Life in Northern Towns

A while ago I’d been asked by a Clitheroe resident to do a review of the town, so here we go. We had been to Clitheroe a few years back and at the time I thought it was still somewhere in the 20 th century – mid 80s to early 90s to be more accurate.   However it’s amazing how just a few years can make a real difference to a place and drag it towards the 21 st century.   In order to get to Clitheroe from the west side of Manchester you best take the M61, then the M65, turn off at junction 7, then the A6185, the A59 and finally the A671.   The last bit can be a bit problematic, but have faith and keep your eyes peeled for the signs or just use your sat nav.   Parking on a busy Saturday can be a pain in Clitheroe.   The car park by the Council buildings was packed and we managed to get 1 hour free parking space near the market.   Although we later realised there is a car park at the Market and wish we’d parked there instead. Clitheroe has a rust...

Located in outside Stockport, Bramhall is a sleepy yet pleasant suburb.   We’ve been to Bramhall a few times over the years - never as a special visit, more of a stop off on the way to somewhere else.   I can honestly say I don’t know how we get to there,   as often we get there more by accident than design. Parking is easy here as they have a couple of cheap pay and display car parks – one behind the precinct and the other behind the Esso garage.   There is a little 60s concrete precinct in the village centre, however thankfully it doesn’t dominate the place.   There is a real mix of buildings including Victorian red brick style you would expect in a northern suburb, some black and white Tudor terraces and the odd white rendered building. Bramhall has a great range of shops and if you lived nearby you wouldn’t have to travel far to get what you need.   It is definitely a well-to-do place with the types of shops it has including a Pandora shop and ...

I’d never been to Marple before, although I had passed through on the train enough times.   Getting to Marple is a bit of a ball ache.   Any trip that takes you through Stockport is always a pain as there are some insane junctions to negotiate.   Although once you get through Offerton, it’s a nice tree line drive to Marple. We parked in a pay and display car park on Trinity Street – 30p for 2 hours which was fine and it was close to the shops too.   To summarise the journey - I took the M60, Junction 27 and the A626. On the face of it Marple is a mix of red brick and stone houses, which reflects the fact it’s on the border of a city and the Derbyshire countryside. We were surprised to find there was a pedestrianized shopping area which wasn’t a nasty, concrete precinct.   Market Street used to be a road that they paved over and as a result it has a bit of character. There were some interesting shops in Marple considering it was a suburban town.   ...

I’d been a bit worried about going to Keighley .   The place never seems to end up on any tourist guides and I thought we might have another Leigh on our hands.   However the lure of lots of charity shops was too strong and I was quite curious to see this place. I’d deliberately gone to Haworth first as I knew we’d have one good Northern Town under our belts that day.   The route from Haworth to Keighley was quite quick as technically Haworth is a suburb of Keighley.   Once you get into the centre of Keighley it’s a bit down at heel and could do with a little TLC.   We managed to get parked on a side street outside Keighley Playhouse .   I love the fact that in most Yorkshire towns they have their own theatres. Keighley is a bit schizophrenic architecturally.   On one side you have a hideous 60s Airedale Shopping centre, with faceless retail parks that have sprung up in recent years on the edge of the town with purpose built supermarkets. ...