Life in Northern Towns

After our extended trip to Headingley we headed into Leeds city centre.   We’d been here once before many moons ago, so I only had a sketchy memory of the place. Whilst it’s only a 10 minute drive into Leeds, parking is tricky.   We spent another 10 minutes circling around the city centre looking for parking.   Eventually we found multi storey parking at the St Johns Shopping Centre .   City centre parking can be rather expensive and this place is no different.   £7.80 for three hours – I was not impressed. It was a busy day in the city centre, especially as the football was on and Leeds were playing at home.   We really didn’t have a clue where we were going and kept getting lost.   I had to keep in the back of my mind that the St Johns Centre was up a hill.   One thing is for sure is there is plenty of shopping that can be done in this city.   There are some high end shopping opportunities at Harvey Nichols, House of Fraser and...

Amazingly Life in Northern Towns has been shortlisted for this year's Blog North Awards in the Best City and Neighbourhood blog category.  The Awards are part of the prestigious Manchester Literature Festival  and never did I think I'd be involved in such an event.  I've been writing this blog for four years now and it's wonderful to receive this recognition for all the writing and travelling I have done .  Special thanks goes to my partner Neil who has been both travelling companion and proof-reader for my tales of Northern Life. I would be truly grateful if you could spare a couple of mouse clicks to vote for my blog.  Here is the link: http://www.blognorthawards.com/vote Thanks for all your support!

A fact of life living in the north of England is that when rain is predicted in Manchester, then odds on the weather will be better in Yorkshire.  So we decided to test this theory once again and travel over to Leeds as it’s a place we’ve rarely explored.   As Leeds is a city we thought it would be good to check out one of the suburbs first.  After a shout out on Facebook, Headingley was the top recommendation.   So off we trotted on the M62 to Leeds.  The awful roadworks that have plagued the M62 for the past year or so have finally finished - I punched the air with excitement!  Normally at this point I would give the directions to Headingley, however truth is we got there more by luck than design.  I never use a satnav, although on this occasion I would definitely recommend using it.  Headingley really isn’t that well signposted, although we eventually picked up signs to Headingley Cricket Ground.  Parking in H...

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...