Hi,

I’m from Lancaster originally, but thinking of moving to another part of Lancashire. Don’t know much about what a lot of surrounding places are like other than Preston and Blackpool (neither are my cup of tea), not heard great things in general about what Lancashire has to offer but done my research (for the record I’m giving Blackburn and Burnley a miss). Can anyone give opinions on these places – Which are decent, bad and REALLY bad as opinions on them are a bit vague?

Nelson, Bacup, Leyland, Brierfield, Colne, Chorley, Clitheroe, Clayton Le Moor, Haslingden, Great Harwood.

Cheers!

P.S. I’m more interested in a city/close to city town than villages.

From my experience the major issue is where are you trying to get to every day? At rush hour the roads round where I was (Whitworth) were a pain south through Rochdale crap, M66 Queue to get to the Ringroad, M65 was ok at 7am but can get bad easily, Bacup, Waterfoot, Rawtenstall was one queue morning and night.

Personally wouldn’t go back there.

If you like Clitheroe, you might like Barnoldswick too, we have a twice weekly market now so can officially qualify as a market town.

Just don’t tell the locals they’re in Lancashire – they still think they’re in Yorkshire 🙂

If you can somehow find a way to save up or borrow the extra money, it’ll be well worth paying the premium to live in Yorkshire.

Take a look at Settle

Ok Clitheroe and surrounding area is lovely, nice market town and rural, very expensive and a decent drive to go anywhere.
Rossendale, avoid the valley bottoms so not Bacup, Haslingden, Waterfoot etc. A mile or so out is usually ok, so instead of Bacup look at Weir for example. Lots of good riding locally too. 45 mins to Droylesdon in Manchester from Weir, commuting times, not great but not horrific.
Outskirts of Burnley can be really nice, again avoid the valley bottoms and the immediate M65 corridor. South East Lancs isn’t bad generally, fairly cheap and good access, it’s just very variable, you have sink estates within a mile of really good areas. Local knowledge is the key.

Schools may be your biggest consideration if you have or are going to have kids.

Used to live in Accrington, and I wouldn’t recommend it.. Would’ve loved to live in Wheelton.. You’ve White Coppice eye on the doorstep.

Helmshore always looked nice too.

Now live in Cheshire, and miss the hills and the rugged beauty of it up there.

Where there’s work?

Avoid Bacup twinned with Bacup…

stumpyjon +1

Cliviger, Worsthorne (and similar) are suggestions for being nicer than Burnley but not far away.

We live about 15 mins from the M62 just out of Todmorden. Riding out the door, train station a couple of minutes walk away and road ok too. It is in Yorkshire though 😉

Long time Lancashire resident

If you can afford it then
Wycoller
Clitheroe
Read
Simonstone
Fence
Wheatly Lane
Barley

I would say Ramsbottom for me

On no account Barnoldswick its miles away from anywhere and a shithole too

NO NO NO NO NO to Nelson, Bacup, Leyland, Brierfield, Colne, Chorley, Clayton Le Moor, Haslingden, Great Harwood.

We live about 15 mins from the M62 just out of Todmorden.

Not at 7:30am!!

Pretty much most towns/villages in the Ribble Valley. Longridge is a nice town to live in as is Clitheroe. Galgate is apparently one of the best places in the UK to live is it not?

If you can somehow find a way to save up or borrow the extra money, it’ll be well worth paying the premium to live in Yorkshire.

😯 😆

Points to Lancashire, try Yorkshire.

Ramsbottom FTW.Only a few miles south of Haslingden, and much, much nicer.

Longridge – moved out of there now, but lived in the town for 2 years. Miss that place already 🙁

Plus you have Longridge Fell behind you, and miles of country roads/bridleways/cheeky trails to explore.

What Ransos said. We’ve been there for a few years now and its brill!

Mostly what Plum said ^^^

Grew up in Wheatley Lane and Newchurch. They’re far enough out of the whole M65 corridor to be nice places to live but they’ve got no public transport etc.

