Manchester, where to live

I agree with the Swinton and Pendlebury suggestion.

I used to live just off Manchester Road, close to the Red Lion and Moorside Station. It wasn’t beautiful, but it wasn’t bad, and I think it has improved since I lived there.

Up toward Moss Bank Road and Wardley CE Primary is pretty good if you want inexpensive brick terraces, but if you want nicer and leafier, then the Worsley side is quite lovely.

Surprised by the positive posts im reading about Prestwich and Whitefield, they must come from people who live there? my nan lives in Whitefiled, she reckons its nice too – its not. they do have Heaton & Philips Parks going for them in fairness, but in reality the whole of north manchester between the city centre and Bury is grim. stick to South east and retreat to the peaks at every opportunity.

Thats actually a ‘There be Dragons’ myth perpetrated to keep all the yoghurt-knitting bedwetters Southside

Don’t start throwing Chorlton jibes at Didsbury dwellers.

We’re not yoghurt-knitting bedwetters.

I think you’ll find we’re all Audi A3 driving, porn star martini drinking, accountants and estate agents, pretending we live in Islington – thank you very much.

+1 for Didsbury. Easy access to the city centre. Easy drive to the peaks. Not much local riding though.

Glossop is an idea. If you’re OK getting the train rather than riding have a look at the line out to Edale.

If you’re considering North manchester then think about being further out than whitefield. Bury?

What’s it like around Simister these days, just north-east of Heaton Park? It’s changed a bit since I lived there as a kid until ~1978. 😉

Not been up that neck of the woods for ~25 years, would love to see what The Clough and Prestwich looks like after all this time,

<span style=”color: #444444; font-size: 12px;”>If you’re OK getting the train rather than riding have a look at the line out to Edale.</span>

The whole New Mills, Whaley, Chapel neck of the woods is okay, but as someone who lived in Glossoo for 17 odd years or so and is now in New Mills, I prefer Glossop. Not just for its location, but because the influx of folk working at Media City and the University over the last ten years or so, has really changed the feel of the place and it’s big enough to have a decent spread of restaurants, shops, bars. pubs etc.

New Mills is like going back in time to the 1950s, which is fine if you want to live in an indeterminate part of the last century. Good location and riding though.

Still just a long road to nowhere with a school and a couple of glosses.

Prestwich has changed quite a bit.

The Clough is still the same.

Marple’s been mentioned in passing but you should consider it. 30 minutes into manchester (piccadilly) by train, maybe 40 minutes on a bike (not sure, I only work in Hyde) via canal or A6 (other routes are available). Direct train line to sheffield, takes maybe one hour. Great biking locally, so much that people who’ve posted above travel from their locations over here to go riding. Am away at the mo (and slightly leathered) but if you have questions, please feel free to ask

Similar choices myself, leaning towards an apartment in the city to start with, easy commute for 6 months and see what works after that

Train might be a good option as t’interwebs says that all of Northern trains have toilets, might not be able to get near them at busy periods though….

Have you thought about Macclesfield?  25 mins on the train to Manchester, reasonable house prices with the Peak District as your back garden and Cheshire on the other side.

You need to be aware of the reality of Northern Trains….

chvck

Member

Train might be a good option as t’interwebs says that all of Northern trains have toilets, might not be able to get near them at busy periods though….

Imagine the train might be stressful for that – they have a tendency to wait outside Piccadilly for 5-10 mins before pulling in [and I don’t think the marple bus-like ones have toilets]. At least on the bike you can go piss in the bushes.

Guy I used to work with had a good commute from Marple / Strines way on the edge of the Peak – ride in early morning to uni, 14 or 15 miles and slightly downhill. Then train home with the bike. Cycled it both ways in the summer. I find pushing onto a rush hour Manc train with a bike a bit stressful as the cycling provision is poor, but he wasn’t arsed – guess you soon get used to it.

I suspected that might be the case tbh. At least there are loads of good options of where to live and plenty to be thinking about. I haven’t fully ruled out an apartment in the city but having grown up rurally and lived in Aberystwyth most of my adult life I think that I might struggle to adjust! I also really like riding my bike.

