# Manchester or Leeds - best place to live?



## Smiley123 (Jan 1, 2008)

I'm back in the UK after several years working abroad. Before that, I lived in London for ten years. Before that, I was born in Yorkshire and grew up in Lancashire. I want to live in a northern city now. I'm looking for a place with plenty to do, interesting buildings, friendly people, some green areas. Which do you reckon is the nicer place to live Manchester or Leeds?


----------



## teuchter (Jan 1, 2008)

First post in three and a bit years! And on new year's day. Well done!


----------



## Meltingpot (Jan 1, 2008)

How about Sheffield? I've only been there once but I was impressed with the place. (You've got to like hills though.)


----------



## Dillinger4 (Jan 1, 2008)

I would say on Balance, Manchester is a better place to live. Be more expensive though.


----------



## Mrs Magpie (Jan 1, 2008)

I'd find out which has the best public transport....


----------



## Dillinger4 (Jan 1, 2008)

That would probably be Manchester, I reckon.


----------



## mauvais (Jan 1, 2008)

I don't know anything about Leeds, but Manchester fits the bill. It's a great place to live, and if you get tired of it at any point, plenty of the country is fairly quick to get to.


----------



## dessiato (Jan 1, 2008)

What about Liverpool? I hear great stories about it.


----------



## chooch (Jan 1, 2008)

I always liked Leeds. Depends where you live and all, but... it's a decent size, small enough to feel important (if you like that), big enough for a good range of random goings-on. 

Never lived in Manchester though, so my opinion's worth shit.


----------



## _angel_ (Jan 1, 2008)

Leeds is much better for a quick exit to greenery - the dales, the moors etc. You can't say that about Manchester.


----------



## Yossarian (Jan 1, 2008)

I reckon Leeds is the better of the two but I'd recommend a look at Liverpool as well.

Manchester's alright but it's a hard city and it seems to suck in a lot of nutters from the rest of the North.


----------



## handy1 (Jan 1, 2008)

_angel_ said:
			
		

> Leeds is much better for a quick exit to greenery - the dales, the moors etc. You can't say that about Manchester.



 I live a 12 min train journey from Manchester and im in the countryside,well,nearly.


----------



## Jambooboo (Jan 1, 2008)

_angel_ said:
			
		

> Leeds is much better for a quick exit to greenery - the dales, the moors etc. You can't say that about Manchester.



Manchester has got at least one good football team. You can't say that about Leeds.


----------



## jonnyd1978 (Jan 1, 2008)

L**ds is on the rise but it's like Manchester was 10 years ago. IE, Manchester is 10 years ahead!  No brainer for me. Plus the local public transport in Manchester is fantastic. In Yorkshire it is, in a word, shit.
I'd say both have equal access to the countryside and both have great transport links for cars or on national public transport.
However, you say you want a place with green areas, plenty to do, interesting buildings and friendly people...you may not find that so easy to find in these big cities. I'd go wherever you know some friendly faces to be honest.


----------



## _angel_ (Jan 2, 2008)

handy1 said:
			
		

> I live a 12 min train journey from Manchester and im in the countryside,well,nearly.



Even from this part of Leeds I can look out and see into the moors/ Otley Chevin. I don't reckon Manchester can boast that on the whole. It's just flat and industrial.


Yorkshire wins everytime


----------



## Roadkill (Jan 2, 2008)

<Obligatory Hull Urbanites plug for 'ull>

http://www.pbase.com/aquasphotos/image/88418211


----------



## Dillinger4 (Jan 2, 2008)

_angel_ said:
			
		

> Even from this part of Leeds I can look out and see into the moors/ Otley Chevin. I don't reckon Manchester can boast that on the whole. It's just flat and industrial.
> 
> 
> Yorkshire wins everytime



You can if you live in here

http://edsphotoblog.com/wp-content/photos/800px/0124_beetham_tower_over_castlefield.jpg

My dad was the project manager on this, so before it was quite finished, he took me up onto the roof.

It were amazing.


----------



## _angel_ (Jan 2, 2008)

Dillinger4 said:
			
		

> You can if you live in here
> 
> http://edsphotoblog.com/wp-content/photos/800px/0124_beetham_tower_over_castlefield.jpg
> 
> ...



