 7:03 and be at my desk in Spinningfields at 8:00. There’s trains every half hour in the morning/evening

Five minute pedal into the Peak District by road or MTB.

Have a look on the MetroLink line to the north of the city. Plenty of riding out of Prestwich / Whitelfield.

Proper stuff once you get into the hills. Ramsbottom, Todmorden etc.

Somebody will be along shortly to tell you how awesome Marple is 😉

Thanks, will have a gander at Whaley Bridge options and the others. Cheers guys.

The usual answer to questions like this is…

To the north: Ramsbottom, Prestwich, Todmorden, Hebden.

To the south: Marple, New Mills, Hayfield, Whaley

To the east: Glossop, Saddleworth

To the west: Don’t bother.

If you’re working close to Victoria then the north/east options might be best commuting-wise. The trains from victoria serve Littleborough, Todmorden, Hebden, Saddleworth etc. Trains from the south-east go into Piccadilly which is a 15 minute walk to Victoria. There’s also the metro.

I live in Todmorden and think it’s brilliant. 40 mins on the train to Victoria, About an hour in the car to central Manc in rush hour, and hour and 20 mins on the bike. Some of the best road and mountain biking in the north, hills, and houses on the cheaper side than the south of Manchester. Same goes for Ramsbottom and nearby areas.

If I was in your position I’d have a look around Egerton, Belmont, Edgworth as well as Ramsbottom and that direction.

Basically the Manchester sprawl ends at the West Pennine Moors north of the city and it gets more rural and villagey.

There are nice spots to the south too (plus the Peak District!), but it’s generally a bit pricier and we were put off by awkward roads.

There are nice spots to the south too (plus the Peak District!), but it’s generally a bit pricier and we were put off by awkward roads.

It is worth saying that any road-based commute into Manchester will be less than pleasant. Binners will have you believe that anywhere south of the city is essentially a vision of congestion hell, with mothers on the school run eating ther own children to survive, whereas the North is a traffic-free Nirvana, but he’s exagerating. Or I am. Or we both are 🙂

I live in Marple. It’s nice. The trains from here run to Piccadilly, which is a 15 minute walk from Victoria station. You might prefer, as suggested above, to check out the train lines that run into Victoria which is basically anywhere north or east of Manchester and where there is indeed, good riding to be had. Personally I wouldn’t plan to drive in to Manchester for work no matter where I lived

What chakaping said.

If you’re Victoria side, you’ve great transport links to any of these places to the north. And as a Ramsbottom resident, its a great place to live. Riding straight out of your front door on brilliant trails.

Transport to anywhere south of the city is a joke and i wouldn’t even contemplate it! Unless you’re an absolute pervert who likes to extend their working day by spending an extra 3 hours of it sat in stationary traffic. But because its south side you get to somehow feel superior as your house cost twice as much. 😉

If this comes to fruition I think I would definitely prefer some of the commute to be public transport, which I did anyway. I used to do 15 minutes by car, 30 minutes train 15 minutes on foot and would prefer not to drive the whole thing anyway.

Having had an initial look it does appear that there are some nice rural areas that might be affordable-ish.

Up Bacup way (my parents live in Shawforth) gives you access to the train straight into Victoria (via Rochdale), extremely low house prices, and riding galore via any number of old Lancashire mill villages such as Todmorden.

But because its south side you get to somehow feel superior as your house cost twice as much.

Because where you live is twice as nice.

North = grim ex-mill towns, where most of the housing (back to back hovels sharing a single outside privy on each street) is in semi-permanent darkness, as the sun rarely reaches the bottoms of the valleys.

South = Delightful rural idyll, where the pretty houses enjoy views over the majestic Peak District and/or leafy Cheshire plain.

And that, my friends, is a FACT 😉

The usual answer to questions like this is…

To the north: Ramsbottom, Prestwich, Todmorden, Hebden.

