These are the best places to live in Greater Manchester, says Sunday Times

Six places in Greater Manchester feature in the 2018 Best Places to Live survey published by the Sunday Times.

The survey is based on a number of factors including schools, crime rates, house prices, green spaces, shopping and community spirit.

The crane count in Manchester indicates a city in transformation, says the Sunday Times. The city centre, once a wasteland after dark, hums with life. Now there’s more to it than football and music.

But which are the best places to live?

According to the 2018 survey, Ancoats will be great once its finished, “but for now it looks like a building site” whilst Didsbury doesn’t appear on this year’s list because it has become “student central.”

In a few years the East Village, a collection of mills adjacent to the proposed HS2 terminal next to Piccadilly Station, may be “the place to be” thanks to some promising developments, whilst Monton, Worsley and Levenshulme are ones to watch in the suburbs.

But for the time being, these are the best places to live in Greater Manchester – and some of the best places to live in the country – in the order in which they are ranked in the survey.

To find out which towns in Greater Manchester made the 2019 list from the Sunday Times, click here.

Altrincham

The Trafford market town is the best place to live in the north west, according to the survey. Less than ten years ago it was “a bit of a joke”, its high street “a wasteland full of empty shops and no nightlife.” Now, however, it’s “jumping”, thanks to the redeveloped market and places like Sugo and the Belgian Bar. “Altrincham has always been wealthy, now it’s cool too,” says the Sunday Times.

The Heatons

The Heatons – Norris, Mersey, Chapel, and Moor – are “classic and classy suburbia” with “a lot more going for them than a steady suburban vibe,” and have elbowed Didsbury out of this year’s Best Places to Live survey.

Castlefield

The best place for city centre living, offering “the best of urban Manchester, past and present.” And “you won’t have to spend the next couple of years living at a building site.”

Chorlton

Manchester’s “funkiest suburb” is where you’re “most likely to bump into a Stone Rose or a member of Elbow while picking up a bag of organic muesli”, although the arrival of a Costa has “dented its radical cred.” Enough said.

Ramsbottom

Excellent schools, a handsome town centre, inspiring countryside, a destination for gourmets, and chain-free. And, of course, who could forget the world black pudding throwing championships?

Saddleworth

If you’re looking for “northern charm”, the Pennine villages are “an unlikely new commuter destination” where “you’ll find hints of contemporary cool if you can overlook the morris dancing.”