Oh God. There's enough of them sort of thing plaguing Leeds city centre as it is..


----------



## Dillinger4 (Jan 2, 2008)

_angel_ said:
			
		

> Oh God. There's enough of them sort of thing plaguing Leeds city centre as it is..



He is building the biggest one of them as well.


----------



## SpookyFrank (Jan 2, 2008)

dessiato said:
			
		

> What about Liverpool? I hear great stories about it.



No. Just no.


----------



## tufty79 (Jan 2, 2008)

Meltingpot said:
			
		

> How about Sheffield? I've only been there once but I was impressed with the place. (You've got to like hills though.)


i'd go for sheffield after leeds or manc.. been there a few times and never really warmed to it




			
				_angel_ said:
			
		

> Leeds is much better for a quick exit to greenery - the dales, the moors etc. You can't say that about Manchester.


go forty min out of manc from piccadilly on the train, and you're in the peak district... 

i lived in leeds for about seven years, and (ahem) in the peaks for three or four months, commuting to manc.  although i love manc to bits, i'd still plump for leeds in terms of being more friendly, more affordable and for greenery close by (hyde/roundhay parks for a start). 

*missing the north*

oh, and definitely not liverpool.


----------



## susie12 (Jan 3, 2008)

We have parks in Manchester! Chorlton Water Park and meadows, Whitworth Park, Platt Fields (5 mins away from where I live), Heaton Park.  Fletcher Moss has fields and the river.  And we are friendly -


----------



## Part 2 (Jan 3, 2008)

Are you from Manchester originally Susie?

Just noticed most of the places you mention are South Manchester and wondered if you came as a student. I find most of South Manchester to be a bit like Brighton in that hardly anyone you meet there is native (mancunian).

I never lived in Leeds, not that I regret it, although it would have been a logical move from York where I came here from. 

Manchester has most of what I need and never really felt there was much need to move on. There's loads of countryside easily accessible, good public transport, motorway links etc. I find the council is a bit too interested in shitty science/business parks and providing a city centre for the rich but at the same time that means there are leisure facilities you expect in a large city. 

On the downside, Manchester is often over represented in most of the crap things, poor health, crime and the like so it's important to choose the area you live in carefully. Not sure on property prices in Leeds either but given the prices I see for rented accommodation here I can't imagine they could be any higher.


----------



## Wookey (Jan 3, 2008)

_angel_ said:
			
		

> Leeds is much better for a quick exit to greenery - the dales, the moors etc. You can't say that about Manchester.



Course you can!! We're minutes away from countryside on all sides, the moors, Pennines, Lake District, Derbyshire Peaks, Cheshire greenbelt, etc.

In Salford 60% of our space is green, or ponds/lakes, etc.


----------



## susie12 (Jan 3, 2008)

> Are you from Manchester originally Susie?


Yes, lived Chorlton till I was 3, then Prestbury then London then back here where I've been ever since, mainly round Fallowfield, Withington, Didsbury - the city is so changed that it's like living in a different place now.


----------



## AnnO'Neemus (Jan 4, 2008)

I'm from Manchester, never lived in Leeds, so maybe I'm biased, but the quality of life in Manchester is good, much better than London.

Liverpool wouldn't even cross my mind.  You'd be surrounded by people speaking with scouse accents.*

* Nothing personal, like, I just like nice voices, I have a 'thing' about them, and so can't stand scouse accents.  Or brummie.


----------



## Yossarian (Jan 4, 2008)

AnnO'Neemus said:
			
		

> * Nothing personal, like, I just like nice voices, I have a 'thing' about them


----------



## AnnO'Neemus (Jan 4, 2008)

Don't like either of those either.

But then most Mancs I know don't speak like them.


----------



## Jambooboo (Jan 4, 2008)

susie12 said:
			
		

> We have parks in Manchester! Chorlton Water Park and meadows, Whitworth Park, Platt Fields (5 mins away from where I live), Heaton Park.  Fletcher Moss has fields and the river.  And we are friendly -



I live near Whitworth Park and Platt Fields n'all. I like them both - Whitworth Park has some really pretty trees (I have no idea of the names of trees!) and prettier girls in the summer. Platt Fields is nice too - having an icecream by the lake in the summer is  .

