Threaded Mode | Linear Mode

sushilnash · 2012-07-20, 23:18:40

To any forumers who know Manchester well, what are your thoughts? Not just the music scene but more general living and which areas you think are nice/not nice, good/bad value, fun/boring etc?

My girlfriend and I are looking to move out of London for a bit and Manchester is one of the places we're considering. Done a bit of research but would be interested to hear what you think... especially from anyone who has lived or does live there. Seems like a fun, pleasant place to be if you live in a decent area (not Salford apparently?!).

Thanks,
Sushil

Izzle · 2012-07-21, 07:59:05

Manchester is great. There are good and bad parts like any other city, but even in the so called bad parts there are really nice areas, take Salford (technically a different city), it has some really upscale areas to live in and work, mostly around the new BBC location and near Salford Quays.

But in terms of Central Manchester, there are many nice areas. If you are into the Hipster scene (trendy bars, restaurants and such) then the Northern Quarter is a nice place to be.

Deansgate is good for a generic night out, but is slightly Chavvy on the weekends, but it does have the Comedy Store, which is fun to go to, especially on the Sunday when people from the audience can try out a routine.

Princess Street, Canal street and Oxford Rd have some cool bars and clubs, namely Joshua Brooks, Font Bar, Factory and Space.

In terms of living, most places in the City Centre are very nice to live in, but the best places you can find are mostly just outside of the City Centre, they are cheaper to buy/rent and also have a bit more room. Most of these are towards the Salford side, but if you don't mind a bus ride into the City Centre then Chorlton, Didsbury and Withington are nice places to live and are a bit quieter than the City Centre.

If you were asking what the best value place would be, I would say Didsbury, they have good transport links into Manchester and to the Airport, and have a lot to do around you without being too loud and suffocating, but I'm sure there are other great places around too that I don't know about.

fornogoodreason · 2012-07-21, 10:15:46

i'm up in manchester around once a month - obviously not the same as living there but i love it is wicked.

agreed on didsbury/withington, thou if you got the cash i would live in town

Illidren · 2012-07-21, 10:57:23

I've lived in Manchester for almost 21 years, and it's a great place to live. Areas you probably want to avoid are Salford (although it's been through a period of renovation and there are some nice places there) and Moss Side/ Hulme.

I live in Didbsury and it's a really nice little village, with quick buses into town and 2 train stops away from Manchester Centre (about 10 minutes).

Aside from the great night life, Manchester has tons of great shops, restaurants, art galleries etc.

Guy (Boratto?) · 2012-07-21, 14:11:27

Factory and space?... you've gotta be kidding...

Philbo · 2012-07-21, 15:00:43

(2012-07-21 10:57:23)Illidren Wrote: I've lived in Manchester for almost 21 years, and it's a great place to live. Areas you probably want to avoid are Salford (although it's been through a period of renovation and there are some nice places there) and Moss Side/ Hulme.

Nowt wrong with Hulme, as long as you live on or just off Stretford Road between Oxford Road and Chorlton Road. Lived here and had no problems whatsoever, and I can walk into town in 10-15 minutes.

I used to live in London, but moved up to Manchester 9 years ago. It's changed a lot in that time, mostly for the better. Northern Quarter has two parts to it. The bars on Thomas Street are a bit too-cool-for-school and are starting to get over run by the Printworks Crowd on a weekend. The other side of Oldham Street has some new bars which are a lot nicer such as Hula, Bakerie, Port Street Beer House and NoHo. This area is still being developed so will keep getting better. We have a fantastic Art House Cinema with a great bar on Oxford Road, and round the corner from that is a new bar called Gorilla which does great food and a great range of beers. Also had a BrewDog bar open up recently which is amazing.

There is every chain store you could wish for either in the centre of town or 20 mins on a bus away at the Trafford Centre. Lots of good independent restaurants within the M60, and as a major plus, if you jump on a train or bus, you are only 30 mins from countryside

Evangelink · 2012-07-21, 17:48:10

^ you got a Brewdog? I'm sold, I'll be up shortly.

