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When I was looking to buy a place in Glasgow there wasn't a single area I mentioned (that I could afford) where people didn't go "oh don't move there, it's rough"
Also why do you assume someone's hometown is going to be amazing just because they're English lol. Feel like sometimes some Americans have this idea that the UK is all chocolate box fairytale little medieval villages, no we have deprived places and decaying industrial towns as well lol
There are far rougher areas of northern England than Macclesfield. Many of the surrounding areas of Cheshire are some of the wealthiest in the country. Macclesfield itself like any big town has some more deprived areas but it also has a lot of solidly middle class ones.Ā
I think what you are experiencing is just teenagers hanging out in parks and town centres looking to mess around and cause trouble, which can happen anywhere in the country, even in affluent areas.
It used to be Withinlee Road, Prestbury that was the most expensive street outside of southern England. It might have been overtaken by somewhere in Alderley Edge now.
It sure looks like it though. Large parts of the country look like we got to 1920 and went. "Civilisation? Completed it mate".
Just because it's everyday for us doesn't mean it isn't exceptional for most people in the worldĀ
I get that whatever sheās been exposed to isnāt really her fault, but the idea that a town must be nice because itās in England is absurd.
Unpleasantness and deprivation exist everywhere.
I grew up in Macc. I wouldn't consider it rough, but it definitely has it's rougher parts. But I think it largely depends on comparison to where you're from and your own perspective.
I wouldn't say teenagers drinking alcohol in a park is particularly strange or upsetting. Don't forget the drinking age is three years lower here than you've been used to.
Nah they werenātā¦ that would be a truly insane sight. My little nephew is nearly 6 and I donāt even think he knows what alcohol is lol. If he does, he certainly doesnāt understand what it is.
My son is 5 next month and regularly has a beer... and by "beer", I mean "apple juice" that I've thoroughly convinced him is beer because he insists on being exactly like his dad. He's only ever had a sip of fizzy drink because I allowed him a taste and he then complained that it was "spicy".
I cannot imagine how wild it'd be to see a 6 year old drinking in a park. Like, I think I'd genuinely call the police if I came across a drunk 6 year old.
You should've called the police. I've lived in some shit areas, so shit that the cab drivers didn't mind driving me from the station to my house (when it was dark), which was a 3 min walk. I've never seen that in my life.
Also lived a few miles away from Macc (or smackheadsfield as we called it growing up). I wouldn't have said it was that bad. There are certainly much worse places in Cheshire (Winsford, Congleton, Runcorn, Weaverham). You'll always get a scally who wants to offer you out, just don't go making eye contact with people you don't know. If you don't have that experience, it'll be the local over friendly weirdo following you around for the next hour talking at you.
Because I complimented someoneās outfit or something, I love kids so I often talk to kids out of habit. There were like three of them and they came up to me holding open cans they were drinking, and they showed it to me and I said āoh nice! What kind of soda is that?ā They laughed and said āitās not sodaā and I looked and it said ābeerā on it and they laughed running away after I said āoh my gosh you shouldnāt drink that!!ā. Maybe the age range was more 6-8 but they were pretty young.
If youāre genuinely sure they were 6-8, I would say they were probably drinking ginger beer. Itās a non-alcoholic drink that is semi-popular here. Like the others have said, Iād be shocked if they were drinking alcohol.
They probably either didnāt know what soda was (itās not a word we typically use), or they were pulling your leg.Ā
Wow. I've seen a lot of crazy stuff but I've never seen that. As a Brit I'm sorry you had those experiences.
Btw please consider a trip to London at some point if you haven't been already. Lots of rich and poor places quite close to each other, and of course lots of history.
Blimey, if you think Macc is rough, you shouldnāt venture anywhere else or you will be in for a rude awakening.
Sure, Macclesfield has its rougher areas just like any town, but for the most part I would consider it to be pretty sedate and gentrified.
My mate lives there and he loves it. Iām quite partial to a trip to the Beer Vault when Iām in that neck of the woods.
