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

I think many, if not most, people moving from the South to Manchester would rate Didsbury and Chorlton as their first choices. They have excellent primary and secondary schools, have to disagree with the people who diss them above. Grammar schools score well on exams as they select the children who do best on exams to start off with! However children at Chorlton High, for example, who would have got into the neighbouring grammar schools on their SATs scores, do just as well in their exams overall. And many children who would not have got into grammar school, do very well at the good secondary schools of South Manchester.

However, if you are looking at Irlam prices, then you are likely to find Didsbury out of your price range. If you are considering Stockport, then make sure you really check out the length of commute before buying. A nice easy drive on a Sunday afternoon, when you go to view a lovely house in Marple, will turn into 1 hour plus commute very easily. Good luck, but remember, it's not all grim up North!

I can't think of anything good to say about Irlam sorry.

Arnoldthecat funny I was looking at that house the other day. Pps have mentioned Irlam as not being great ?

There you go then, its prophetic ! I know Greater Manchester and most of its areas very well. So i guess the question is,what makes a "great" area? Well if you start from base, all areas are the same. They all have houses,streets,facilities etc. What adds to an area? Well clearly schools is a big issue for people with children but aside from the school itself, there are a lot of other inputs to educational success.

Cafes and restaurants? so what, they come and go.Every area has them.

Ramping-well parasitic EAs seek out an area,open shops there,ramp the areas,bleed as much as they can from buyers by selling them the dream of living in that suburb and then,,,well they move on. As an example,a few of the well known EAs have set up their stalls in Reddish. Why? Well it sits comfortably close to the heatons which is saturated so they are moving on and retrenching in Reddish. I've seen ordinary terraces trade in SR recently for circa 170k.

So then what is "Bad" about Irlam? I dont know, I know it,ive passed through it, i have friends who have lived there for years. It has houses,streets,shops,roads,a railway station etc etc.

It hasnt been ramped by parasitic EAs. Square footage and value is good. No point in paying £250k and cramming yourself into a shoe box just to live in an aspirational area. Gimme space any day and good VFM..just my view..

I live in Irlam. 4 bedroom town house on one of the most sought after estates.

I hate it. I’ve moved from Stretford (Dump) to Irlam (a different kind of dump... low crime rate, lovely community spirit, but there is NOTHING here).

The high school is absolutely shit. Lots of kids go over the locks or get to train to flixton/Urmston though & I believe Trafford schools are good. Traffic actually isn’t too bad now we have the new road which connects us to the Trafford centre, it’s literally 10 mins down the road.

Honestly, Irlam is amazing for community & togetherness. But all we have is a Tesco and a Lidl you would be able to get a fab house for 300k though, wheras if you’re looking at Trafford (Urmston/Stretford/etc) it will be a old house for that price if you want 4 bedrooms (if you can find one!) - no chance of a naice new build.

It’s rural - ish and if you’re moving from London you will get a massive shock to the system.

If money was no object I would 100% move to Urmston near the town centre. I love Urmston.

I hope the high school improves by the time my kids go there

Primary schools are amazing mind!

Hi Slat3 ,,well thanks for the inside track,,maybe you know my friends :)

I'm sure Irlam will develop more given time. Maybe ill go house hunting there. Are you thinking of moving then and if so,where to ?

You'll get more for the money in North East Manchester. Saddleworth is probably out of your price range, but consider Mossley, Ashton under Lyne (some lovely areas, some not so, and very close to IKEA ) and Shaw. All have good links to city centre by train/tram and you could find a lovely house in that price range.

@Arnoldthecat it’s definitely developing. Houses have gone up since we moved here - ours is probably worth 20k more in nearly three years, judging by the others on our estate. I reckon it’s ‘up & coming’ just needs more cafes/bars (Tesco cafe doesn’t cut it). It’s very community driven with a fabulous play park (all funded by the community donations), rotary club & Hamilton davies trust put loads into the community. But it’s just not home to me IYKWIM? I’d love chorlton or Urmston town centre.

We have looked at moving next year but we don’t want to downgrade from our lovely house. My mum lives in Stretford on a rough council/ex council estate & the houses are £££. To afford what we want to afford we would be mortgaged up to our eyeballs.

I am keeping my fingers crossed we get a few cafes/bars/etc. & that they don’t build on our greenbelt

I’d be happy with a bloody Costa coffee or a Wetherspoons tbh

Do not move to Irlam. Schools are really not great, area is not great, transport is not great. It's a one road in and one road out town. Avoid.

How is cheadle?

And timperley for that matter? Flixton?

