The City of Manchester: Why so shunned ?

[Rascal]

As far as I am aware every major conurbation in the world calculates its population from its 'greater' area.

The population of New York, for example, isn't just Manhatten, but also includes Queens, Brooklyn etc..

Manchester itself could not grow to any meaningful extent from the turn of the 19th Century as it was 'land-locked', so the surrounding towns have been absorbed into it. This is in contrast to US Cites such as LA and Chicago, for example, which have an extensive hinterland to expand into.

It is entirely right that the figures for Manchester include its satellite towns as they are very much a part of the city and its character. Certainly Salford, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport (and dare I say it Stretford) and possibly Bolton should be included in the figures for Manchester's population, which on that basis is around 2 million.

Anybody who has ever studied how conurbations grow wll understand this. They grow around road and rail links in a a hub and spoke way. I could drive from Cheadle to probably near Horwich with no discernable coutryside and the only difference wold be Metropolitan district signs.

Satelite towns grow through there connection to the closest City, they provide workers and support industries to the Citys major industries.

We are in fact not far from what ants do

ants

 

[peoffrey]

London unarguably has more glitz and chic than Manchester but anyone who would turn down a megabucks top job in Manchester purely because it isn't London is a bit of a shallow tosser in my opinion. Think Posh Spice who was forever dragging the tattooed moneygrabber back down to London while he was at the rags and then the pair of them (undoubtedly more a result of her insistence than his) sacked off England completely and moved to LA.

By the way I thought Hazard preferred Chelsea because they won the Champs League. From what I remember they weren't even on his radar before then.

London has some extreme poverty and crime too. Some of last summer's riots in Tottenham and Croydon were horrific where innocent people were having their lives destroyed. It's not all red carpets and workers earning £100,000 a year. There's a very dark side to it.

True, but the point is these squillionaire types would never go within miles of shit rough districts like those. They'd just stick to the top end wealthy districts and none of this shit would remotely affect them. Parts of LA are as rough as fuck and far more dangerous than anywhere in London but the rich and famous still live there albeit in west LA, Hollywood, Beverly Hills, etc and nowhere near places like Watts, Compton and the barrios.

You'd be surprised with London actually. Affluent areas sit right next to a place known to the locals as Beirut. It's a myth that well off people in London live the life of riley. You've got to have £££s to live an extremely comfortable life there.

 

[laserblue]

London has some extreme poverty and crime too. Some of last summer's riots in Tottenham and Croydon were horrific where innocent people were having their lives destroyed. It's not all red carpets and workers earning £100,000 a year. There's a very dark side to it.

True, but the point is these squillionaire types would never go within miles of shit rough districts like those. They'd just stick to the top end wealthy districts and none of this shit would remotely affect them. Parts of LA are as rough as fuck and far more dangerous than anywhere in London but the rich and famous still live there albeit in west LA, Hollywood, Beverly Hills, etc and nowhere near places like Watts, Compton and the barrios.

You'd be surprised with London actually. Affluent areas sit right next to a place known to the locals as Beirut. It's a myth that well off people in London live the life of riley. You've got to have £££s to live an extremely comfortable life there.

I know and that was exactly my point in relation to the likes of some top football personalities and other megarich people apparently shunning Manchester for London.

 

[johnmc]

My post is the best response in this thread

 

[stimo]

i moved to sheffield recently from manchester and i regret it hugely, i fucking love the place. strongbowholic summed it up perfectly, there is a real down to earth vibe generally throughout manchester.

mancunians are fucking cool, we know it, you know it, everybody else knows it.

 

[lawmanreturns]

I heard that Liverpool was the real capital of culture.

 

[nomorethaksintimes]

After living in both central London and Manchester city centre (until recently) I would say Manchester just about has the edge purely because the cost of accommodation in London is absolutely ridiculous - in my experience, the cost of living in central Manchester is about a third of what you would pay for a similar standard in London.

If London was similarly priced to Berlin, Munich, Barcelona, Vienna etc, that would be another story but until then, I have no problem recommending Manchester over London to foreign friends moving to England. The city has a lot going for it. Restaurants still need a lot of work but new places like 63 Degrees offer food as good as anywhere you would find in the capital, if not in the same kind of surroundings. The University has also gone from strength-to-strength since the merger of UMIST/Manchester Uni and it's great to see the number of young foreign students we attract now.

In my opinion, the city needs to start making more of the footballing rivalry to attract tourists and be better set-up to accommodate them. I recently went past the swamp for the first time in years and was a little shocked at what a shithole the surrounding area is given the number of visitors it attracts, the area really isn't exploiting its potential. Fortunately, it looks like City's development plans are going to be much more substantial which can only be a good thing for the city as a whole.

 

[Anonymous]

I heard that Liverpool was the real capital of culture.

Slave trade, crime, stanley knives, perms, shell suits, two fucking horrible football clubs and unemployment.

Yep, culture in sack fulls.

 

[WNRH]

Manchester also needs a homely feel about it instead of a weekend getaway. It needs families living in the city centre so it needs family styled housing, schools etc in there.

 

[cvetan]

If i were to come to Manchester one day, which places should i avoid? As in the real scummy parts because every city has those.