Whats it like around Manchester?

FrostedNipple said:
I heard manchester is pretty scummy, although knifes havn't caught on up there just yet, so you should stay alive.


Bike lights? And chavs are on allyways, not roads, from that aspect, you should be ok.
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manchester is brilliant, i love it..... shame i am living in boring Cambridge now.

I went to UMIST <when it existed its part of Manchester Uni now>

its had millions spent on tarting it up and it shows, only snag is, i hate trendy wine bars etc so in actual fact i prefered it when it was a little more scummy.

either way, you waill have an ace time living there. its big enough to have just about all bases covered for every walk of life or interest, but at the same time you can walk right the way accross the centre in very little time without haveing to faf with a tube.

the bus service is outstanding as well.

my mate owned a flat opposite the Palace theatre until a few years back which was handy, mind you another mate owns one on castlefields i think its called so i still have a place to lay my head for the occaisonal jaunt,.


PS get a chicken tika kebab from Monsoons kebab shop opposite the bbc on picadilly road.

its not *quite* as good as it used to be, but £3 and its on a freshly baked naan. Heaven ;)

There are certain areas you shouldtn go through..... but i did and never got any trouble (aside from mugged by a prostitute, i didnt know what to do, i dont hit women, and a fit one at that)

in my 2nd year i lived in Withington near moss side, and walked through with my united shirt on after beating them 5:1..... aside from some funny looks and a little verbal nothing happend so it aint that bad.

if you take some of the short cuts you will get the usual ladies asking for busness, which is a fun drinking game going from pub to pub...... person to get the worst deal buys the round. I got 1 lady down to £9 for full service once.

classy stuff ;)
 
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funny when people talk about your hometown.

ive lived in manchester all my life (out in the burbs) all 33 years of it.

i whinge about it being rough but when i go to other area's i cack me pants lol.

Manchester Centre maybe is a bit iffy at pub/ club kicking out time but where isnt other then that i think you will find it to be a top place with nice people in all area's.

never had a bit of trouble in manchester ever and find it to be multi cultural city of lurve!!
 
I've lived in and around Manchester all my life. I can't think of a city I'd rather live in right now. It's also great place for students. I went to MANCAT, or The Manchester College as it will be known from August, and although I didn't find it a fantastic college at the time they have invested in it heavily over recent years and it's now very well equipped, though it's still let down by some of its staff from what I hear. My housemates Mum works there though, so some are good!

I went to the Openshaw campus. The area around it is not great, but there are lots of people about, with the City of Manchester Stadium and a 24/7 Asda Superstore just up the road in Eastlands, so you don't get much trouble, at least not during the day, apart from students messing about - a large proportion of them are chavs! I still wouldn't want to be round there on my own at night. You will be fine cycling/walking/bus there for college.

There used to be a little cafe/take away place across the road from the campus called Bonnies. I don't know if it's still there as I've not been down there for a while now, but they did an awesome bacon butty!
 
dbmzk1 said:
I've lived in and around Manchester all my life. I can't think of a city I'd rather live in right now. It's also great place for students. I went to MANCAT, or The Manchester College as it will be known from August, and although I didn't find it a fantastic college at the time they have invested in it heavily over recent years and it's now very well equipped, though it's still let down by some of its staff from what I hear. My housemates Mum works there though, so some are good!

I went to the Openshaw campus. The area around it is not great, but there are lots of people about, with the City of Manchester Stadium and a 24/7 Asda Superstore just up the road in Eastlands, so you don't get much trouble, at least not during the day, apart from students messing about - a large proportion of them are chavs! I still wouldn't want to be round there on my own at night. You will be fine cycling/walking/bus there for college.

There used to be a little cafe/take away place across the road from the campus called Bonnies. I don't know if it's still there as I've not been down there for a while now, but they did an awesome bacon butty!
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So its kind of risky in winter when it is dark when leaving college to actually cycle or go wait at a bus stop? I noticed there was a lot of chavs around the campus when I was there.
 
willhub said:
So its kind of risky in winter when it is dark when leaving college to actually cycle or go wait at a bus stop? I noticed there was a lot of chavs around the campus when I was there.
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So? 99.9% of the time if you dont bother them, they won't bother you it's as simple as that!

