A little bit of advice needed for good areas in Manchester ...Follow on post

[shouldiorshouldinot]

Hi everyone,
I posted a couple of weeks ago about moving to Manchester and got some helpful responses, but still need a little advice...
Previously almost everyone suggested south Manchester, sale, Hale , Altrincham, as well as the moors and parts of Stockport.
I have 4dc and like I mentioned my budget is ideally max of £310k for a 4 bed, but that doesn't seem to get me much in those areas.
I was wandering if you guys could enlighten me on Eccles ( seen lovely affordable new builds there) , which parts of Stockport and stretford and prestwich (again lovely new builds) are good in terms of schools including secondary? I'm after good family locations not too rural.
I've noticed checking school checker on right move most primary schools seem good but secondary are touch and go, although they all seem good in the south but again just more pricey.
Any help would be appreciated?
Thanks

Most of Stockport is fine OP. I would avoid brinnington or adswood like the plague, but the rest is pretty nice.

The majority of mumsnet will tell you to avoid places like Levenshulme, but they really are up and coming and you can get a lot for your money there. Manchester is not a cheap city, and the majority of the most desirable areas you are definitely priced out of on your budget. Realistically you either need to look at less didsbury-type areas or go further out. For me I’d choose to be as close to Manchester as I could afford, in a relatively safe area, over commuting in from knutsford or Lymm.

Irlam has a very busy train station and 2 buses, the buses can take about 2 hours to Manchester in rush hour though.
There have been a spate of shootings (gun crime) in recent weeks.
Traffic is awful, for a variety of reasons.
The high school is also in special measures (but has just been taken over by a new Academy so hoping to improve) and the primary schools once were outstanding but have seriously dropped in recent years. It is possible the kids could go to Culcheth High, if you want to look it up, some go to Urmston Grammar, Wellacre or Flixton girls as they walk over the canal.
If you're Catholic, there is St Pats (over Eccles way). Someone mentioned Oakwood up thread but I think this is just for kids with additional needs.
I was born there, so if there is a sewer smell, I've just gotten used to it haha!
It's one of those places that I think only people who were born here like, everybody knows everybody!
You will not be short of barbers though... Irlam must be the barber capitol of the world.

If you are thinking of Trafford you need to check if any schools have places. The chances of a grammar place are tiny and the chances of getting in a decent school are pretty slim too.
I live in Altrincham and have four dc one at secondary and three at primary and although I do like living here getting school places is hard, getting places at things like brownies is impossible because there are so many kids in the area.
We even had a four month wait to get the kids christened.
If I had my time again I wouldn't live here I would go to Lymm or knutsford. No grammars, tutors or pressure.

Sorry that wasn't very well written but you get the idea!

Personally I love living in Urmston. But you definitely do sometimes get the smell from the sewage works! It's so expensive Now you're much better off in Stretford which is really up and coming. Commuting from Stretford into town is an absolute dream it takes 15 minutes on the tram. Flixton is lovely too.

I'm thinking that you're covering far too wide an area with all these suggestions.

ZenNudist totyagree the area has gotten a lot wider that I thought. Which areas do you recommend in stretford? That does appeal to me

Stretford you want to be around Victoria Park, or around Longford Park, or down near the cemetery.

Do you want your kids to go to the same secondary school?

I must disagree with the previous poster about newton le willows. It was just like that ten years ago but has changed so much recently. The High Street is fab, great restaurants, bars, real ale pubs. Some lovely independent shops now too. Only 25 mins to Manchester City centre on the trains too. The new high school struggled initially but is supposed to be on the up now.
However Warrington is a dreary town!

Ideally would love kids to got to the same school

You won't get 4 beds by Longford Park for that price, sadly, in the "desirable" bit.

Lime Rd and surrounding area is good
.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-59563752.html

I mean
Rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-59563752.html

I think from your requirements, the areas I would look at would be:

1. Urmston
2. Levenshulme
3. Gatley

You could get something half decent for your money in each of those, and they are quite different to each other so might help you realise what you want most.

