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A job has come up in Manchester and I am in two minds to apply. I likely have a job in the north east for up to the next 3 years but permanent academic jobs dont come up very often and it might be worth a shot. However, leaving the north east will be hard - I've lived here over 10 years and the husband is a born and bred Geordie. Whats it like over the other side of the Pennines (apart from wet!)? We aren't city people so would be looking to live in the nearby countryside. How easy is it to commute in? I know these are a bit early questions seeing I've not even applied, but its a lot of work putting an application together and I want to make sure it is potentially worthwhile for both my work and personal/social life.
Cheers
I work in the centre of Manchester, at the university.
I live in New mills about 14 miles away. My commute is around 40 mins by road, 30 minutes by frequent trains, and not to bad a cycle if I ride in. There's mountain biking on the doorstep, plenty of walking and climbing close by too if that's your thing.
I don't regret moving out here. I'd done 10 years living in Manchester, and needed a bit of green around me again.
Cheshire is nice and commutable into Manchester, places like knutsford, homles chapel and macclesfield are all within reach
How do you find the University as an employer Dan1980?
Aye we defiantly need walking and biking on the doorstep or we would both go mad.
I'm also at the university and loads of colleagues live out of the city and get the train in - generally from the E / SE / S / SW of the city. Very common. I live just within the M60 to the S - 5 mile bike ride.
Places like Macc are miles out but work because they're on the Virgin mainline, so know a few living out there. Great spot for riding / hiking. Might be a bit pricey commuting day in day out though.
Living Northwards is less common but would work with trains into Picadilly - stuff coming into Victoria is less workable as it's a bit of a hike to the university.
Saddleworth.
Garry - thanks thats useful.
Okay
Lived to the west (brought up in Prestwich, Swinton/Worsley) and orginally from here now living in the south Sale.
If you want country side I'd head out either Bolton way or Cheshire direction depending on whether you want hilly or just general open space.
M60 is a car park usually if you work normal hours so any route on your way in is best planning to being on it as little as possible.
Knowing what I do I would avoid basically the right hand side of the city so Failsworth, Droylsden Denton direction.
Close to the city I'd go for Sale, Altrincham(Metrolink save the using the car) Lymm, Hale, Bramhall some parts of Urmston.
Further a field Egerton, Rivington, Turton Bottoms.
NOTE there are good and bad in [b]all areas[/b] just the above have lots more good and a little bad 🙂
Apart from being the flattest place on the planet it's a nice wee city 🙂
Easy to get about by bike. Lots of sneaky trails to get you out into the countryside. Nice when it's sunny...but when it's grey, it's grey.
Horwich is a nice town, train station, 20 mins to Manchester, rivington on the doorstep
The Yorkshire border is 15 miles away so you're never far from the civilised world.
How do you find the University as an employer Dan1980?
They aren't [i]that [/i]bad. 🙂 I've done very well out them in terms of sick leave and support returning to work following various injuries and health problems so I can't complain. I'm not an academic, but from what I've experienced, if you are employed as "academic" or "academic related" the potential for progression and development is pretty good and the support framework for this is good also, otherwise, opportunities are very limited. My PDR for the past 3 years has been a very quick affair!
A recent staff survey suggested that the majority of people working here are happy and positive about their jobs. The majority of responders were admin related however, and the university is top heavy with administration folk, so make of that what you will.
I enjoy working for the university on the whole, but more due to my immediate work colleges than anything else.
Due to the potential for writing incriminating stuff, if there's any specifics you'd like to know, just PM me.
Thanks all. That reassures me that working in Manchester without living in the city would work.
Dan appreciate your honesty and certainly wouldn't want to get you in trouble. Lets be honest every university has its ups and downs. Its more if the department and immediate colleagues would work for me, but lets not be getting ahead of myself here. Know there is good biking in the peaks and its not far to the Dales, Lakes or Wales so lots to do.
I live in New Mills
Handy for mountain biking as it's all on your doorstep
Trains into Manchester are pretty frequent and it takes about half an hour
Weather is shocking, but I guess a lot of the UK is the same
Crap weather. You will start to grow webbed fingers and toes. Worst drivers in the UK IMO (and that includes London)
Geordie ex pat here 😆
Your OH won't miss the NE, the NW is a fab place and if she looks in the right places she can still get pease pudding for her stotties, sorry, barm cakes 🙄
I've lived just outside both Newcastle and Manchester and I like the both equally, both are great, lively university cities with superb countryside all around.
