Moving in Manchester??? Opinion please

[Ris26]

Hi everyone, I'm living in London with my husband and son. (North London NW11). We found living in London quite expensive. Only my husband is working, we had son few months ago so I'm not working now and my maternity is about to finish in 2 months. We can't afford paying nursery or nanny and my husband salary it won't be enough I'm affraid. We are thinking about moving in Manchester as my husband got offer for working there. I have never been there. I want to hear opinions from people who are loving there. How is the weather? I saw prices for houses so we could afford living better there. Which areas are good for living which are more quiet and for family people. I think my husband working place will be M11. Is that good area or nearby? Any option will help as I haven't been there. We are planning to visit soon. Thank you

Living in M11 myself, I'd like to say I'm offended by some of the disparaging remarks being made about the area ... but I'm not. It's not a brilliant place to live. However, there are good pockets, random good streets. We rented a 2bed semi with a garden in Gorton for £500, you'd think "Gorton yuck" but we were on a small cul-de-sac where everybody took pride in their houses and looked out for each other. We bought a 3bed semi with garden in Clayton (think "Clayton yuck") but again, it's a good community and in four years we've seen no trouble. Our son is at a specialist school on this side of the city, so we wanted to stay localish; that and transport (tram line) were key for us. Areas really are made better by the people who live there.

OP for that postcode, your husband will be looking at either bus or train (to Ashburys) for his commute. Ashbury's is the penultimate stop for most easterly train lines so you could think further out on those lines to Reddish, Marple etc. Alternatively it's not called the 'Ashton Old Road' for nothing - look at Audenshaw and Ashton for a bus commute.

I'm concerned that you're not thinking of yourself when choosing a location. If you have no car and a 4m baby, you're going to need to get around yourself for shopping. Will you be on buses too? Or will you need to choose somewhere close to a supermarket / shopping parade that you can walk to? What about community centres, surestart groups, mother and baby groups - are you the kind of person to want these?

Yeah you are right for all these. I was only thinking for my husband for beginning. The place where I'm living now is everything reachable for walking distance. I have 15 min walking big shopping centre, 10 min park, 10 min also the closest supermarket. Also about the baby groups I'm going twice a week also 10 min walking. It's better to think about my son and my husband could use public transport but again we will need good connection.

There's a tram/ train stops fairly close to where your husband will be working, so I'd be looking at Ashton-under-Lyne which is on the up.

Ashton Under Lyne’s a good shout. New tram stops there. And Ikea.

I think you need to think about where you can build friendships, work and have a life yourself. Will you be working? More children planned?

Your DH has the building blocks of a social life as he will have colleagues.

I moved as part of a work relocation. I put a lot off work into establishing a family life.

You need to think about getting yourself and baby about, public transport in Manchester is good but its not anything like in London where you dont need to know the time table because there is a tube train every 4 mins. Its also not as cheap although taxis are very affordable.

Agree with Eggysmom,, some people are making it sound like Beirut !
I work all over Greater Manchester and so i know M11 well. All areas have less desirable pockets. There has been a heck of a lot of investment in M11 and surrounding areas, lots of new housing built.

I mean people rave about Chorlton and yet it was dubbed the burglary capital of Britain !

There is good and bad everywhere. People who live in south Manchester,,thats anywhere south of Longsight,,think that the whole of the north side is like the Bronx !

Its so not like that. I lived in Harpurhey/Moston for years and had no issues.

You asked about the weather in your op. Why?

Thank you everyone for sharing your experience. We were looking some flats with my husband on rightmove and I think we found some good ones for beginning. We were looking in those areas that you suggested me ( Reddish, Achton under Lyne..). We are planning to visit Manchester soon and see around these areas. We were also looking on google maps to check public connection. Someone ask me about my social life, I have faith that I will make friends, I will start going in baby groups, later my son will start nursery so hopefully we will build friendship. For beginning I won't work or if we can afford paying nursery I will work. How much is the nursery? Here we can't pay as is a lot of money £80 per day full time so £1600 for a month or if i want only part time £1100. We will try to find place where we can have good access to shops, supermarkets...about the weather I asked only because I heard that is mostly raining..but I'm used from London weather..thanks girls one more time

We get a lot of rainbows in Manchester 😄

It doesn’t rain all the time😂😂 .

Cheadle Hulme And bramhall are nice and have some really good schools

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-to-rent/property-68184901.html This for example is in the catchment for 2 of the top schools in the area if I’m correct and the transport links are pretty good into the centre

Thanks millkcowmama I will look in this area as well.

How much does childcare cost? How much is the average price for child going in nursery under 3 years?

Cheadle Hulme is lovely but expensive as it has the best schools in Stockport, and not an easy commute to M11, even with in a car. Go East, closer to the Peak District that way too.

tinman thanks - sorry grew up round there but in London now so have never had to commute

Childcare can vary - we were paying about £65 a day a few years ago for nursery, the going rate locally was between £50 and £65 per day, maybe a slight discount if you did full time hours. Other areas (those you're considering) might be cheaper- but would suggest most places will be £40-50 a day at the lowest. You should ring round a few. Some will expect you to provide your own nappies etc on top of that.