To the south: Marple, New Mills, Hayfield, Whaley

To the east: Glossop, Saddleworth

To the west: Don’t bother.

If you’re working close to Victoria then the north/east options might be best commuting-wise. The trains from victoria serve Littleborough, Todmorden, Hebden, Saddleworth etc. Trains from the south-east go into Piccadilly which is a 15 minute walk to Victoria. There’s also the metro.

I live in Todmorden and think it’s brilliant. 40 mins on the train to Victoria, About an hour in the car to central Manc in rush hour, and hour and 20 mins on the bike. Some of the best road and mountain biking in the north, hills, and houses on the cheaper side than the south of Manchester. Same goes for Ramsbottom and nearby areas.

I live in west Manchester, Worsley to be specific. Its a great location for access to motorways. Wales, The Lakes, The Peaks all in quick easy reach. More local stuff gives you the like of Rivington and the Pennines, slightly further afield you have the likes of Gisburn.

You could save your time on reducing your daily commute by living closer to the city centre as opposed to the likes of Todmorden (Yorkshire) and use your time at weekends to get out and about rather than worrying about riding from your front door. Makes perfect sense to me.

Wherever Binners’ lives it’s bound to be amazing. 😉 It’s all about the ‘BIker’ lifestyle, sat in the boozer with your skin tight spoke t-shirt, dreaming about Steak Bakes, riding your bike and spouting on about having an amazing LBS but never actually having a bike that works.

What dazh and nbt say is pretty spot on.

Have a look at house prices all around Manchester. There’s many factors that will influence these, some that may or may not be important to you.

One of the best bits about living in or around Manc is the access to other riding areas (N Wales, Lakes, Peaks, Yorkshire) in a relatively short drive.

So quite distinct views on where is good then. This sounds a lot like the competing views of different areas of Glasgow. The people on the south side love it but they are almost all odd.

You could save your time on reducing your daily commute by living closer to the city centre

He said he wants to live in the countryside though.

Definite preference for out in the sticks. At the moment I feel crowded by the nearest visible house being about half a mile away. I am becoming more and more anti social as I get older.

I am becoming more and more anti social as I get older.

Maybe you should consider Todmorden/Hebden then. They’re both in Yorkshire, so populated by fellow miserable bastards 🙂

Yes, I’ll fit right in. Surprised you didn’t also mention how a tight Scot would be at home there too. 😀

Tight and anti-social? You definitely want Yorkshire then. In my local (The Masons Arms) you can get 3 pints for little more than 8 quid and the locals look at you like you’re a visiting alien.

Rawtenstall’s nice if you’re happy driving.
Tod/Hebden if you’re not.
If you fancy seclusion, there are some amazing properties up on the tops.

Ramsbottom’s lovely, as are most places from Prestwich/Whitefield northward.
Bury and Bolton are massively underrated.

Glossop/Mossley very nice but traffic is awful.

Oldham has a tram into Manchester now.
Some nice places on the outskirts but the town itself isn’t that nice.
Getting better though, which is good.
See also Bacup, Rochdale, Haslingdon – loads of great old buildings scattered about, but as my local town?

Burnley also massively underrated, but an hour and a half at the mo into Victoria, 45 minutes from May 2015.

If you have the option, you’d be crazy to not live within cycling distance of work. So much nicer than spending hours on the train or stuck in traffic. To the north, Bury/ Prestwich are very easy, Ramsbottom’s about an hour’s ride so possibly a bit far for a daily commute.

I’d vote for one of the nicer parts of Middleton.

Hindle Pie – Member

Wherever Binners’ lives it’s bound to be amazing. It’s all about the ‘BIker’ lifestyle, sat in the boozer with your skin tight spoke t-shirt, dreaming about Steak Bakes, riding your bike and spouting on about having an amazing LBS but never actually having a bike that works.

At least I don’t spend the evening polishing my 23 bikes, while not riding them because my back/neck/wrist/leg/toenail/eyelash is broken 😛

Burnley also massively underrated, but an hour and a half at the mo into Victoria, 45 minutes from May 2015.

