Moving to Manchester - where?

[kanyewestbrom]

One car commute to Preston. One public transport commute to central Manchester. 3 young primary age children (so not too worried about secondary or grammar). We want to rent for 2 years. Would prefer to live suburb of Manchester rather than eg Bolton we think.

Is RightMove the best place to look for rentals? Any local rental agent recommendations?

Rightmove to research budgets and availability absolutely. Do you have any preferences in area at all yet?

Prestwich/Whitefield. Straight onto the motorway for Preston and metrolink into town.

Budget allowing, of course

For just the Preston commute I'd have said worsley, but the public transport is pants. Monton/Eccles have the tram and you can get out on the m602/m60, though often very busy.

However, have a look at chorley (we now live here) - train into Manchester pretty easily, no longer than the bus into Central Manchester from some Manchester suburbs. And you don't have to deal with the hell of the m60, every time I go back I've forgotten how bad it is. We love it here, all the amenities you need, nice countryside, easy to get to the coast/lakes, much more for your money, good schools.

Good luck in your search!

No preferences yet for area - I haven’t spent any time there in years since I was a student and my main focuses were binge drinking and casual sex 🤣 which aren’t really helping here! Hoping to visit soon

I would second Prestwich / Whitefield - somewhere on the northern side of Manchester if you have to commute by car to Preston, and the tram is great. Ordinarily I would say South Manchester for schools but driving to Preston - particularly if you're doing it every day - would be tough. I think Chorley (as suggested above) is still quite a distance from Manchester City Centre although the train is decent and the town centre isn't particularly nice - so you'd have to drive to the station if you wanted to avoid the centre.