Manchester Area Commuting and Accommodation Advice

[Mag_seven]

A family friend has asked me for some commuting and accommodation advice for the Manchester area. They will be working in the southern side of Manchester city centre.

Ideally they are looking at a 30-40 minute maximum train journey into the city centre. In terms of frequency somewhere in the 2 trains per hour region would be ideal.

They are also looking to buy a house in the price range £130-160k. They have been told that their budget probably prices them out of desirable areas such as Wilmslow/Altrincham but that Crewe is a possibility.

Please feel free to post any advice in this thread.

thanks

 

[Bevan Price]

It depends what size of house they want, but they might find something on the fringes of the city centre, maybe somewhere like Urmston, Sale, Stretford, Eccles, Ashton Under Lyme, etc. I suggest they do a web search for estate agents in/around some of those areas and see if they are offering anything of interest.

 

[Bletchleyite]

TBH I'd start by putting those criteria into Rightmove (you can draw search areas around the railway lines). But Manchester is getting quite expensive, so it may be challenging to find what they want in the city - Crewe should be cheap, though it's not that nice a place, the rest of Cheshire can be rather pricey.

Slightly further out, but areas on the fringes of Liverpool, Preston and Chorley may be worth a look? Chorley is fairly average (not massively unpleasant, but definitely not posh) but is really quite cheap and has plenty of Manchester trains, and is about 40 minutes to Oxford Road. Actually, the more I think about it the more I think it might be quite a good bet. And while the centre is, er, a bit average, it's had some new bits added recently with a cinema etc (yes, I know).

Wigan is also quite cheap, but only 1 fast TPH with some gaps (plenty of slows though), and not so nice.

 

[Sir Felix Pole]

Macclesfield is worth a look - considerably cheaper than the rest of N Cheshire and a decent train service (fasts and stoppers) to Piccadilly. The town centre is a bit faded but right on the edge of the Peak District.

 

[Acfb]

I'd probably suggest New Mills. 30 minute train ride from Central into Piccadilly and slightly longer from Newtown.

 

[Hadders]

Stoke on Trent would provide good value for money. Fast Avanti trains take 30 minutes

 

[Bletchleyite]

Stoke on Trent would provide good value for money. Fast Avanti trains take 30 minutes

Stoke on Trent is, however, an utter dive. The other suggestions (even Crewe) would be preferable.

 

[Gathursty]

Wigan is also quite cheap, but only 1 fast TPH with some gaps (plenty of slows though), and not so nice.

Wigan has it's faults but also has very lovely parts too. The view from the railway doesn't do Wigan justice. I'd be scared living in Alderley Edge or Hale as that's where the drug dealers and money launderers tend to hang out and show off.

 

[Hadders]

Stoke on Trent is, however, an utter dive. The other suggestions (even Crewe) would be preferable.

True which is why I said it would be value for money!

 

[Bletchleyite]

Wigan has it's faults but also has very lovely parts too. The view from the railway doesn't do Wigan justice. I'd be scared living in Alderley Edge or Hale as that's where the drug dealers and money launderers tend to hang out and show off.

Doubt you'd get a house for £160K in either of those! But I doubt you would need to be scared - drugs generally keeps itself to itself.

 

[Gathursty]

Doubt you'd get a house for £160K in either of those! But I doubt you would need to be scared - drugs generally keeps itself to itself.

Indeed. At the same time, I struggle to believe there can be so many rich people in the 'Prestbury triangle' without some being derived from shady dealings.

Anyway, other nice parts of Manchester I think are Blackrod, Horwich, Ellenbrook, Leigh, Hindley and Marple.

 

[Howardh]

Bury, and take the tram! Have a look at Radcliffe which is a small town nearer Manchester than Bury but on that same tram line. Decent housing for the budget.

Most of the tram network is on former heavy rail lines, rather than road running, so little difference from trains.

 

[peterblue]

I'm local to the area and have good knowledge of Manchester. It's pertinent to know what sort of place your friend is after - i.e. would they be satisfied in a small village, or, are they after a bigger town to commute from?


If your friend's after a bigger town, Warrington might be a good shout. It's more pleasant than the likes of macclesfield, stoke, or crewe and it's fairly well connected.