As with many cities there is a huge diversity of people and because of Manchesters economic past there are indeed quite a few "poor" areas or areas currently undergoing "regeneration" (think Hulme or my area Ancoats) and sure if you wander into Moss side god help you ;) but on the whole Manchester is not a city to be scared in.

Certainly no more than places like Bristol or Birmingham. Keep your wits about you of course but this is not a scary place for most people most of the time.

Go out with your flatmates, have a really great time and enjoy being a student! Manchester was a good choice.
 
I'm just concerned about cycling back to where I am staying in the dark at the moment!, could be a good 30mins to get home if the road is busy.

On the odd friday I might cycle home, obviously not in the dark could take a good 8 hours as its about 100miles and I have to pass through leeds and huddersfield.
 
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I've worked at MANCAT and I worked around the corner at Gorton (where Shameless is filmed) and I wouldn't live anywhere near it. For 3-4 miles or so in a circle around the City Centre Manchester is awful. Really, awful. It is a horrid place.

Manchester centre itself isn't too bad, though the nightlife is rubbish (though the northern qtr was having a lot of work done last time I was out there and looked quite promising) and when you get out towards Sale and that kind of area it can be nice.

I wouldn't live there though.

There are a lot of cycle lanes and stuff though.
 
willhub said:
Well where I will be it is like less than a mile from the city center.
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I wouldn't say it's quite as bad as Gilly is making out.
I grew up in Sale, and while I wouldn't want to live in most places that are near the city I wouldn't describe all of them as 'horrid'
Now that I live in London there are certainly a lot more scummy places down here than I experienced in Manchester.

Thankfully I live in a nice part of London though :)
 
If you look back on the pages I posted some images from google maps, the area I would be in, dont know if they are bad places? Looks like I'll just have to cope with what there is really.

For me I think that been at corporation street would be good as it is near the A62 which is a good way out of manchester for me, just depends on the area, hopefully in a couple of weeks I'll be viewing some places.
 
You lot make me laugh. Apparently I've been living in a nasty concrete, chav filled ghetto most of my life!

I like Greater Manchester - it's home. Of course there's dodgy council estates (where doesn't?), then again there's the millionaires playgrounds where all the footballists live.

I've tried London (hateful people), Warwickshire (boring) and Scotland (nice scenery, not a lot to do), but always end up back in the Manc area. Everything is to hand and your only 20 mins drive away from the rolling hills.

If there's one thing I can say about city centre Manchester - there's far too many bus lanes and cycle lanes everywhere. Really ****** us car drivers off! I can't wait for the congestion charge to get rammed through (NOT!). :rolleyes: £5 to pop to my local Tesco for a pint of milk? No taa.

Usual caveats apply for going to Uni - there will be locals that prey on the large student population. Keep your head screwed on and all will be fine.

No swearing

Gilly
 
Manchester is an awesome City and has a lot to offer.

Like all cities, it has it's bad spots but these are being addressed via regeneration, you should take a trip to Salford and see what i mean.

Oxford road is brilliant, especially if you are young and a bit mad. Deansgate and the city center are really nice, personally i dont have a bad word to say about the place.
 
Sounds good, I hope they get tons more cycle lanes though. I should be back to manchester in a couple weeks to look around, will check out the route to college and all that and see if its ok.
 
willhub said:
Sounds good, I hope they get tons more cycle lanes though. I should be back to manchester in a couple weeks to look around, will check out the route to college and all that and see if its ok.
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Honestly, there's already loads of cycle lanes. It's one thing manc has in abundance.

MagicBoy said:
I've tried London (hateful people), Warwickshire (boring) and Scotland (nice scenery, not a lot to do), but always end up back in the Manc area. Everything is to hand and your only 20 mins drive away from the rolling hills.
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So the good thing about it is the close proximity to Yorkshire's hills? Fair shout I suppose ;)
 
Gilly said:
Honestly, there's already loads of cycle lanes. It's one thing manc has in abundance.



So the good thing about it is the close proximity to Yorkshire's hills? Fair shout I suppose ;)
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Well when I went to manchester on tuesday I did not see many cycling lanes.
 
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