I’d never thought of going to Hyde as it’s one of those
places in Greater Manchester that normally falls under the radar – except when it
has had serial killers operating in the area (three actually – Shipman and the
Moors Murderers). Anyway, apart from the
whole serial killer business, it’s an unassuming town on the side of the Pennines
and one of the last outposts before you hit Yorkshire.
I’d been through Hyde as a kid to visit my Uncle in nearby
Hattersley. He lived in a tower block
and it was the first time I’d been introduced to the high rise etiquette of
showing the visitors the amazing view of Manchester on their first visit. I don’t have any particular memories of Hyde,
but typically my Dad mentioned we had visited the market at some point. I swear I've visited every market in Greater
Manchester in the 1970s and 1980s, but seem to have blocked out my memories of most
of them – possibly out of trauma, but probably out of boredom.
Getting to Hyde is straightforward – M60, turn off at
junction 24, pick up M67, exit junction 3 and follow the A627 onto the A57. We parked up by the Clarendon Shopping Centre
and it cost £2 for 3 hours. To be honest
it’s kind of optimistic to spend that amount of time in Hyde.
Before hitting the shopping centre we decided to seek out
the 8 charity shops I had found on the internet. Neil was struggling to find any vinyl that
didn’t involve easy listening from the 1960s.
Unfortunately he drew a complete blank in the end and I did notice there
weren’t many books in the shops either. I’m still kicking myself for not buying a
little writing bureau with a bookcase for £25, although I did buy a 99p Paris
tourist scarf to use for a craft project, but had to rearrange a whole window
display to retrieve it.
There are plenty of pubs in Hyde, many of which are
traditional looking boozers and I reckon it would be an interesting night out here
for someone quite brave. Some of the
customers had scary hard worn faces, but Hyde is one of those working class areas
where you find people have aged way before their time.
When we were walking through the streets we heard a woman
shouting at her kids. After listening to
what she was saying, we eventually realised she wasn’t actually shouting at
them, but her normal speaking voice was very loud.
We were surprised to find there’s an active Asian community
in Hyde, as we spotted a local mosque on a side street and it appeared to be
the busiest place in town.
Obviously we found the outdoor market outside Clarendon
Shopping Centre, but there was nothing exciting to report – just usual cheap
stuff. On the other hand the indoor
market was slightly more interesting as there was a record stall selling vinyl
records, so I briefly became a record shop widow for about half an hour as Neil
browsed through the cheap singles and I ended up walking around the
market. There was a meat stall called “Let’s
Talk Tripe” and there was a haberdashery stall which also ran sewing machine
classes. I thought it was a great idea
for the haberdashery stall to run classes, as it’s a way to increase the number
of customers, especially as you can no longer learn these skills through night
classes at your local college.
My favourite shop though was Paper Tulips on one of the side
streets. It’s a craft shop selling
reasonably priced nice handmade goods. I
got crotchet envy in the shop, as that is one craft skill I’ve never been able
to pick up despite my Mum’s efforts to teach me. I was genuinely surprised to find a shop like
this here, as you expect to find places like this in Chorlton or Manchester’s
Northern Quarter.
So what’s 21st century Hyde like? Very much like 20th century Hyde,
but with a snazzy bus station. There are
some interesting older buildings including the Town Hall, the Post Office
building which has been turned into a nursery and the Theatre Royal Hyde which the
locals are trying to save. The streets
surrounding the main shopping centre have buildings dating back to the Victorian
times, with some post war building initiatives.
Clarendon Shopping Centre appears to be a 1960s build with a tower block
on top, which is similar to what can be found at Salford Precinct. There have been some efforts with
regeneration including a new bus station and some street art. There is even an “I *heart* Hyde” campaign
going on by the council. Whilst this
seems to be ambitious for a small working class town on the edge of Greater
Manchester, it appears to be having some impact when you see places like Paper
Tulips and some little modern cafes dotted across the town.
Hyde isn’t the most exciting place in the world to visit,
but it did offer some small surprises.
Who knew you could pick up vinyl records in the local market? If you like your charity shops, then Hyde is definitely
a place to go to pick up stuff to upcycle.
Will I visit again? I’m very
tempted to go back to see if that writing bureau is still there.
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