Burnley is indeed a nice place, and getting a lot nicer. Its boom town at the moment. I love it that they spent a few million re-opening the Burnley Spur, but forgot to order any trains to run on it. D’oh!

about an hour’s ride so possibly a bit far for a daily commute.

depends really; i currently ride 15 mins each way on my daily commute (chorlton into city centre) but I’m on the verge of buying in horwich/rivi, which will increase that to around an hour. I’m planning on at least 2-3 days a week by bike, the rest on trains. but i have the advantage of secure bike storage and showers/changing facilities at work though.

All I can add is don’t live in Chorlton. It’s full of beards now. Shag all riding unless you want to do road. But, good links to peaks, Wales etc.

We’re moving up North in two months towards Prestwitch-Rammy-Tod direction. Not 100% certain where though.

We are fleeing the beards.

I live West of Manchester, over near Delamere, and If I could, I’d move back North again tomorrow.

On a main line you should be able to get a good 100 miles from Manchester, which should be tolerable. Scotland?

Definite preference for out in the sticks. At the moment I feel crowded by the nearest visible house being about half a mile away

You might struggle down here then.

GregMay – I moved north from Chorlton when I realised what it had become, since I moved there 10 years earlier, wasn’t actually an elaborate Viz-style comedy sketch, but that these people were taking it seriously 😯

Organic, free trade, soil association approved, ethically sourced, skinny decade latte with soya milk anyone? It comes in a hemp cup? And while you drink it you can listen to a man with facial hair playing a lute?

Organic, free trade, soil association approved, ethically sourced, skinny decade latte with soya milk anyone? It comes in a hemp cup? And while you drink it you can listen to a man with facial hair playing a lute?

Hebdon Bridge.
In a nutshell

Chorlton is actually waaaaaay worse than Hebdon nowadays. Its genuinely laughable how much of a parody of itself its become.The colonisation by the BBC was when it finally disappeared up its own chuff, in a cloud of nose-candy!

Time to leave….

Chorlton you say…

http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/only-chorlton-ethical-grocer-apologises-7090873

I wouldn’t plan to drive in to Manchester for work no matter where I lived

THIS even if it was 3 miles away.

I’m on the verge of buying in horwich/rivi

You just doubled the vegan count then 😉

IMHO the north side is better for riding and price
the south is probably nicer but commutes and price are awful
In the north you are one hour from the lakes which is the best proper mountain riding locally] and you can probably find trails to ride from your door

If you fancy a laugh, join the Chorlton Facebook group. Theres hours of fun to be had baiting humourless, po-faced, Marxist, Millie Tant-a-likes about their cosseted, first world, middle class injustices they perceive all around them, and drone on and on and on and on about 😀

Some of the posts (like the Unicorn link above) are pure (cluelessly unintentional) comedy gold

If you fancy a laugh, join the Chorlton Facebook group. Theres hours of fun to be had baiting humourless, po-faced, Marxist, Millie Tant-a-likes about their cosseted, first world, middle class injustices they perceive all around them, and drone on and on and on and on about

Or you could just go and ride your bike instead 😉

Are you insane? Have you seen what the weathers like north of Manchester?! I’ve put that away til May 😉

I’d vote for one of the nicer parts of Middleton.

I didn’t know Middleton had nice parts? Where are those then?
Chadderton is nicer, especially North Chadderton, but would go a bit further out to say Littleborough for a nicer life. Hollingworth Lake is quite nice, used to do a lot of road biking in that area.

Random fact about Chorlton,

Chorlton of “and the Wheelies” fame is named after the town, it’s where Cosgrove-Hall were based; there was a label inside his egg which read “made in Chorlton Cum Hardy” and that’s how he got his name in the stories.

So, his middle name is “Cum.” ‘Happiness dragon’ indeed.

Hello little old lady

Admit it you read it in his voice