John Thorp · 2012-07-21, 18:03:34

I live here, it's ace. Not just because I live here, either. The rent is affordable compared to London, the nightlife is amazing, great restaurants, and still a few areas that are full of character and independence.

sushilnash · 2012-07-21, 19:53:58

sweet, thanks y'all, definitely helpful! so didsbury definitely sounds worth looking in and i suppose we shouldn't completely rule out salford just yet then.

we've mainly been looking in the city centre which we could afford but to get somewhere nice we would be looking at max budget and probably living in an apartment like a battery hen (anyone lived in an apartment like a battery hen before? thoughts?). would probably prefer to pay a bit less and have a small journey into the centre so didsbury sounds like a good shout.

As far as nightlife is concerned, doesn't sound like we've anything to worry about :)

And yes, as John Thorp said, the rent is much more affordable than here. This is the main reason we want to leave London as we live in a nothing-special-but-decent-enough flat in Brixton and find ourselves just about able to afford it. From looking on property websites it seems like you get a hella lot more for your money in manchester (or anywhere outside the capital really). Looking for a two bed for no more than £1,100 per month and have found some pretty decent places which is impossible in anywhere but the absolute shittiest parts of london.

Thanks everyone, feel free to keep it coming :)

shortcircuit · 2012-07-21, 21:32:22

For £1,100 a month you could get a really nice place in the center, lots of nice flats around Deansgate area. I personally prefer Chorlton over Didsbury and it's a bit closer to town.

Guy (Boratto?) · 2012-07-22, 01:32:22

might as well add my twopenneth having lived here for a few years. (remarkable number of mancs on here - I guess because of trash)

Greater Manchester is quite big but the city itself is small - much smaller than london. that's not necessarily a bad thing - there are more than enough great nightspots that soon become favourites. but the small size can be quite noticeable. for example the city centre totally packs out with undesirables from the surrounding areas at the weekend. generally you can avoid them but you it can be an effort - bars that are great during the week lose their atmosphere on friday and saturday nights (alright during the day though). you will always have a couple of exceptions so this isn't as much of an issue as it could be. and where in london you can pretty much choose who you mix with in terms of where you hang out, that's not the case in manchester - everyone is all mixed up.

housing is indeed much cheaper here than in london - but wages are much lower so i think the savings are not particularly great. I'm actually moving back to london in mid august and am applying for jobs at the moment - looking at identical jobs to the one I have at the moment (in higher education) the wage gap seems to be upwards of 4 thousand (more often 6-7 thousand and 10 for one job that i've applied for)... once you are set up here the saving won't be particularly noticeable I think.

in terms of areas I would go for didsbury or chorlton - i've lived in the city centre for 3 years now and have had enough of being woken up by street noises. it's tricky not to live near a club if you want city centre living - I live a couple of hundred yards from two and it's fairly usual for there to be a new patch of sick/blood appear every few days. there are bargains to be had anywhere though - my flat costs 690 a month (2 bed, balcony, pretty modern setup), I think the going rate for it is closer to 800 comparing it to some of my friends places. you could get a lovely place in didsbury or chorlton for 800 I would think (although I haven't looked). the city is very student dominated - fallowfield/withington are the student living areas and the burglary rates there are off the chart. but the students definitely bring a bit of life to the place (during termtime that is). If I was in your position and wanted to get into the culture of the place I would probably start off on a short term contract in the northern quarter then move out to chorlton for quieter living (albeit not too far away). one thing I would need if I was making the move is a group of friends, especially given the weekend invasion that means you end up spending most weekends drinking in pubs with your friends instead of clubbing.

got any tips about brixton? we're thinking of setting up there next month...

Izzle · 2012-07-22, 02:42:08

(2012-07-21 14:11:27)Guy (Boratto?) Wrote: Factory and space?... you've gotta be kidding...