+1 for New Mills. Great riding from the door. Trains as above. You may jest at the quality, but they wee in the shoes of all the southern train operators when it comes to reliability and punctuality.  IIRC, the bus like trains do have toilets.

Cycle commute is c 40something minutes and a bit slower going home, but it’s the A6, or a longer more off-road version.

Slightly better roads than Glossop, but you wouldn’t want to be driving from either in rush hour.

Marple is good too and slightly closer in with more facilities. Probably get slightly more house for your money in New Mills though.

The East is great for MTB, and Ashton tram line might be a good option. Commuting by bike into Manchester isn’t great – I’ve done it most of my life, but drivers are pants, and my commuting by bike was spectacularly finished for good two years ago when I driver broke my spine on the way to work.  I’ve given it up now, and switched to MTB, but living to the east of Stockport, it’s great for MTB – no need to get in the car – it’s also great for road, but I’ve packed it in after 30 years for road riding.

Id vote for marple or the surrounding areas if riding from your door is a priority,along with it being a nice place,and decent commute into the centre.

Macclesfield would be a good choice as well.

I dont live in marple, i live elsewhere in stockport,but thats where id recommend given your criteria.

Consider Bury too if you’re having a look at Prestwich. A bit further out but it’s the last/first stop on the tram to Victoria, so not too busy and you always get a seat. The Bike Hub next to the Metro is great to ride into Bury, lock your bike in there and jump on the tram (35 min into town). The ride in from Bury to Manchester is ok too.

its a nice town centre nowadays

The riding once you get out past Bury into Rammy and Rossendale is brilliant. Rammy is a fantastic place to live (we’ve been here 7 years) . Great riding right from your door, but I work from home most of the time and wouldn’t fancy commuting into Manchester City centre on a daily basis from here

I commuted daily from Whaley Bridge for a year on the train. An hour on the dot from stepping on the train to my desk in Spinningfields, very rarely had any issues. And there were loos on the train.

Whaley is great if you like little village feel, New Mills is a bit bigger, if you want an actual town I’d probably suggest Macclesfield. Or there’s Poynton, but that’s lost the village feel it once had, it’s now basically the same as the other south Manchester commuter places like Bramhall, Cheadle, Cheadle Hulme etc.

…. and living in Bramhall or Cheadle Hulme would make you spend your quieter moments, of which will be many, idly wondering about procuring automatic weapons, and scouring the internet for ISIS manuals on how to make IED’s

…. and living in Bramhall or Cheadle Hulme would make you spend your quieter moments, of which will be many, idly wondering about procuring automatic weapons, and scouring the internet for ISIS manuals on how to make IED’s

How long did you live there, Binners?

Worked there for 6 months. During which time I concluded that actually living anywhere round there would be too awful to contemplate.

Never did manage to get hold of the automatic weapons….

Having spent a few days up here in media city I reckon the mac wafting crayon chewing binners would fit right in 😉

 I haven’t fully ruled out an apartment in the city but having grown up rurally and lived in Aberystwyth most of my adult life I think that I might struggle to adjust! I also really like riding my bike.

Grew up rural, love riding my bike but at this point I’d rather get the day done and have time for everything else for a bit. Once I get out of this hotel into a place of my own I’ll be riding again but it’s nice to have a chance to play in the city, it’s come a long way since I was last here.

Interesting to hear Cheetham Hill is still as ‘challenged’ 😁

lived there for a while in 1990 I think. (Strangeways was in meltdown at the time). Only place i’ve been assaulted by a naked three year-old girl armed with rocks…

Has it not improved at all?

‘Improved’?

well the three year old would now probably have a gun

I’m in the South, moved from Liverpool and ended up in Bramhall where I still am now. I left my firearms in Liverpool.

stockport has good rail links and close to the hills / Peak District for your outdoor interests. About a 10 mile wobble in to Manchester on the bike.

We we also have Soya milk in our lattes.