I always wonder about rivers in parks, where they originate from and where they go. I don't know where the one in Platt Fields Park 'starts' (going South of the city centre) but there is one that runs through Birchfields Park (I used to directly live over the road from there and spent many a day off my box by the river, staring at the sky) that I've always reckoned to be one and the same.

I've always found rivers to be very enchanting. I imagine myself on a large paper boat sailing down a river, watching the world as the sun filters through the trees.


----------



## handy1 (Jan 4, 2008)

By "The river" in Platt Fields i presume you mean the brick lined Brook?

If you do, i just looked on the PF website and discovered it is Gore brook.This came as a shock to me as it originates in Debdale park,Gorton.

I used to live right next to Gore Brook Gorton and never knew it went to PF's


Might research some more

ETA Birch Fields is right between Gorton and Platt Fields so you will be right.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Jan 4, 2008)

Have you ever seen that ruined archway by the brook? Its sort of nestled away in a corner of the park. 

It looks like the last bit of an old abbey, or something.


----------



## handy1 (Jan 4, 2008)

Don't recall it but,would have seen it as a kid.Been over every inch of that park.The Brook is the one that goes under Wilmslow Road,right?


----------



## Part 2 (Jan 5, 2008)

There's a tunnel that runs with the brook from the edge of the park, uner Wilmslow rd and all the way to Birchfields Rd. My mate told me about it, said they used to walk through it when they were kids. 

They knew it as witches tunnel.


----------



## handy1 (Jan 5, 2008)

Part2 said:
			
		

> There's a tunnel that runs with the brook from the edge of the park, uner Wilmslow rd and all the way to Birchfields Rd. My mate told me about it, said they used to walk through it when they were kids.
> 
> They knew it as witches tunnel.



Yup,spot on,The Witches Tunnel. I remember now,'though we never went all the way through   you know,Witches an' that 


     Sorry about the derail.Smiley


----------



## debsinleeds (Feb 3, 2008)

leeds has bad public transport and horrendous rush-hour probs lately, usually it takes me an hour and 10 on the bus to go 3 miles to the city centre and a longer journey home, trains are not much better
in 5 years they say leeds will be gridlocked, i say it will be like that in 2

also if there is an accident on a major road near the centre around rush hour, expect your journey home to take 2-3 hours


----------



## _angel_ (Feb 3, 2008)

debsinleeds said:


> *leeds has bad public transport *and horrendous rush-hour probs lately, usually it takes me an hour and 10 on the bus to go 3 miles to the city centre and a longer journey home, trains are not much better
> in 5 years they say leeds will be gridlocked, i say it will be like that in 2
> 
> also if there is an accident on a major road near the centre around rush hour, expect your journey home to take 2-3 hours



This, unfortunately is true.  It's still nicer than Manchester though


----------



## Fez909 (Feb 4, 2008)

debsinleeds said:


> leeds has bad public transport and horrendous rush-hour probs lately, usually it takes me an hour and 10 on the bus to go 3 miles to the city centre and a longer journey home, trains are not much better
> in 5 years they say leeds will be gridlocked, i say it will be like that in 2
> 
> also if there is an accident on a major road near the centre around rush hour, expect your journey home to take 2-3 hours



Why don't you walk/get a bike?  3 mile would only take 40 minutes walking, at the most, and much less on a bike.


----------



## seeformiles (Feb 4, 2008)

Another vote for Leeds here - Manchester (though nice & with several friends living there) gets more shitty weather, looks pretty rundown and it can only affect the temperament of its inhabitants. Leeds is drier and friendlier in my experience.


----------



## soulman (Feb 4, 2008)

I think there's much better places to live than either of them, but if I had to make a choice I'd go for Leeds. The people are generally friendlier and it's much better placed than the hell-hole that is Manchester.


----------



## debsinleeds (Feb 6, 2008)

Fez909 said:


> Why don't you walk/get a bike?  3 mile would only take 40 minutes walking, at the most, and much less on a bike.



cycling home is just too dangerous and walking isnt an option after a 9 hour shift


----------



## Mallard (Feb 7, 2008)

I've never lived in Leeds but would definately live in Manchester if I had to move anywhere. In terms of culture, Music, Arts, Food and Nights out you can not beat Manchester imo.


----------

