Life in Northern Towns

We've been to Preston a few times before this visit.  Once to see Belle and Sebastian at the Guild Hall (fantastic gig) and the other times we were just passing through.  Preston is in the heart of Lancashire and it seems all roads lead to (or from) Preston.  It used to be a northern town, but in 2002 it was granted city status as part of the Queen's Golden Jubilee.  It's just - *whispers* I'm not that inspired by the place. Getting to Preston is dead simple from Manchester - take the M60, M61, M6 and whatever junction you fancy.  Obviously as it's a city the locals will know where all the free parking spots are, whilst for us visitors we make do with the paid car parks.  I decided to use the car park above the bus station.  Weirdly this car park, an example of brutalist modernist architecture, has been at the centre of a campaign to get listed building status to stop the Council from demolishing it.  It has ...

Looking back at my blog I noticed there weren't that many Lancashire towns featured, so I thought I’d rectify that matter with a trip to Leyland . Leyland is a relatively easy place to get to from Manchester: M60, M61 and junction 8 then follow the signs to Leyland.   However there is a slightly longer but quicker way: M60, M61, M65, M6, junction 28 and follow the signs for Leyland. Parking is easy in Leyland.   There is a big Tesco near the centre of town with a free car park – job done. Leyland itself is an unassuming town.  The shops on the main road are predominantly simple red brick shops, with rows of plain two-up-two-down Victorian terraces on the side streets.   There is a small row of 60s built shops and peppered amongst these are some rendered buildings.   However the only places of architectural interest are the pubs and the local church. It was a quiet day in Leyland and there were only a few people pottering about.   ...

Chester is a cracking little city to visit.   We’ve been to Chester quite a few times over the years and it’s a rather beautiful place to find yourself in. A few years back we spent a night at the Crowne Plaza between Christmas and New Year.   It was a nice hotel, but I can find it really hard to sleep in hotels.   The breakfast was nice, but we were overrun by a coach party of OAP’s who were hogging the breakfast buffet.   The best thing was seeing Chester dusted in a light coating of snow, which made it look even prettier.   Getting to Chester is a relatively simple process from Manchester: M60, M56 and M53.   You do have a choice of junctions to turn off at and I never know which one is the best.    The one which leads you to Hoole Road is the worst as it’s always full of traffic.   Then again it’s always worth taking a detour to Hoole as it’s a sweet little happening suburb. Parking in Chester is a major poo – this is w...

Hoylake is famed for its golf - not that it’s any concern of ours. My uncle did try to teach me and my brother to play golf, but failed through our lack of ability and apathy. Although, if I recollect correctly, we did have a moment in the 80s watching late night golf on BBC2 – kids these days don’t know the meaning of boredom like we had in the 70s and 80s. Anyway Hoylake is a couple of miles down the road from West Kirby , which was rather handy for our purposes. We arrived about 3.30pm and parked on the main road where there is free parking. The town was very quiet, almost ghost town like apart from the Monte Carlo restaurant.   The restaurant has a pavement terrace which is very reminiscent of Parisian cafes and people sat there were looking rather glam.   If we'd come a few hours earlier I reckon the village would have been busier. The village itself is very well-to-do and was covered in homemade bunting. The shops are located on the main road an...

Only five miles down the road from Heswall is WestKirby .   So we popped on the A540.   The drive itself is nice, occasionally catching views of the Dee Estuary.   You can tell this is a well-to-do part of the world with the large, well maintained houses and serious looking gates. Parking in West Kirby was straightforward as we found a parking bay outside an antiques shop with two hours free parking.   Although we had to be careful not to overstay our welcome as there were plenty of parking enforcement officers in force. West Kirby, whilst a well-to-do town like Heswall, is a bit more your new money sort of town.   The shops are more on trend.   There are plenty of beauty shops offering tans, nail art and a variety of lotions and potions that in another century would have been considered witchcraft. The buildings in the town are predominantly of Victorian origin – large, ornate and often with mock Tudor black and white panelled features.   Th...

Unbelievably Neil had a Saturday off and it was a sunny day – this is like a constellations aligning event.   So we decided to head somewhere different by the sea and the posh part of the Wirral was calling our names. We headed out on the M60, M56, M53, A5137 and A540.   Although the latter bit about the A540 isn’t exactly true – I got lost.   I took the wrong turning.   I think we did a detour through Heswall Village, which was very pretty.   It was worth getting lost as we kept catching stunning glimpses of the River Dee.   Eventually, more by luck than design, we found the town centre.   We had heard of Heswall as the blessed John Peel was born here.   It’s a lovely very well-to-do neighbourhood on the shores of the Dee estuary with views of Wales on the opposite side.   So what’s not to like? The town itself is quite unassuming.   We parked in the pay-and-display near the Aldi.   First thing first we needed to grab a...

Over the years I’ve either studied, worked or lived in Salford and have seen Salford Quays evolve from just a piece of wasteland in the mid-90s to a media city in 2013.   So it’s about time I wrote about the place. One of the more bizarre facts about Salford is the fact it doesn’t have a city centre, despite it being classed as a city.   I’ve been having a good ponder about this and have come to the conclusion Salford Quays is about the closest Salford has to a city centre.   I’m certainly not classing Salford Precinct as the centre of Salford, despite its starring role in the 2011 riots.   Whilst Swinton is considered Salford’s Civic Centre, it just hasn’t got that city centre vibe.   Getting to the Quays is fairly straightforward – turn off the M602 and follow the signs.   However I normally scoot into the Quays down Langworthy Road as it’s quicker and has less traffic.   The traffic can be a nightmare at rush hour or when United are playi...