Author Topic: Radcliffe And Maconie  (Read 14270 times)

Mr Larrington

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Re: Radcliffe And Maconie
« Reply #50 on: 14 August, 2009, 01:57:20 pm »
These days Phil Cool is largely famous for being described as a "rubber-faced irritant" on the closing track of Half Man Half Biscuit's latest album, CSI Ambleside.
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LEE

Re: Radcliffe And Maconie
« Reply #51 on: 14 August, 2009, 08:18:50 pm »


Some of my best friends are Wiganers, but it is significant that they now live in Central Lancs, likewise my Scouse and Manc friends. All these places hold 'Here be Dragons' significance for us round here.
Their view of us is that we're distant, mumbling, woolybacks, and that indeed is our culture, with added begrudging. Our local celebrities are Nick Park, John Inman and Phil Cool. Make of that what you will.

Damon.

My test is:

If you won £10 million, would you move to Wigan?

I doubt it.  The area is so over-populated and, in general, a bit post-Thatchered (Preston, Skelmersdale, Bolton, Leyland, Blackburn and so on).

My guess is that any Wigan Lottery winners will head 25 miles south into Cheshire.  Nobody wins the lottery in Kuntsford Knutsford and moves to Wigan.

That's my definition of a very nice place.

I retract my statement about it being a shit-hole (that doesn't give me enough scope to describe Longsight in Manchester) so I'll say that Wigan, rather than being a very nice place or a nice place, is a place.

Really Ancien

Re: Radcliffe And Maconie
« Reply #52 on: 15 August, 2009, 05:57:13 pm »
If you were a Wiganer who won the lottery, you'd buy a nice old farmhouse in Billinge, Orrell or Upholland. This would be the view.


That's if you still wanted to live in Wigan Borough. Millionaires tend to prefer Wrightington, Heskin and Eccleston, slightly to the North, where there are some very good training routes, which is why Wiggo likes it.
Serious wealth is concentrated in the Ribble Valley. Cheshire is for Footballers and people who like Onynx.
I don't know where you get the idea that the areas is heavily populated, only someone who has only seen the area from the A49, A6 and A59 would get that impression, and I can't believe that there is anyone on here so dim as to stick to those roads when alternatives exist.

Damon.

LEE

Re: Radcliffe And Maconie
« Reply #53 on: 15 August, 2009, 10:14:11 pm »

I don't know where you get the idea that the areas is heavily populated


I'd say it was similar to the position of Slough in the south.  A smallish town in itself but surrounded by other towns and close to a large city.  

A look at any map will clearly indicate it's a heavily populated area, within that Manchester/Liverpool/Preston triangle.  Birmingham is havily populated but in a smaller, more concentrated area and obviously London, within the M25 is fairly well-stuffed.

I'm not saying there aren't nice, quiet, roads to cycle on (There are many within 30 mins of my old home town of Stockport and that's basically a Manchester suburb) but there's no point in arguing that it isn't a highly populated area.  Within 15 miles of Wigan you have Manchester, Liverpool, Blackburn, Preston, Warrington, Skelmersdale, all considerable conurbations and probably home to 5 million people.  It's the epitome of a highly populated area, it's the industrial north-west.

Onyx "Cheshire" is a tiny area around Wilmslow that actually extends north into south Manchester (Bramhall).  True (more southerly) Cheshire is sparsely populated and is  where the old money lives.

The South Manchester/ North Cheshire boundary has always been very elastic depending upon the snobbery of the individual resident.  Stockport, Cheshire is still used by many.

My Father in Law is Wigan born and bred btw. (We had his tail docked a few year ago).

Really Ancien

Re: Radcliffe And Maconie
« Reply #54 on: 15 August, 2009, 11:54:16 pm »
Oddly Cheshire is more industrial than Lancashire these days, Runcorn skews things massively, and Widnes and Warrington are now in Cheshire. Bolton, Wigan and Preston form a triangle of densely populated towns with good access to high quality, if wet, countryside. The centre of that triangle is Chorley Borough, 200 square kilometres with 100,000 people living in it, most in Chorley, Adlington and Coppull, that's where most of the riding is done, and bits of West Lancs. Most of the clubs also get into the Ribble Valley and the Bowland Fells. The towns are relatively compact, leaving a lot of space for us to stretch our legs.

Damon.