to think that people who make judgements about areas are ignorant.

[treesntrees]

On the tram yesterday three women in their thirties boarded at West Didsbury and proceeded to have a conversation in voices everyone could hear. When the phantom voice announced that the tram was going to Oldham and Rochdale one of them wondered why anyone would want to go to Rochdale. Now while Rochdale town centre would not be my shopping centre of choice and the area near the centre consists of close packed streets and industrial areas I know the rest of the town contains desirable areas to live and with its hills and wooded places is really pretty and healthy. For people who don't know Manchester Didsbury is a trendy area near the airport which consists of closepacked two up and two downs, large houses mostly converted to flats, university buildings, purpose built blocks and a couple of parks. The roads are very very congested. Admittedly it is very vibrant but surely areas should all be different to suit peoples differing needs and circumstances. After all one can always visit a vibrant area without having to pay an arm and leg to live there.
I wonder if those women had ever been to Rochdale.

Not only ignorant, but bad-mannered too (though, sometimes bad manners are the result of ignorance).

West Didsbury is very welcome to them. Perhaps they've suffered slight hearing loss as a result of living near the airport and that's why they were talking too loudly!

Nothing wrong with not liking an area, town or place. To me, it's no different to not liking a film, book, or type of sandwich.

People have opinions, they won't be the same as yours, but they're equally valid.

YANBU.

I live in Luton which is frequently put down by people who have either never been there or just want to make themselves feel good about wherever it is they (now) live.

Some people seem to have no idea that not everyone wants exactly the same thing and just because a place doesn't fit within the ideals they hold doesn't mean it's not a nice place to others.

It's not wrong to have your own preferences but to sneer at others because they are different is the rude part.

It is rude to make nasty comments about what someone else chooses to eat or listen to but it is all the more personal when you are slating someone's home, we all have a range of films and books we like but most of us only have one home - it's very personal.

The op already said that there isn't much on offer in central Rochdale. Nobody's going to want to get off a train in order to visit pleasant outlying residential areas, are they?

YANBU - they don't know what they are missing.

Rochdale & Oldham town centres are pretty dire at the moment - as are a lot of town centres due to the recession - but some of the surrounding areas are beautiful.

What rochdale does offer though is a bus station which I need to use to get to where I live which is a beautiful spot up in the hills about a further ten miles north of rochdale. Some of us use rochdale to get from a-b.

If I go into manchester centre I have to travel through rochdale.

I grew up in Bury.. I wouldnt want to go to Rochdale either..

It's only ignorant if you don't know anything about the area and just base your opinion on hearsay.

Maybe she knows the area well and that's why she wondered why anyone would want to go there?

In that case Worra is it just plain opinionated rudeness?

YANBU. In the 10 years that I have lived in Greater Manchester (Heaton Moor, West Didsbury and now Sale) I have always been surprised at the level of snobbery associated with where people live (Wilmslow types look down on Didsbury for example and those in South Manchester look down on East and North Manchester). I'm hoping that the extension of the tram network might make people a little more adventurous and visit different parts. This will hopefully make them far less ignorant. Rochdale Town Hall would impress many Didsbury types I'm sure and I bet many South Manchester foodies would be jealous of Bury market. I've lived in London before and whilst there is banter about the part of "town" you live in, it isn't any where near as judgemental as up here. I put that down to the fact that the tube allows Londoners to explore a bit more and, with the metrolink extension, hopefully that will start to happen in Manchester too.

Having been to Rochdale I would rather live in Didsbury too. Yes the countryside near Rochdale is nice but the area round the town centre is run down and there are lots of empty shops.

Were they being serious? If i was out with my mates, we would come out with stuff like that, as a joke.

My DD was getting her hair streaked in Purple and had to go blonde first (which looked terrible), i said "you look like you come from Skegness", as a joke, there is nothing wrong with coming from Skegness, but you wouldn't get on the wrong side of some of the women that you see there.

Being from Liverpool, we make jokes about places such as Rochdale and Wigan.

I live in a rough bit and have experienced a lot of snobbery. We are a city that has had a negative reputation from a lot of people.