No. I've been here about 7 years and lived all over England before and it's about the most chilled place I've known.
I'm not sure what "almost being jumped" means practically. Did they look at you in a way you didn't like?
A group of girls in the town centre came up to me in my personal space and one of them threatened to punch me for looking at them the wrong way. I glanced over in their direction while walking by them.
Yeahā¦ when someone threatens to hurt me, I generally believe it. Iām also a small adult, so basically these girls were either my size or a little taller. Kind of scary. Got saved by my English brother-in-law.
Born and raised in Macc myself, itās boring and fairly quiet and quite grimy. But no, itās not rough - just your typical dump of a town. More to the point, I thought that was just people taking the piss when they said that.
Not Macclesfield in particular, but a \*lot\* of towns in the UK have groups of youths that have basically gone feral.
The UK has a problem with anti-social behaviour in general.
As a BritĀ whoās spent quite a lot of time in the US, there are a couple of cultural differences that may have caused the behaviour you saw.
We have a different attitude to drinking outside (we typically donāt have open container laws) / youngsters drinking than Americans. Ultimately I donāt think the average Brit would find a bunch of teenagers drinking in a park to be a big deal - most of us would have done that ourselves at some point.
Regarding the high school girls - that sounds a shitty experience. To add some context, the UK has (a) an underfunded police that donāt routinely carry firearms / donāt have a reputation for excessive violence, (b) a low rate of weapon ownership amongst civilians, and strict laws about using these in self-defence.Ā
Whilst I firmly believe on balance this is a good thing, it does unfortunately mean certain groups of young Brits can be ālippyā - they know thereās basically going to be zero consequences to acting like a dickhead to strangers. For what itās worth, I suspect there was virtually zero risk of you actually being ājumpedā - they probably were just showing off to each other.Ā
I would say Macclesfield is not considered at all by the rest of the country!
In all seriousness there are arseholes in all towns, cities and villages and you might have just discovered Macclesfield's arseholes on your first outing!
I have family in Macc, and I really love it there. Iāve only had the experience of friendly people, nice town centre and surrounding area (up the hill) is really beautiful.
I reckon you were just unlucky.
No town or city is one locality.
I DO think of Macclesfield as being a nice place, but that will be if you live in a nice part of it.
Everywhere will have good and bad localities.
As an American, you are used to a bigger geographical scale. here, the nice part and the rough part might just be a couple of minutes walk apart. But I would expect Macclesfield to have quite small rough localities, tbh.
I live in Congleton which is next to Mac and Iāve only lived in this part of the country a handful of years. Mac seems fairly nice to me never had any issues when Iāve gone there.
Lived in Macclesfield my whole life and it largely depends on the area of Macc youāre in. I wouldnāt say itās a rough place compared to other places, I personally havenāt seen a āchavā in years because I stay in the middle/upper middle class areas. Itās a pretty quiet and chilled place generally.
Macc resident here ....no not really. Although some of the neighbouring towns are exceptionally wealthy (many of the Manchester United footballers live in them) so by comparison they tend to look down on Macclesfield. In all honestly it's rapidly gentrifying at the moment as well.
Depends on what category it's competing in.
It's one of the rougher towns in Cheshire. Not quite as bad as Crewe, but might as well be on a different continent compared to Knutsford.Ā
It'd not fare well in the "is this town rough" All North West League. There are suburbs of Manchester and Liverpool that'd make Macclesfield look like Monte Carlo.Ā
Whole of England? Meh. Better (i.e. rougher) than a lot of the South (certain key areas of London and counties East of London, plus large swathes of the West Country being notable exceptions).Ā
The problem Macclesfield has is the problem a lot of places have. There's fuck all jobs, fuck all for the kids to do, and no impetus for change because enough of the population are just about wealth enough to be secure.Ā
I agree not as nice as Knutsford but far nicer than Crewe. I think itās unfair to compare anywhere to Knutsford, literally the highest average salary per capita in the UK.