Definitely get a little bit more for your money in Prestwich rather than South Manchester... anywhere with walking distance/5 mins drive of the centre... or if you live close to either Bury New Rd/Bury Old Rd the transport links for buses/trams/motorways are very good...There is also Heaton Park - one of the biggest municipal parks in Europe with lots going on... not considered to be as 'trendy' or cool as some South Manchester areas - but a decent selection of cafes/eateries and 15 minutes into Manchester city centre... Also very easy to jump on the motorway to Ramsbottom/country pubs... and we can be walking along the sea front @ Lytham St Annes within the hour...

Floatingthroughspace I can't open the link

I grew up in Urmston. It is very trendy now, has lots of eateries, and good schools. That said, the commute into the city centre was dreadful. The train is crap and it isn’t on the metro line, and anything happening at EventCity means you cannot get on the motorway. Around Christmas when the Trafford centre gets busy you may as well not bother trying to get anywhere. Stretford is neither here nor there- it is between Urmston and chorlton but has nothing of its own to recommend it other than a metro station.

I have bought a house in Prestwich and we love the area and it suits our purposes far more. The connections for commuting are so much better- multiple metro stops, easier to get on the motorway. We can walk into the village and I can regularly be seen getting squiffy in Grape to Grain! Heaton Park is one of the biggest city parks in Europe and has a free farm, boating lake, and I go jogging there frequently. It was recently voted the best place to live in Manchester for families. The ‘Jewish’ area is further down the road in M7, you want M25. And we got sooo much more for our money here. The only caveat I’d say is it is still more ‘up and coming’ and some bits away from the village high street are a bit more rough around the edges - Urmston has up and come.

I’ll tell you one more thing that you may consider a downside of Prestwich. The hospital there is a large site owned by the mental health trust- it used to be an asylum. It now has teenage inpatients, alcohol and drug rehab, and a large secure unit for offenders with mental health problems. I’m sure lots of people don’t even know it’s there, and most of the patients won’t be seen in the village, only at Tesco and the petrol station before the motorway. To my knowledge the only issue that has been caused is that the people in the new housing estate behind Tesco have been unhappy at one or two teenagers using their gardens as a shortcut- which let’s face it could happen anywhere.

I'm from Stockport...Bramhall is lovely, as is Davenport, parts of Hazel Grove and Poynton. I used to drive into Manchester but it's a ball ache now. There are train stations with direct links from all these places though so you'd be better off getting the train. Driving into Manchester from ANYWHERE is bloody awful, but I'd avoid Marple and Bredbury as they are really bad for traffic.

@TheNanny23 I bloody love Grape to Grain!

@scazlackabumdiyay has it changed drastically in the last 12 months? That's when I last stayed there. There was a new Italian restaurant where the owner was sexually harassing his staff (friend was a waitress and quit because of it). High school was poor. Earlestown next door was like a demilitarised zone. I recall a convenience store, a subway, a cafe, and lots of barbers. Nothing else to speak of. But maybe 12 months has made a difference.

The house prices were about half of what they are where I live though.

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-59563752.html

The tram is being extended to the Trafford centre at the moment. Urmston/Flixton/Davyhulme is a 5 min drive to Trafford Centre with free parking. You can then hop on the tram to Manchester.

Trains are quite tough for daily commuting, the train stations both have free parking though. Flixton is on the line to Manchester or Liverpool, great for days out when you don't want to pay for city centre parking, theatre trips etc.

If you want your kids to go to the same secondary school, I would skip Trafford. Just my opinion. I think it is unlikely you will manage to get a place in a grammar for your year 8, whether all your younger children would pass the 11+ is another consideration, & then there seem to be a lot of single sex schools too. I’m guess it would work if you buy in catchment of a decent secondary in Trafford, but it just all gets a bit complicated.

Thenanny23 the new housing estate behind Tesco were the ones I was looking at. I had no idea about the hospital, but generally I like the sound of prestwich it's just that there doesn't seem to be many good schools?

Northernknickers is there a metro in Stockport? Sorry I'm losing track of the places now