Also lived in Barnoldswick for a year or so, long time ago. It’s OK these days but not top of my list.

North/West side of Pendle is nicer IMHO. I’m in Grimsargh and would be happy enough in any of the other towns/villages around Longridge.
Pretty good road links from around here too, which was one of the reasons we chose this area.

I’m from Nelson originally, but lived in Colne and Barnoldswick subsequently (currently exiled in Cumbria). Would go back to either Colne or Barlick if I could (perhaps one of the surrounding villages though). They are not shitholes, they are honest working class towns with loads of character (and characters!)

Moved from Yorkshire (Ilkley) to the Ribble Valley (on your list Clitheroe area) 20 years ago

agree with Stumpyjon and plumber bar Wycoller/trawden I would put Clitheroe top.
Worked in Manchester so train or drive, now wigan/leigh about 50 mins
good schools/decent town though is feeling the recession, good facilities gyms swimming pool library still.
Longridge fell and gisburn 10 miles away, good fell runnning
Villages expensive, town expensive. Some villages more friendly than others depends what you want. Longridge and grismagh nice. Once you are past Waddington though it is a trek/faff to the road network.
Clitheroe lots of new houses going up in the next few years and loss of prime farming land so will see how it alters
Close to Preston Manchester and then the trains watch rugby in edingburgh up and down in a day.

No to Nelson, Bacup, Leyland, Brierfield, Colne, Chorley,, Clayton Le Moor, Haslingden, Great Harwood.
add Accrington, padiham,

Good luck

Just moved to Cliviger/Burnley from Tod.

It’s great. Friendly, clean, great riding, cheap, wonderful scenery.
Actually find Burnley a very pleasant place indeed – great for shopping, loads of gigs, good motorway access.

Rawtenstall is excellent, have been working there for a year and there are some very nice bits indeed and no grot.

I’d avoid Bacup, Accrinngton and the centre of Haslingdon.

Trawden, Wycoller, Clitheroe, Barnoldswick are all great, but from a riding perspective Cliviger and Worsthorne are hard to beat.

Leyland is alright if a little uninspiring.
We have probably the best motorway links in the county m6, m61 and m65 all meet here.
Direct train links to manchester 45min, liverpool about an hour.
Good parks for kids to run and play, good country park 2 miles out of town.
2 good bike shops in the town centre, paul hewitts and bill nicksons, ribble and merlin are 5 minutes drive away leisure lakes preston 20 min.
Low crime rate, low unemployment rate more supermarkets than you can shake a shitty stick at.
Couple of decent pubs.
Rivvy is an hour away by bike and less in a car, south lakes an hour, north wales hour and a half, peaks similar.
Good road riding from here out to southport down quiet lanes, west pennine moors and the trough also.
Theres one big housing development soon to be finished and another one just starting about 300 houses iirc.
So its not picturesque its a northern industrial town but its got everything one could need and the odd little gem in there too.

Another recommendation for Longridge area, I’ve rolled gently down the hill into Grimsargh now but still work in Longridge. As others have said, some of the finest riding around (if you like wild muddy fell rides) and the road biking is sublime – Trough of Bowland, Settle, N Yorks Moors and South Lakes all within reach on a road bike, plus the flat lands of the Fylde where I chain gang.

You say you like to be near a city? Preston is really the only thing remotely city-like in Lancs and it’s a 15 min drive. Manchester and Liverpool are 40 mins away.

It’s a smashing place to live! 😀

mikewsmith – 16 mins Walsden to the motorway junction starting at 8.20 (there aren’t many junctions to snarl up). The M62 itself was, of course, stationary.

Just moved from Lancaster to Hebden Bridge and we love it (not quite Lancashire though so you’ll need visas/jabs etc). Tod seems quite nice too. Walsden looks quite pleasant but I don’t know much about it. Barley area near Pendle Hill is nice bit very sleepy.