I would recommend Monton, Worsley and South Swinton but on your budget you wouldn’t get what you want house wise, maybe in South Swinton ( south of the A580 road) but although they’ve all got good transport links, good primary schools, the High schools are not great and lots of people send their children outside the area. Either they take the 11plus for the Trafford Grammar schools, they go to church so they can send them to Canon Slade in Bolton (outstanding school) or they go private, Bolton School etc. We moved out of the area for that reason plus the property prices were sky rocketing

Mightyducks thank you, but my main priority is schools primary and secondary as my eldest is in year 8 I don't even know if she can try for grammar in that year?? Also in case they don't get into grammar as a back up I'd like to be near great secondary as well as primary schools.

I live in Denton which is a nice area. Audenshaw is next door to us (literally a five minute drive) and is probably more "desirable". I'm a 20 minute drive from Manchester City Centre. There's Guide Bridge train station approx 7 minute drive from me which has trains to Manchester in 9 minutes. They're actually building a new-build estate next to the station right now.

In Denton, we have a big shopping centre - Flannels, New Look, River Island, H&M, TK Maxx, Outfit (Dorothy Perkins, Topshop etc.), H&M, USC and so on. Plenty of parking.

The two main schools in Denton/Audenshaw are Denton Community College and Audenshaw School (which is boys only). Both are rated Good. Finding schools rated Outstanding is quite difficult nowadays.

For £260k, you can get a 4 bedroom detached house in Denton in a desirable area: www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-79908215.html

For £270k, you can get a 4 bedroom detached house in Audenshaw in a desirable area: www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-67591438.html

Areas to avoid:

Ardwick
Openshaw
Gorton
Moss Side
Moston
Cheetham Hill
Hattersley

That's not to say Denton is comparable to the beautiful areas others have mentioned, but it's definitely a decent enough area with nice houses, good schools, good transport links, plenty of shopping and a nice place to live.

Tokenginger first time someone's mentioned Denton, sounds fab in terms of shops etc and new built and price. I just need to research schools.
Thanks for the areas to avoid list too that really helps

I live in disley it's lovely! misses point of thread it's got such a lovely community feel and it actually is a great community

Just looked at Denton on right move, 8'out of 10 local secondary schools are independent??

Oh I read further and you don't want rural. Oh well disley is still lovely and I won't live anywhere else now. Butchers, bakery, 5 pubs one of which is called the Malt Disley

Shouliorshouldinot - no problem, I don’t know if you consider it as you said you wanted to be near Manchester but we moved to Bromley Cross in Bolton, fantastic schools, primary and secondary, Urban feel but near the countryside. Lots of people commute into Manchester on the train which is 25 minutes away from Bromley Cross station , although the train service is patchy bt is improving, slowly! House prices are also very reasonable - you’d get something in your price range

@shouldiorshouldinot Audenshaw is an independent academy. It was an outstanding grammar school and became an academy in its own right. It dropped in ratings on one Ofsted inspection a few years back, but since a change of leadership, it appears to be right back up there again. It's always been a highly sought after school for the boys in the area.

There's a school called Fairfield in Droylsden that's an all girls school which is outstanding which isn't too far away, especially from Audenshaw.

In terms of Denton Community College, I thought that was still Local Authority maintained but I could be wrong. It used to be two separate high schools that merged to become a super school, if you like, for the area.

I've just moved from Cheadle to Cheadle Hulme. Cheadle Hulme has the better high school (it's the best comp in Greater Manchester and does better than a lot of the grammars and independents results wise). It has a train station but the restaurants aren't as good as Cheadle.

£300k would buy you a three bed Semi Cheadle Hulme.

In Cheadle you would struggle to get anything in your price range. Housing stock is either cheaper £250k for a three bed or much more expensive £500k plus for a four bed.

FWIW, years ago I lived in Didsbury, but the house prices are much higher and the schools are much worse. I wouldn't live there unless I wanted to use private schools.

The new build estate I mentioned is Taylor Wimpey Homes Guide Bridge if you search for it on Google.

They're also building a new housing estate in the centre of Denton, a two minute walk to the shopping centre, by Wainhomes but they've only just purchased the land so I think it'll be probably a year until they're ready, whereas the ones in Guide Bridge are already built/nearing completion.

I have an aunt who lives in the wonderful world of Disley! It is indeed lovely.

I agree with the PP earlier who recommended renting first. Better to spend some time in a temporary home and get to know the area before committing straight away and ending up in the arse end of somewhere.

There are some lovely areas and you will find one that is right for you and your family.

(Also agree that public transport is probably the better option for getting into the city centre - traffic and parking can be difficult. You can get a County Card for use on bus and train for £122 per month)

I've never lived anywhere other than London so it's daunting.

Brace yourself OP. You'll have to speak to your neighbours. Strangers may say hello in the street. Chips will not be made of polystyrene. It will cost you half the price to get drunk.

On the down side it rains a lot and you'll meet more brexit supporters :-)

@ProlificLurker it's such a lovely area for the first time in my life I'm not thinking about where else we could live