Manchester is a changing city, sister is a primary teacher in a challenging area except it’s a lot less challenging these days due to a shift in the demographics

My experience is that a few streets can make a big difference and some communities are quite strong, “bandit country” is still out there so be careful

Just have a drive around Gorton. Everything is fine after that….

There is always St Retford….but id ignore that and check out Urmston.
Easy access to the Cheshire lanes for road riding.

St Retford? You mean ‘Chorlton Borders’? 😉

Just have a drive around Gorton. Everything is fine after that….

As a slight digression…

My dad was brought up in Gorton; two up two down, outside loo, tin bath by the fire, the whole Northern working class cliche. My granddad worked nights in a factory his entire working life. That was a short life, as he died in his fifties. The house they lived in was flattened in the clearances and housing ‘improvements’ of the ’80s. My dad left school at 14 with no qualifications, got a job as an office junior in town, worked his way up to become a stockbroker, with a home in Manchester’s stockbroker belt (the aforementioned Poynton). He now has a comfortable retirement, and a grandchild that has regular riding lessons at her fee-paying school.

From tin baths to riding lessons in two generations. I wonder how the life chance of children living in Gorton today compare with that.

Horwich and North Bolton.

Superb for Mountain biking, great Motorway links and Manchester 30 mins on a (admittedly hellish) train journey.

Personally I wouldn’t rule out East Manchester. There are plenty of nice areas and you have good access to countryside. It’s also far more affordable. Since you’re renting you are not stuck in the area and there is no point throwing money away just to live in a trendy area because you have heard it’s cool. Manchester is currently changing very quickly.

What’s it like around Simister these days, just north-east of Heaton Park? It’s changed a bit since I lived there as a kid until ~1978

2 schools, 2 pubs, a church hall and a post box. Nearest shop is in Polefield about a mile away. I love it!

If you could stretch the commute I’d look at Macclesfield – good train service. Macc Forest routes on your doorstep!

Big n Daft makes a very good point – once you’ve decided on an area or two you need to check as there are expensive places right next to rough (classic example is in Prestwich you have Guest Rd which is a conservation area with massive Victorian 3storey semi’s and detached, and within 200 yards you have polefield circle which is the recipient of a lot of police effort)

Yep. 2/5 of Elbow live on Guest Road and there was a drive-by shooting in Polefield not so long ago. Both are within 100m of Armstrong’s Chippie.

Here’s a fact. There is no street prostitution in Prestwich unlike everywhere else in Greater Manchester… because there are apparently 12 knocking shops between Besses and Sheepfoot.

I used to know the lady who did the sandwich deliveries to them.

I wonder how the life chance of children living in Gorton today compare with that.

If you make it to 20 without seeing the inside of Strangeways then I’d imagine you’re doing better than most

i live in Rammy and commuted to Manchester for a good 10 years by car, was an absolute breeze if i left early enough. miles cheaper than 2 trams fares if wor lass is travelling too. there used to be plenty of dodgy carparks as well, basically a patch of baron wasteland some scrotes had commandeered and they would charge you £3 for the day…. i imagine NCP have ran em all out of town by now tho, or theres a skyscraper there instead…

but i do think it is too far out for your needs, and if you did want to use public transport it would be a ball ache.. id be listening to suggestions of South East, Stockport or Macclesfield… although the trains are not great. I work in London now and everyone is always fuming with SouthWest trains which i always find an absolute dream compared to northern rail!!

I’m in New Mills now, and there’s no way to do the 20 – 25 minute commute of your dreams. It might work on the train from Marple a couple of stops nearer to town.

I moved from Monton, Eccles, and reckon from Eccles by tram these days that time constraint might just work. The train from Eccles is super quick but super infrequent which made it impossible for me. Worsley Woods, and many monotonous canal towpaths in your future from a bike perspective. If you’re creative, there is some gravel riding. One of the best things about living in Eccles was how easy it was to get out. North Wales, Cheshire lanes, South Lakes, all just about possible in an hour.

I went hot then cold when someone suggested Lower Broughton. Brr, the vibe there used to incentivise me to sprint through on the bike.