Life in Northern Towns

I've got to 'fess up now - I've fallen out of love with Chorlton . I spent nine years of my life there and I have to break it to you that there's more to life than Chorlton.  Let's start with why I fell out of love: Back in 1999, Chorlton was an okay Manchester backwater with teachers, social workers and musicians. Cheap rents are always good as well as a solid Irish community to keep pretentious behaviour in check. Marvellous, count me in! However, by 2008, Chorlton had become burglary central and we had an attempted break in.  I also realised I hardly ever went to the centre of Chorlton anymore as most of the shops I'd liked had been turned into another bloody bar, cafe or artisan something or another. Taxi!   So what turned me off Chorlton? 5) The normal and very handy shops being turned into bars, restaurants or fancy overpriced shops.  I still mourn the demise of You, Me & Us.  It was your perfect stop gap odds and sods shop before yo...

Life in Northern Towns has been entered into the 2015 Blog Awards UK under the Travel and Most Innovative categories.   Help me celebrate five years of Life in Northern Towns by voting for the blog.   Thousands of miles, three laptops and two cars have gone into the creation of this blog, so it would be  lovely to win a nice, shiny award.  Here are the links to vote: Travel Most Innovative Many thanks for your support!

What do you do on a grey Saturday afternoon in Greater Manchester when you don’t want to go far?  Bizarrely we decided to go to Tyldesley . Tyldesley is tucked away off the East Lancs Road (A580) about 12 miles west from Manchester city centre.  It’s well signposted and easy to find, although they do have a one way system to cope with the traffic.  The traffic was particularly bad through the town as it seemed to be the main route to nearby Atherton.  We parked in a free car park off Elliott Street which was handy, although the nearby Morrisons is another good place to park. We’d been to Tyldesley previously for a meal at the Spring Deer Chinese Restaurant (fine by the way) and had a drink at the Railway pub on Wareing Street (nice and had a jukebox, but we sat in a loud spot so not good for conversation).  I liked the fact the local taxi firm is in a local shop, so you can shelter from the elements whilst waiting for a taxi. On this second visit, whi...