Stockport's charms are well known to Greater Mancunians. But of late the town has been attracting attention from further afield, with one London newspaper tipping it as one of the best places to live in the UK.
“The rental market has never been as buoyant in this area for a number of years, and equally there are also more first time buyers looking in Reddish. The attraction to Reddish is because of the local schools with 'Good' Ofsted reports, there are also good bus and train services to Manchester and beyond as well as excellent motorway links.
"Reddish wasn't really on people's radars, but increased affordability means that it leads people in that direction and they realise what they can get. 'It fills me with a lot of pride that where I'm from is finally being noticed' Kelly Gaskill, a Community Development Worker at Re: Dish, a charity in Reddish which aims to improve the quality of life for the people living in the area by re-distributing ‘good stuff’ through its foodbank, dementia-friendly café, community events and shop, is glad Stockport and the wider borough are being noticed.
“We’re in a very diverse group in Reddish, and that can sometimes be a blessing and a curse. In what I do here we don’t quite qualify in being one of the less affluent areas when it comes to funding but we’re not necessarily where the community has as much money to put in as some of Stockport’s more affluent areas.
“With prices being high there’s a knock-on effect so it can make it a bit tricky to get on the housing ladder, but it’s always been very buoyant in terms of the market here anyway and it’s better to see it going up then down in my opinion. David says the housing stock can still be a little hit or miss though. “My wife is from Spain and when she moved here we would find that there was no consistency - so one road would be nice but the next would be part of a rough neighbourhood and it’s the same with bars and restaurants.”
“The dedicated District Neighbourhood Crime Team are having greater success in identifying, targeting and prosecuting burglars in the area, using a variety of force resources and patrols to detect and deter.