To ask your advice about Warrington please

[loveyoutothemoonandback86]

Hi everyone

I posted a few months ago about the possibility of moving to Manchester from London and has some lovely people respond which helped a lot. Anyway we went to see Manchester and loved the urmston/ flixton area but we really wanted new builds and they aren't around in that area. The areas where there are new builds don't seem to be great or have good schools. Good schools are essential I have 4dc aged 12,10,5,2.
We looked at Warrington, great Sankey only because we saw the new build online. The area seemed really quite but loads of new builds being built so I'm sure it will develop in a few years. We didn't have much time to check all the areas around Warrington but are going up again next month.
Any help on Warrington would be appreciated, great sanjey and other areas too. Although our heart is in Manchester we loves the busyness but the prices in Warrington will leave us in a very food position financially by us having a very small mortgage so this is really pushing the decision.
The only reason to leave London is to reduce mortgage and get a bigger house and also leave crime central to be honest.
Any info on Warrington or if you've made the move from London let me know. I'm very nervous to leave London as this is where I've always lives but want my dc to have a better life. Is Warrington a busy place in the centre like Manchester ?

@ArchieStar

I was at GSHS 25 years ago and it was a good school then.

Apparently it's one of the best in the area now. Very highly rated locally, big on engineering.

Northwich has good schools.
The new Winnington Village Estate is lovely.

Have you thought about Frodsham? Lovely village with trains to Liverpool and Manchester, good food and a few bars.

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-66737746.html

@ArchieStar thank you glad to hear no wifi or take away issues I definitely couldn't cope with that.
@TheJellyBabyMadeMeDoIt thank you again that really helps. I've also looked at ofsted and great Sankey high seems really good.

@Pieceofpurplesky I'm going to look in to northwhich to be honest I don't know anything about it but glad to hear it's good. Never even heard of frogsham but that house is amazing. Ideally I'd love somewhere busy or near a busy city.

Hi OP. I know the areas you are talking about very well indeed having grown up in the region. If I were you I would seriously consider Bolton. It is very accessible for Manchester, the schools are excellent and whilst the town centre needs developing there are good restaurants and beautiful countryside on your doorstep. I would look at Lostock and Heaton. Lostock has a train station which takes you into Manchester. Also, there is a very multicultural community in Bolton. There is a large Indian community so your dc won’t feel in any way different to their new classmates. It is a very friendly place and if I were you I would be looking there, not Warrington.

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-81207092.html

Found this in Bolton.

@loveyoutothemoonandback86 Warrington is not a busy place - in Frodsham you have access via train to Liverpool, Chester and Manchester - and as it's small can walk to the station rather than drive/taxi in Warrington.

Northwich has good and bad parts - some amazing houses on the new Winnington Park estate that are really reasonable. The schools are great. Hartford is lovely too.

Winnington Village
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-62125149.html

@loveyoutothemoonandback86 google Buckshaw Village, its a 30 min drive from warrington and new build central

Loads of lovely new builds in Chorlton, Manchester atm. Regular buses and Metrolink into Manchester, more cafés, pubs and restaurants than you can shake a stick at. I do prefer an older property myself, plenty of those, Chorltonville has nice houses.

@howwudufeel the last time when I was checking properties in and around Bolton The high schools didn't seem that great but I'll research that a bit more thanks.

@Pieceofpurplesky that price is amazing will definitely check winnington thanks .

@HJWT will
Google that now thanks

Erm.. I live here and it is busy, too busy for me at times tbh.

Warrington is very marmite to be honest OP. Some people have a huge downer on the place and that's their perogative, I personally like it and having lived here for 35 years (with stints in Cambridge, London, Crawley, Horsham and the Isle of Man) I can say it's a decent town.

I also have some experience of Bolton, my DP lives that side of Wigan. I've always thought it a nice area and lovely countryside but the town centre is shocking. I think it wouldn't be enough for you, too quiet to be honest.

In order of being bustling I'd say : London>Manchester/Liverpool >Warrington>Bolton>Wigan>>>>>way down the list Northwich and Frodsham.

The latter are lovely but from what you say they'll be too quiet for you.

From everything you say I would use Great Sankey as your starting point and then go and look at all the other areas that have piqued your interest (in and out of Warrington) and use it as your benchmark.

Ultimately everyone wants to big up their own town don't they, but I think Warrington is a good starting point for you to work out what you do and don't want, area wise.

Like most areas Bolton has good and bad. It’s worth having another look.

Bolton town centre is shocking. I agree. Everyone shops at Middlebrook or the Trafford Centre for that reason.

Yes, the town centre is bad but I love Middlebrook - it's 10 mins from DP and preferable to shopping in Wigan (his usual preference)

Thank you to you both I think I will be starting in Warrington great Sankey and check surrounding areas too. I'm up in about 6 weeks for a few days.

I don't think the suggester of Irlam responded, but there was an article about Irlam recently in the MEN.

www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/irlam-cadishead-were-once-rundown-16452833?fbclid=IwAR3-zd7fQV0GbGXnbxF0HE8pRzCVIb711XZ6QI39exWXL-KAypztJFt9gbI

@Hellohah interesting read no one yet has actually mentioned irlam in a positive way. Hi thank you

Good luck, please feel free to pm me should you need any info or help with the area.