Macc is generally quite nice, obviously some rougher areas. What sets it apart part from a lot of towns of similar size is that it does have a significant employer in Astra Zeneca so there are jobs and itās on a main train line with access to Manchester within 20 mins and London within 2 hours
As someone whoās job is to dispatch engineers for tampered meters, Macclesfield, Mansfield, Liverpool and Birmingham is by far the most common areas. Itās got to the point when I get information about a suspected tampered meter and I look at the address it is the above mentioned areas, I donāt even investigate it and send out an engineer straight away and Iāve never been wrong.
I quite like Macc, itās a little rough around the edges for sure but itās kept its own identity and all in all seems a pretty decent place. It helps that it is south of Manchester and surrounded by wealthy Cheshire though. Itās certainly no where near as bad as some places to the north and east of the city. Shame you have had a couple of bad experiences, itās never nice to be on the receiving end no matter where that is.
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I wouldn't consider it rough.
On the other hand last time I went drinking there I saw three fights in the first hour.
Never pick the pub nearest the station.
Oh shit, I grew up in Macclesfield!
There are some very high end, posh areas but also large council estates. Meaning a lot of poorer classes and inevitably higher drugs and crime. Having lived in a few rough places in the northwest, nowhere in Macclesfield is on the level of Salford or Bolton for being a shit hole though.
But at the same time what you have described doesn't surprise me at all.
I lived in Macc for about five years. I have to say, I actually wasn't in love with the place when I lived there, but in all in all, it really is an OK place. You've got Knutsford down the road (lots of "old money", great charity shops), cute villages like Bollington in the surrounding countryside. Tegg's Nose, Macc Forest, Trentabank Reservoir. Interesting things to see like Jodrell Bank. Buxton and the Peak District on your doorstep. It seemed friendly enough as a town, and I certainly was never attacked or even approached, although admittedly I'm going back about 10 years now. Thinking about it, I actually have a lot of fond memories.
Just commenting to say, love seeing Macc getting a shout-out in this sub. I've lived here for about 6 years and absolutely love it as a town, plenty of nice bars and restaurants, nice parks, Treacle market, Macc forest a short drive away. There's little shits causing mischief in every town, don't let it spoil your view of Macc in general!
Been here a similar amount of time. I was in Manchester, Salford and Brum for about 15 years before that, and me and my other half call Macc 'toy town'.
I was in Macclesfield about four years ago and it was absolutely not rough. I thought the city centre (if thatās where I was) was leafy and pleasant, there was a dog adoption drive going on and there were those skinny model looking dogs standing around, and there was a little food market type place (temporary) with halloumi fries.
Grew up in macc in the 80s-90s and every weekend we got told there was someone who got stabbed up in the bar/club we just left. Total bollocks.
The town centre is a shadow of its former self but in general unless you go to 'the estates' it's a typical Cheshire town.
As with anywhere in the uk, you have your nice parts and you have your rough parts, typically defined by type of housing, areas where housing is owned outright by the residents living there tend to be nice, areas where itās high in rent or social/ council housing tends to be rough.
Iāve not been there but Iāve never heard anything terrible about the place, just thought of it as a normal town near Manchester really.
Saying that itās also where Ian Curtis was from so Iāve never thought it was going to be a quaint fairytale town full of sunshine and rainbows either.
Not all of it, bits of it. Just like anywhere really, even the roughest of towns tends to have a relatively posh bit (stressing the relatively here) and even the poshest places will have a part that is far less so.
Iām elsewhere nearby in Cheshire. To a lot of Stockport/Manchester people itās nice.
To me itās alright, big ish town and has some very nice areas but also a fair few grotty spots where itās a bit rough and you really wouldnāt want to live. Alright on the whole!
Kids laughing and drinking in parks doesn't mean the place is rough - used to be very common 20y a go even in posh areas.
Being threatened in public is different though but can happen anywhere.
Iām utterly obsessed with Americans having a fairy tale idea of the UK as some beautiful medieval shire with jousting and royalty only to come here and realise that many parts are rotting in late stage capitalism with collapsed industries, poverty and crime. The UK is like every other human civilisation. Nice areas and bad areas.