How are you finding Hebden grum?

Been to any gigs at the Trades yet?

Do you have a rainbow flag outside your front door? I heard they hold night time vigils outside your house, where they meditate and beam positive energy indoors, until you subconsciously feel the urge to put one up, then make some cous cous

I love it Rusty but then am I the kind of relatively affluent pseudo-hippy that lots of people apparently detest about the place. Saw Dreadzone at the Trades a bit ago and seeing The Orb and The Lancashire Hotpots soon.

No rainbow flag yet binners bit I did go to a party on some communal land at the end of my street where people played folk instruments around a fire, including a lyre, several lutes, mandolins, flutes, and of course bongos, as well as someone playing a saw with a bow. 🙂

Do people read the threads* or just say where they would like to live?

P.S. I’m more interested in a city/close to city town than villages.
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The vast majority of those are just the expensive to live and relatively isolated villages of Lancashire

Clitheroe , to be fair, has some aspects of the big City about it and is a proper cycling town
Longridge/Grimsargh are just in the middle of nowhere IMHO – everyone i know who moved their left – worst of both worlds – miles [ well for Lancs]from anywhere and not superbly pretty so why bother??
IIRC leyland rated highly in the best places to live due to all the amenities there and prices but as he said hard to fall in love with the place

Most of the other towns are just much of a muchness – those with limited knowledge talk them down when most areas just have their good and their bad points.
IME having worked in most few are that inspiringthat i would choose to live there and just as few are so poor I would avoid them – some areas of Burnley/Accy or Preston really.

*I imagine Lancaster is the ideal choice for you – Big city, Uni town, some aspects of culture and near countryside – see what I did there 😉

I’m glad none of you have recommended West Lancs. We’ll have none of your riff-raff here thankyouverymuch!

Ha ha he lives in Skem and wants to sound posh 😉

They are not really any city like bits of West Lancs though are there

There’s a big hill to keep Skelmersdale out ifyoudon’tmind.

TBH, sounds like the OP just needs to man up and move to Manchester*.

*There are plenty who still consider it to be in Lancashire. Mainly Southernists and old people.

Manchester is great if you like cities (depending on the area). Loads of interesting shops/bars/restaurants/gigs etc. Liverpool is quite nice too.

Nowhere else in Lancs is city-like (Preston is just dull and a little grim).

Technically I think Manchester is still in Lancashire btw.

Junkyard what are the big city aspects of Clitheroe?
Interested as a resident of the Ribble Valley

personally better to live out of Manchester and travel in….

Museum and the grand 😉
Couple of music festivals as well
Fair point though but I meant it has slightly more than the other villages mentioned and not to bad for its size.

both are wonderful, beer festival and food festival, really nice pubs very much like northern quarter Manchester 8)

It does have more than the others and is very lovely place and the green jersey is a good bike shop,coffee stop

I know someone from Clitheroe and they described it as being incredibly inbred and racist.

Has Junkyard ever actually been to Lancashire??? Clitheroe is little more than a village… It’s lovely, and it’s home to the Ribble Valley Borough Council, but apart from that, it’s about as far removed from a “city” (in the cultural sense of the word) as you could possibly get!

And Grimsargh is basically a suburb of Preston, it’s 15 mins on a bus every 10 minutes!

🙄

and the smallest keep in England 😀

grum I knew someone from the south who said it was full of inbreds and racists.

I live in Accrington. I’m looking to leave it. Used to be nice but it’s an armpit of a place these days, all urban decay and Pound Shops.

I don’t know where this “Clayton Le Moor” place is that people keep talking about, but there’s bits of Clayton-Le-Moors that are quite nice. There’s green bits next to the cut, and you’re not a million miles from an M65 junction. Technically it’s still Accy, though.

Baxenden? When I was at school, if you lived in Bash you were dead posh, like. Lots of semi-detached suburbia up there, probably bargains to be had if you can find a house that’s been decorated since 1985.