 

[Mag_seven]

I'm local to the area and have good knowledge of Manchester. It's pertinent to know what sort of place your friend is after - i.e. would they be satisfied in a small village, or, are they after a bigger town to commute from?


If your friend's after a bigger town, Warrington might be a good shout. It's more pleasant than the likes of macclesfield, stoke, or crewe and it's fairly well connected.

Ideally they looking for something nearer a town but they are open to all suggestions.

Thanks

 

[jfollows]

I prefer Macclesfield to Warrington, but perhaps that's because of my history. I worked in S Warrington 2008-2015 and although I went into Warrington itself rarely it seemed OK.

I lived in Bollington in 1976 and think it's a nice place still. Problem is that the bus service to Macclesfield now seems nothing like as frequent (every 15 minutes during peak times) as it was then, or driving to Prestbury station is probably not free parking nowadays as it was then all day. BUT at the time Bollington was a relatively cheap place to live, tons cheaper than Prestbury for sure, which will be true still today. Driving to Adlington might be an option but this was where my mum used to take my dad but drop him off using the family car and saving him on season ticket costs compared to Prestbury; later on we got a second car from my granny and parked all day for free at Prestbury.

If I were starting again I'd certainly think of Macclesfield as an option. Even somewhere a bit of a walk from the station wouldn't be too bad given the 20 minute frequent train journey into Manchester, and there are regular fast trains all day now, compared to 1977 when the fast trains were infrequent. I think Macclesfield has some "character" and have always quite liked the place. I was born in Bramhall and lived in Poynton until I moved to Bollington in 1976, but both of the other places I mention probably aren't cheap.

 

[Jozhua]

I'm just going to recommend places within the M60. My experience has been that it's easier to just live closer in, especially when public transport can be unreliable.

Prestwich is a nice suburb, with a ton of parks and green space nearby. Including Heaton Park, outwood trail and Kersal Moor. Also served by Metrolink.

I also think Rusholme can be quite great, really well served by buses, that mostly run on dedicated bus lanes, plus there's a protected cycle route right into the city centre. Some lovely cosy rowhouses, parks, lots of shops and obviously curry mile! House prices kept down by proximity to moss side, but hey!

Chorlton is probably the greatest of any Manchester suburb, but the prices reflect that!

 

[radamfi]

Just had a look on Rightmove and you can get 2 bed city centre apartments for under £160K, if it doesn't absolutely have to be a house.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I also think Rusholme can be quite great, really well served by buses, that mostly run on dedicated bus lanes, plus there's a protected cycle route right into the city centre. Some lovely cosy rowhouses, parks, lots of shops and obviously curry mile! House prices kept down by proximity to moss side, but hey!

Rusholme is quite rough, I've lived there as a student and didn't have any trouble but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone really.

Going down the Oxford Road corridor, I wouldn't really recommend non-students to look at anywhere north of Withington.

Chorlton is probably the greatest of any Manchester suburb, but the prices reflect that!

That and even-more-expensive Didsbury! (I remember in the late 90s when it wasn't posh )

 

[Edgeley]

The house price budget is quite limited for the area. The Reddish district of Stockport might be worth a look. Reddish North rail station has a regular service to Manchester. There would also be the possibility of using buses.

 

[Bletchleyite]

The house price budget is quite limited for the area. The Reddish district of Stockport might be worth a look. Reddish North rail station has a regular service to Manchester. There would also be the possibility of using buses.

I think there are plenty of options at that price at the longer end of that distance, they just mostly aren't in the main built-up area of Manchester as that has, for some reason, got rather expensive[1]. There are plenty of options for that price range (mostly 2-bed terraced houses I would reckon, though maybe a few small semis and obviously some flats) in the towns to the west and north-west of Manchester which would still be within that journey time. To highlight two of my suggestions again, there is absolutely loads of housing in that price range on the market in Chorley and Wigan at present.

[1] I don't really understand why, to be honest; with a few notable "trendy" exceptions which definitely won't be in the requested price range (double it, add a bit and you might get close), Manchester suburbia is just a bit grim.