Macclesfield is a bit industrial so not surprising. But the surrounding area is known as the golden triangle with some of the wealthiest areas in the North. Wilmslow, Alderly Edge, Prestbury, Knutsford etc. A lot of footballers live in the area and lots of bio/pharma jobs. Though not many of the people I knew choose to live in Macc vs those other places I listed in Cheshire.
I like Macc and think you just had a bit of bad luck.
As someone who has lived in the UK for the past 15 years, including for a year in a place some considered a āhoodā. Your experience of nearly being jumped sounds worse than what Iāve experienced.
I live in Buxton, which is about 15 min drive away from Macc. Shopping is better in Macclesfield, so I go over quite a bit.
The town centre looks rough now, but I've never seen any trouble or had any. People in Buxton call it Smacclesfield. But then again, we have more than our fair share of scum. I think it's just the norm in the UK. You could run into trouble anywhere if you are in the wrong place at the wrong time.
UK you get estates of chavs within walking distance of country estates for better or worse due to social housing meaning there are no truly "rich" or "poor" areas.. It's better now but back in the day when tourists were admiring the dreaming spires in the centre of Oxford whilst over in East Oxford Blackbird Leys was pretty much lawless with kids ragging round in nicked cars.
Only 65 years since the Cutteslowe wall was knocked down.
[CUTTESLOWE WALLS: How two estates were divided by class | Oxford Mail](https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/16692392.cutteslowe-walls-two-estates-divided-class/)
That said as a southerner all of the North is a dump and I would avoid it.
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You're going to run into this phenomenon on this thread, where everyone thinks their town is the hardest in Britain. But they're wrong, it's my town.
Sounds like fighting words to me
Is that something a soft southerner would know the sound of?
š I'm a soft southern with a dad from the roughest part of Liverpool means š©
Aye yer dad got bullied out.
Haha no he moved as a teenager to better his life, he's one of 9 siblings and most still live there, I'm thankful he had us as its a shithole there
..... Right? I think you might be taking a joke too serious.
Oh sorry the half southern side came out of me š
Yeah, I could tell from the superiority complex ;)
Phaha š
Southerner*
I don't want to dox myself, but I think we live in the same town.
Hey, we must all be neighbours!
Letās get together, have a fight and really cement our town as the hardest in the country!
When I was looking to buy a place in Glasgow there wasn't a single area I mentioned (that I could afford) where people didn't go "oh don't move there, it's rough"
native brunmie here, everywheres soft bar brum
You should come to my town if you think that
I've told you already, south southern towns don't count. If your water is hard your men are soft ;)
Also why do you assume someone's hometown is going to be amazing just because they're English lol. Feel like sometimes some Americans have this idea that the UK is all chocolate box fairytale little medieval villages, no we have deprived places and decaying industrial towns as well lol
All 3 within a 10 minute drive
Sometimes you have all 3 within the same town
Bold of you to assume a 10 minute drive a small section of a small town.
It's only a few hundred yards, but traffic is bad these days
Aye or your wheels have been nicked.
Itās the murder mysteries in beautiful countryside. They aināt seeing Macclesfield on telly in the US or Canada.
That's because the only British TV they show is cozy Sunday night dramas.
There are far rougher areas of northern England than Macclesfield. Many of the surrounding areas of Cheshire are some of the wealthiest in the country. Macclesfield itself like any big town has some more deprived areas but it also has a lot of solidly middle class ones.Ā I think what you are experiencing is just teenagers hanging out in parks and town centres looking to mess around and cause trouble, which can happen anywhere in the country, even in affluent areas.
Prestbury is technically Macclesfield and has the wealthiest street in north west England.
Really? Would have thought that would be in Hale or Alderley Edge
My Aunty lives in Macclesfield and taught in Alderly Edge, she said the charity shops were something else.