I used to live in Culcheth and now live in Lowton, we are in the middle of Warrington / Bolton / Leigh and Wigan and directly between Liverpool and Manchester. I have a Warrington address but classed as Wigan Council (cheaper rates ;) ).

Warrington town is nothing special, just a town like Bolton / Wigan. There are some nice villages around it, Croft, Appleton, Grappenhall etc. and better areas than others like any town. Lowton is a nice village but split down the middle down the East Lancs Road which is great for getting into Manchester / Liverpool, handy for the M6, M62 and M56. Our local High School, Golborne HS is rated the best in Wigan and they are currently building a lot of new builds in the village, Wainhomes and Bloor homes are the main builders. I would say though, it's not very multi cultural around here, there are bigger Asian communities in Bolton and Bury. If you are looking at Lowton / Culcheth / Croft be aware that the HS2 is currently being planned to cut right though (if that happens.)
Personally, I'd not move to Irlam or Cadishead but Hollins Green & Rixton are not bad.

I didn't see your previous thread. Can you link it?
I don't know what people have said about Irlam and Cadishead - so I can't comment. I just saw someone suggest it above and remembered reading the article.

@Hellohah
Possibly moving to Manchester from London http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/amiibeingunreasonable/3526683-possibly-moving-to-manchester-from-london

This is my previous thread

Ah OK, I think what people have said about Irlam & Cadishead is right to a degree. Basically the area was 2 massive council estates, there are very few council properties left as most people have bought now.
There is nothing in the area really, supermarkets, pubs etc. There are a couple of restaurants, a few butty shops/cafes and a lot of barbers, hairdressers, 2 libraries, a few gyms and a swimming baths. There are parks and the place is good if you're an outdoor family, nice cycle routes on the moss.
It does have an amazing community spirit.
The High School was in the worst 300 in the country, but they have recently been taken over by a new Academy (so who knows if they can turn it around). Many of his friends go elsewhere, to schools in Urmston (Urmston grammar, Wellacre and Flixton girls). There is also St Pats up in patricroft, but that is a Catholic School and over the border they can go to Culcheth, there is a bus from Hollins Green.
If you wanted your kids to go to culcheth then the primary ones could go to St Helens which is a feeder school (in Hollins Green).
The train runs from Irlam to Manchester and Liverpool every 30 minutes. It's roughly £1000/year for a GM train card to Manchester.
The traffic can be busy. But I think its the same everywhere.
I guess it depends what you're looking for? It's not a bustling place.

@Hellohah hmm so may not suit us. I'm looking for a family friendly area with excellent schools that's most important to us. We did ideally want a new build but If the area doesn't suit we are willing to
Compromise on that. Ideally not too far drive from shopping centre and must have supermarkets etc close by. Would love somewhere busy ish but I'm aware most of the areas mentioned are not. I just want somewhere safe for my kids to grow up in, that's partly why I'm
Leaving London,the crime rate is so high and I hear about stabbing every week very close to where I leave, I don't want to be on edge when my kids want I go out when they are older. I want to be able to make friends as I'm leaving all
My friends behind 😩.

Ok NC for this as it is so outing. I havent read any answers of follow up posts as I wanted to let you know my thoughts first.

I live in great sankey, specifically in Chapelford (a new build estate). I'm from the more expensive side of town (I'm from south warrington) and we moved here as it is so commutable for work.

There is a train station in sankey that takes you into warrington town centre (1 stop, 2-3 mins journey time) and also direct into liverpool and Manchester.

They are currently building a new train station at the bottom of chapelford which is opening this autumn. It will be called Warrington West station if you want to look it up.

Chapelford is nice, quite quiet. It has a large park, a medium sized sainsburys, a pub with kids play area, a primary school and a nursery in the middle of the estate.

The next housing estate over is also nice and is more "established" as it isnt new build, called whittle hall.

The 3 new estates they are building (at the top of chapelford) are part way through being built. One is Miller homes, one is Redrow and one is Bloor. If you look up the plans for the development of the omega site you'll see what they're planning doing with the area where those new builds are over the coming years.

As for going out, like I said or you can go on the train to manchester/liverpool, but I go out in Stockton heath. It's a village in warrington which has a high street of shops bars and restaurants and is the "place to go" if you live in warrington.

If you were looking in other surrounding areas I would personally avoid penketh as it's very dated, avoid orford/near the hospital/avoid the town centre.

More expensive areas of the town are lymm, grappenhall, thelwall, Stockton heath, Appleton and Walton. You can get multi million £ houses in these areas.

Any other questions please feel free to ask, this is just what I can think of off the top of my head x

I reckon you research the schools first. The best schools in GM are in Trafford BUT they are all Grammar schools.

Don't discount Chapelford OP!

Its actually a lovely estate. The 'teenagers running wild' etc etc is actually a few 12/13 year old kids hanging around sainsburys causing no more trouble than you might have done at that age, it's certainly nothing out of the ordinary.

There's actually an excellent community, it's one of those places that's disliked by people who don't live there for some unknown reason and actually really well liked by those who do live there!

There's some lovely housing at a reasonable price too!