I've been in Korea for two years, they were OK when I left I'm sure.

sushilnash · 2012-07-22, 20:08:52

Thanks Guy, definitely some food for thought there. Yeah, lower wages is definitely something we're thinking about but I think (hope!) it shouldn't be too much of a problem as my pay is so shit (earning £14,000 as supervisor of a flagship store in central London) that I'm fairly confident I wouldn't be earning much less or even any less in Manchester. That's my thinking anyway. Plus I'd not only be saving on rent but also on travel which costs me £112 per month in London. But yeah, definitely a concern :/

Interesting what you said about the city being smaller so all types of people kind of mixing together. Guess it's kind of obvious but hadn't really thought about that. Yeah, the idea of living a short journey away from the centre seems appealing at the moment. Happy to travel a little if it means cheaper, quieter and nicer.

So, Brixton. We like Brixton. One of these places that's traditionally been a bit of a shithole but has recently become a pretty very nice place to live relative to the cost of property. It certainly hasn't become completely gentrified, it seems like it's in a kind of weird period in-between with a lot of what you might call very middle-class and very working-class people but that's part of what I like about the place. It also means that rent isn't ridiculously expensive yet.

Going out:

In terms of evenings out, unless you're going clubbing there's never really much cause to leave Brixton. There's plenty of pubs, bars and restaurants and enough of them are really nice not to have to go to the same place every time. As well as that there's The Ritzy cinema which is excellent. It has a small roof terrace which we didn't discover until about after about six months of going there which is really nice for a pint in the sun and you can look over Brixton Oval where there's sometimes things like Morris dancing and acting to watch people do. Ah, I'm going to miss The Ritzy actually :( oh and they do nice films too but there's always a MASSIVE queue on wednesdays so get there early!
http://www.picturehouses.co.uk/cinema/Ri...turehouse/

Obviously there's the Academy too which is great when there's something you want to see but a pain in the arse when you're trying use the station on a fri/sat evening :)

If you want to go for a quiet pint, I have a few favourite places. The Hive is very near Brixton Station and is a small informal restaurant downstairs with a cocktail bar and dance floor upstairs. Haven't made use of the upstairs before but downstairs is always ideal for a quiet beer after work as it's very chilled and not crowded and they have a different drinks offer every day of the week. They also do nice food and it's not too expensive. And they do Amstel. There's also Market House which is a new pub and is really really nice inside. Neither expensive nor cheap and they do good food. Sofas, mismatched furniture and bird cages type place but not overly pretentious. There's also a place next to it called Satay which, thinking about it, isn't anything special at all but for some reason I really like having a pint there when it's sunny. So you might too :) Another place is Electric Social which is more lively. Although they do food (astonishing lamb burger) it's more of a drink type place than a food type place. Very trendy, they're loving big old Union Jacks. If the Keep Calm and Carry On poster was a bar, it would be Electric Brixton. That makes it sound awful, but it is nice really. Watched the England matches there, it was ideal as they had a massive screen and, as it's slightly out the way (but still only five mins walk from station) it's not obscenely busy. That's another place with a dance floor upstairs actually. Oh and they do Amstel. A similar place is Grand Union. Again, more boozy than Hive or The Ritzy but with a cozy sofa-ey atmosphere. Also has DJs playing on Fri and Sat. There's also the Effra which is the place to go if you just want a NICE PUB. Not much to say about it except it's a NICE PUB. Same goes for The White Horse on Brixton Hill. Big, dark, feels like there should be sawdust on the floor. And there always this massive friendly dog wandering around. It's great in there. I could actually list more places but I won't. Basically, there's plenty of really really nice places to drink in Brixton.

http://www.hivebar.net/
http://www.electricsocial.com/
http://www.grandunionbars.com/brixton/
http://www.viewlondon.co.uk/pubsandbars/...26811.html
http://www.whitehorsebrixton.com/

Gawd, I didn't mean to go into such detail and now I'm starving. I'll have to finish this later or tomorrow.

Will mention Vic line and Brixton Market, anything specific you want to know about?