Wife works at Manchester University. We live in Simister near Prestwich. Prestwich is OK and there are trails from the door.
Cheaper to live north of Manchester, superb biking, just need to pick your spots. Commuteable to most parts, eastern Rossendale is 30 to 40 mins into the city.
[i]eastern Rossendale[/i] - be careful there, see the "lancashire" thread. I worked in Rossendale for a while - Haslingden - and there's a reason I never moved any closer...
That's just lazy - if I said 'avoid South Manchester- I went to college in Hulme and it was a dump', would that be fair?
Of course not.
Nice bits everywhere.
More accessable, hillier trails & lower house prices in the north.
The south is more fashionable and has a higher snob appeal.
Both have excellent access to wonderful riding.
sorry, I should qualify that.
Yorkshire
😉
seriously though, that's not what I meant; there's another thread bubbling around, someone wanting advice in where in Lancashire to live, I thought it contained some useful advice, including some good parts of Rossendale, among others
TBH Rusty Spanner it WAS a lazy post as I could not be arsed to pin point all the cracking spots around Greater Manchester.
But I had 3 mins to post and thats what I could russle up of the top of my head.
easygirl I would agree, with a massive retail outlet on the door step as well 🙂
Worst drivers in the UK IMO
Yep, got to agree with that. Years ago a mate moved to Manc and spent ages telling us about how awful the Manchester drivers were. I thought it was just BS, but I've lived here for 8 years now and have to admit that it's true. A higher than average percentage of people in Manc drive like scum
The north is..... The south is ....Both have excellent access to wonderful riding.
Disagree. I live in Altrincham and it doesn't by any stretch of the imagination have excellent access to wonderful off road riding. It has great access for day rides and weekend rides but assuming you work for a living and have other commitments too, South West Manc is hopeless for evening mountain biking.
I lived in Glasgow for years, now live in Manc. I'd sum it up by saying it's great in summer and awful in winter. It's great in summer due to the number of great options for days mountain biking and rock climbing. It's pants in winter due to the limited options for kayaking and skiing.
ho hum
Manchester has all the culture and sophistication of Glasgow;
All the down to earth friendliness of London;
All the architectural beauty of Milton Keynes;
Even lower crime levels than Rio;
All the modesty and shyness of New York;
Weather even nicer than in Mawsynram;
Traffic somewhat more unpleasant that Rome
etc.
Sorry, too much beer.
I'm a scouser and lived in Stockport for 8 yrs. no one has give me any grief for that! 😀 work is a 30 minute drive or about 35 on the road bike down the À6. Handy for the hills of the peaks, canals, airport , mainline train station and can be home in liverpool in 45 minutes. All in all, I like it here.
Originally from the NE but lived in the [s]SW[/s]NW for a while.
It's a lot wetter, a lot! The NE has it's own little microclimate going on that is saved by most of the rain falling in the NW.
I lived up in the valleys NW of manchester (Rochdale way) the traffic was the killer for me with the M60/62 being mostly a car park so where ever you want to go make sure you can get there on the train.
Also working at the University and living in Singletrack's very own Todmorden. The train indeed arrives at Victoria which is less convenient than Piccadilly, but nothing that a short bike ride through Manchester couldn't sort, plenty of people with bikes (or Bromptons) on those trains that also serve Littleborough and Hebden Bridge.
with sven on this.. best countryside in that tod,hebden, littleborough area mtl and pennine bridleway runs through all three.. train service to town second to none.. all sorts of housing at all sorts of prices.. sorted.. ps dont tell too many folks..
Cheers all. Good to know some Geordie ex-pats have coped. We are possibly going to be slighted dictated by where my man can get work (NHS - but depends where vacancies are) but we have ridden round Tod/Hebden and Lee Quarry when I was over for a course with Ed so it's interesting to know that might work. If I can get the train in, we might be able to cut down to one car!! Anyway...aware that it is all very speculative; however, good to know that we should probably be able to make our lives work, just need to sort the job bits.