Possibly moving to Manchester from London

[shouldiorshouldinot]

Hi everyone,

We are possibly planning on moving to Manchester from London. I've never lived anywhere other than London so it's daunting. I have 4dc 12,10,4,1. The very main thing is excellent schools. St the moment my kids are at outstanding schools so I really hope they can continue like that.
Anybody made the move and how have you found it?
What's the best place to move to with great schools secondary and primary and maybe not too far from the city centre?
Looking for a 4 bed semi or detached
How likely is it to get into food schools and getting into same schools?

Thank you all it's all very overwhelming

FunnyTinge that's interesting thank you there seemed to be a lot of properties there for sale.

I’m in Heaton Moor and love it! DH works in Manchester CC and gets train very easily every morning/evening. Fantastic nurseries & schools, easy to get to the motorway for access to the rest of greater Manchester and beyond and loads of lovely bars, cafes and restaurants. Also a few lovely parks for the kids and always things going on in the community. Housing isn’t particularly cheap but cheaper than some of the neighbouring areas and I’m sure it’s cheaper than what you’d be used to

Rachierach1 that's sounds fab, how far from the cc? Or the closest shopping centre ?

My own suburb is often overlooked although its a desirable SK8 postcode- Gatley. Its a fabulous place for bringing up kids- loads of green spaces including a skate park and a fantastic wildlife reserve hidden away. Both primaries are really well rated- one was in the top fifty in the last Sunday Times and the other has just had an outstanding OFSTED- very highly subscribed though so check catchments.

It's less fashionable than neighboring Cheadle.but house prices are more manageable and decrease the closer to Sharston you look. Its five mins from the M60, 40 mins drive into town on a good morning, tens mins to the nearest metrolink and has its own station with fast trains to the city twice an hour. Housing is mainly thirties semis or seventies detached. We have 2 decent pubs, a couple of wine bars and half a dozen restaurants plus a Co-op and Tesco express.

The local secondary Kingsway has mixed reputation but has been improving but lots of kids bus to the grammars or Parrs Wood in Didsbury is a couple of miles.

As you can tell I'm super passionate about it- its just a lovely community.

Irlam is a dump, I'd totally avoid, got absolutely nothing going for it apart from traffic jams

I'm a hot confused, when I put in Heaton moor and dew other places mentioned on right move, some places come up in Cheshire ?

Hobbesmanc that sound lovely I'll check that too

Putyourtopontrevor ahh thanks for that. Will avoid.

The heatons are technically Cheshire.

The Heatons are part of Stockport which used to be within Cheshire but then the boundaries changed and Stockport, including Cheadle, Gatley, HM, became part of Greater Manchester. Most addresses will still have Cheshire though, rather than GM

Stretford is up-and-coming, is better value than neighbouring chorlton (my house is currently for sale in the latter but above your target budget unfortunately!) and it has a grammar school and the Trafford centre nearby for shopping. Very quick into Manchester on the tram.
I moved from SW London, too, I feel quite at home here after four years.

Op
Fenuije question

You’re moving from London. With a budget of circa £300k

Where the heck did you live in London?!

Ahh thanks everyone I was confused about the Cheshire thing.

shouldiorshouldinot It’s about 8 minutes on the train to the CC. There are also plenty of buses. Stockport centre is closer but not many good shops. Trafford Centre is approx 20 mins on the motorway but I find Manchester centre the best for shopping.

Lapufalina thank you, I'm
So glad you feel at home. It's so daunting considering moving and the thought of regretting it is awful. I'll miss the London weather that's for sure, not that's it's brilliant but better than up north.

Mmmmbrekkie lol I'm moving because I want to reduce my mortgage or be mortgage free quicker. I have a 3 bed house here in London which I bought at a good time.

I do miss London a bit but get to go back a fair bit for work. I bought a three bed house after selling my London flat so that sweetened the move a bit!
One thing that I find good is that Manchester is a decent size, so you get good restaurants and theatre without being overwhelmed by choice like you can be in London.

LaPufalina that sounds amazing, that's what I'm hoping that reducing my mortgage size and increasing the house size will sweeten the move a bit

For your budget you will be limited on the south side of manchester sadly. I'm in Sale and just had look on Rightmove, theres nothing that meets your criteria.

Urmston and Stretford may be better if you want access to Trafford schools.

Trafford has a reputation for high quality schools, I'm not sure how much of this is true these days compared with other areas, but is definitely affecting prices, helped by good transport, easy access to Media City for BBC and ITV, and close to the Trafford Centre.

Salford has some lovely areas to live, but also has areas of extreme deprivation, the secondary schools cover wide catchments and believe a lot of families go out of the area for high school (judging by the number of school buses i pass on my way to work)

Good luck with the hunt!

2pointfourmonkeys thank you. Do you know which areas in Salford I should avoid?

I think Salford regeneration is a bi weird so giving blanker areas to avoid is hard? Bits of Swinton, lovely other bits, not so much?
But I would probably avoid Langworthy and the but around Salford shopping city more than other bits

I'm a "naice" person living next to Harpurhey/Moston It's improving, though I'd not go as far as saying it's gentrifying. Schools are mostly new academies or former failing comps that got turned into academies (the Co-op sponsor a few), and none are outstanding AFAIK. Definitely a lower socioeconomic area still. We just take the 15min ride to the city centre when we want bars and restaurants.

We mostly live here because for less than £400 a month we own a 3bed home with driveway, garage, front and back garden in a nice little cul de sac. We even know our neighbours, who are also naice

Trafford schools are very oversubscribed I believe, you may struggle to get them in midway through.

We moved last year. We went from Kilburn to Didsbury and it is the best move we could have made! It is fabulous for young kids, there are two outstanding primary schools. There are grammars, however Didsbury is out of catchment so they'd have to score higher in the entrance exams. Come and look round, you'll love it!

Lapufalina thank you, I'm
So glad you feel at home. It's so daunting considering moving and the thought of regretting it is awful. I'll miss the London weather that's for sure, not that's it's brilliant but better than up north.

Awww honest the rain thing is a bit of a myth. For sure its wetter than London- and Manchester surrounded by hills can feel peculiarly oppressive in heavy rain. But we rarely get snow. I don't think you'll miss the culture either. Sure we're a lot smaller - but everything is easy to get to. The city centre has everything within 15 minutes on foot or the free buses. I love the shops in town but there's also the Trafford Centre.

The Manchester food scene has gone totally mad the last few years and you'll be surprised at the huge range of choices- plus theres been a concerted move by some suburbs to identify as villages - Didsbury, Chorlton etc with their own bar and restaurant scene.

I'll be honest and advise caution with some of the less gentrified but cheaper areas especially in Salford or North and East Manchester.

priestnall is well respected. I have no idea what its catchment area is but surely a chunk of Burnaage nearby must be in it?

Burnage comes under Manchester though and Priestnall is a Stockport school, so I think Burnage addresses would be lower priority despite being very close.