Thanks again :)

Guy (Boratto?) · 2012-07-22, 20:26:39

wow, didn't expect such a detailed response! sounds great - my vision of what brixton is like is informed from how it was 7 years ago, when I lived in london - a bit of a no-go for an 18 year old kid. your perspective definitely puts paid to the idea I had of it.

I will weigh in with an account of my favourite places in manchester tomorrow (my boss is on leave, wey-o) - also reading back my earlier post it seems like I'm really critical of the place, whereas that isn't the case at all - i'd be staying here happily if the missus hadn't been offered a job in london.

i have to say this is exactly why I come to this forum, shared knowledge from like-minded people in different parts of the world doesn't get much better. well done everybody

oh yeah, within brixton do you have any recommendations of streets or small areas to live on/avoid?

murray888 · 2012-07-23, 09:41:58

Don't forget Brixton Market...especially Franco Manca's and Honest Burger

Evangelink · 2012-07-23, 10:47:23

Thanks for all this info on Brixton. I only ever go there when I'm going to Brixton Academy, and always struggle to find a pre-gig boozer.

Fike · 2012-07-23, 13:26:52

I'd like to add the Trinity Arms (for the beer) and Duke of Edinburgh (for the beer garden) to the Brixton selections. Both a bit off the beaten track, but worth the walk.

http://www.trinityarms.co.uk/
http://www.thedukebrixton.com/

murray888 · 2012-07-23, 22:53:28

(2012-07-23 13:26:52)Fike Wrote: I'd like to add the Trinity Arms (for the beer) and Duke of Edinburgh (for the beer garden) to the Brixton selections. Both a bit off the beaten track, but worth the walk.

http://www.trinityarms.co.uk/
http://www.thedukebrixton.com/

Yeah another vote for the Duke. It's a good'un.

PaoloTramezzani · 2012-07-24, 08:55:25

re: brixton, i hear the rest is noise has now closed? :(

never been but my mate loves dogstar

strongly recommend the prince albert, great crowd in there, it has that illusive 'character'

bash · 2012-07-24, 09:45:18

yeah rest is noise closed ages ago, we were gobsmacked when we got to brixton before an academy gig a while back and it just plain wasnt there. they kept that one quiet. i imagine its probably not been there for almost a year now.

as a leeds dweller i'm over in manchester now and again for gigs and clubs, it has a wonderful range of events and some pretty cool cafe's and bars. as you're on the board i will assume good music taste and there's always loads to get your teeth into, just check the RA listings and the posters up in the quite brilliant piccadilly records.

i am currently massively jealous of the new brewdog bar!! we were supposed to get one but then the planning permission didnt happen.....

sushilnash · 2012-07-24, 20:07:47

Alrighty, where to live/avoid. I would suggest looking on the outskirts rather than centre simply because Brixton's pretty small and you'll likely never find it an issue to travel into the centre. This way you'll end up paying slightly less rent and I can imagine being right in the middle of town would get a bit tiresome after a while. In terms of the nicer/rougher areas, apart from the council estates there isn't really much divide between areas of Brixton as far as I've been able to tell. Like I said there's definitely a real mixture of people but they're all fairly mixed together. I think this is the case anyway but it's hard to tell because we only ever really spend time on our road or the centre. We live on Medora Road just off Brixton Hill. This is almost as far from the centre as you can get without saying you live towards Streatham but we still only have to walk 15/20 mins into town or hop on the bus for 5 mins.

Talking of travel, you probably worked it out but it's great for getting in to central London from here. I work near Oxford Circus and my journey door to door is half an hour. Victoria line is ace except for when they close it on some weekends. Also (minor plus but it's still a plus), because Brixton station is at the end of the line, you always get a seat on your journey into central and at some point on the way back (usually Victoria) :) Also there's the 159 right into central (all night) and plenty of other buses that go all around everywhere.

Brixton Market/Village. Basically it's a run-down massive old indoor market space which has, over the last few years, been given a new lease of life by local independent businesses (mostly restaurants). Very 'trendy'. You can guarantee you'll eat great quality food and not pay stupid money for it and the atmosphere is really great. Feels very local and vibrant. However, it's not the most convenient way of going for a meal. It's a lovely place and great if you go in with loads of time to spare and you're not starving but there are also occasional times when my housemates want to go for a meal there and I just can't be bothered. The reasons for this are:

- Cash only. This isn't really much of a problem so long as you remember to stop by the cashpoint on the way but there's always massive queues for the cashpoints in the middle of Brixton. Just give yourself a bit of extra time. It just also always seems to end up in confusion over change when we pay the bill!

- It's indoors, but barely. With most of the restaurants being tiny tiny places, most of the tables are outside them. You're still actually indoors so you're not going to get rained on but in the winter it is FUCKING COLD. There's been a couple of times where I've been sat there in a coat and scarf smashing my food down so we can get on the bus home! Ideal in the summer though.

- No reservations. You know these types of places where they don't take bookings? Well they're all there! Just make sure you're not starving before you go because you'll definitely have to queue a while to get in anywhere and a long time for the more popular places (Franco Manca, Honest Burger). Some places are nice though and they don't make you queue but just give you an estimated time so you can go for a wonder and come back to see if they have a table for you. But yeah, if you want to go for a quick meal, don't try and do it on the weekend!

- Toilets. None of the restaurants/bars/cafes have them. There is one set of public toilets in there but they're sometimes closed.

I know I've kind of bitched about it a lot but it's really great to hang out there. As long as you're not a grumpy bastard like I sometimes am. If you're not in the right mood it can be a bit like "Brixton Village? Uhhhhhfffffffffmmmmmm, shall we just go Nandos?"

Yeah, Honest Burger. My gf is a bit of a food snob and always ready to criticise rubbish food and she absolutely loves it so that says a lot. What I think speaks volumes is that I'm totally the opposite of her and never really get excited about food. I'm happy to eat anywhere as long as it fills me up and I'm therefore neither impressed or disappointed very often. Yet I fucking love Honest Burger. I guarantee when you go it will be the best burger you've ever had. They're so good. And the chips are ace too.

Yes, The Rest Is Noise is long gone... closed over a year ago and has since become a TK Maxx. Wonderful :(

I think that fact that we've never even heard of the Trinity Arms or Duke of Edinburgh is testament to just how many great places there are for a drink in Brixton. Really spoilt for choice here. Yes, Dogstar, never been either but my mate raves about it.

Evangelink, regarding pre-drink boozers, I've not actually been but I know Plan B just round the corner from the Academy always have pre-gig offers on. And some guy I vaguely know mentioned the other day that it was one of his favourite venues in London so might be worth a shot.

Yeah, anything else you want to know? I know I haven't said much about where to avoid or look but I really can't think of any parts of Brixton that are wildly different from the rest. I wouldn't decide too much based on location unless obviously it looks like it's somewhere horrendous.

sushilnash · 2012-07-25, 20:04:50

Btw Brixton clubhouse is great, saw aeroplane play on the roof terrace on a summer evening last year and Todd terje was there a few weeks ago. Beautiful in the sun. Sitting outside the ritzy with a pint right now realising how much I'll miss this place.

Evangelink · 2012-07-25, 21:16:33

(2012-07-24 20:07:47)sushilnash Wrote: Evangelink, regarding pre-drink boozers, I've not actually been but I know Plan B just round the corner from the Academy always have pre-gig offers on. And some guy I vaguely know mentioned the other day that it was one of his favourite venues in London so might be worth a shot.

Thanks for this mate, always seen it but never ventured in. Will do next time!

Guy (Boratto?) · 2012-10-24, 16:26:07

forgot about this thread but just put together a map for a mate who is going to be in manchester for a bit - thought you might be interested sushil:

https://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?msid=2...bc9e&msa=0

probably spent 90% of the time I was out & about in those places. hope it's useful

Evangelink · 2012-10-24, 16:54:23

^ good to see Brewdog getting a mention in there.