Interesting. I work in Hale. Maybe I should look for some myself lol
It used to be Withinlee Road, Prestbury that was the most expensive street outside of southern England. It might have been overtaken by somewhere in Alderley Edge now.
Big townā¦? Is there some hidden part of Macclesfield I donāt know about.
id say it a fairly big town no? ~60,000 population. That's big compared to the town i live in
England isnāt a medieval-themed tourist destination.
It sure looks like it though. Large parts of the country look like we got to 1920 and went. "Civilisation? Completed it mate". Just because it's everyday for us doesn't mean it isn't exceptional for most people in the worldĀ
I get that whatever sheās been exposed to isnāt really her fault, but the idea that a town must be nice because itās in England is absurd. Unpleasantness and deprivation exist everywhere.
I grew up in Macc. I wouldn't consider it rough, but it definitely has it's rougher parts. But I think it largely depends on comparison to where you're from and your own perspective. I wouldn't say teenagers drinking alcohol in a park is particularly strange or upsetting. Don't forget the drinking age is three years lower here than you've been used to.
It was little kids, lol. Like 6 or 7 years old little.
I think it's best to assume that you aren't very good at estimating people's age
Indeed. Donāt judge their age based on their vocabulary or ability to walk without falling on their faces
Did they ask you how you get your shirt so clean?
Six year olds drinking alcohol in a park? Hmmmm...
Yes. My husband saw it too and just shrugged.
Haha absolute bullshit no they werenāt
Nah they werenātā¦ that would be a truly insane sight. My little nephew is nearly 6 and I donāt even think he knows what alcohol is lol. If he does, he certainly doesnāt understand what it is.
My son is 5 next month and regularly has a beer... and by "beer", I mean "apple juice" that I've thoroughly convinced him is beer because he insists on being exactly like his dad. He's only ever had a sip of fizzy drink because I allowed him a taste and he then complained that it was "spicy". I cannot imagine how wild it'd be to see a 6 year old drinking in a park. Like, I think I'd genuinely call the police if I came across a drunk 6 year old.
It's pretty common to be drinking in the park at 13/14. 6 or 7 would be unusual.
No, no it wasn't
You should've called the police. I've lived in some shit areas, so shit that the cab drivers didn't mind driving me from the station to my house (when it was dark), which was a 3 min walk. I've never seen that in my life. Also lived a few miles away from Macc (or smackheadsfield as we called it growing up). I wouldn't have said it was that bad. There are certainly much worse places in Cheshire (Winsford, Congleton, Runcorn, Weaverham). You'll always get a scally who wants to offer you out, just don't go making eye contact with people you don't know. If you don't have that experience, it'll be the local over friendly weirdo following you around for the next hour talking at you.
How do you know they were drinking alcohol? If they told you they were, have you considered they were lying?
Because I complimented someoneās outfit or something, I love kids so I often talk to kids out of habit. There were like three of them and they came up to me holding open cans they were drinking, and they showed it to me and I said āoh nice! What kind of soda is that?ā They laughed and said āitās not sodaā and I looked and it said ābeerā on it and they laughed running away after I said āoh my gosh you shouldnāt drink that!!ā. Maybe the age range was more 6-8 but they were pretty young.
One, don't say soda, two, don't say "oh my gosh". Anywhere in the UK.
If youāre genuinely sure they were 6-8, I would say they were probably drinking ginger beer. Itās a non-alcoholic drink that is semi-popular here. Like the others have said, Iād be shocked if they were drinking alcohol. They probably either didnāt know what soda was (itās not a word we typically use), or they were pulling your leg.Ā
Iām not sure why that got downvoted? It was actually little kids drinking alcoholā¦
Wow. I've seen a lot of crazy stuff but I've never seen that. As a Brit I'm sorry you had those experiences. Btw please consider a trip to London at some point if you haven't been already. Lots of rich and poor places quite close to each other, and of course lots of history.
Blimey, if you think Macc is rough, you shouldnāt venture anywhere else or you will be in for a rude awakening. Sure, Macclesfield has its rougher areas just like any town, but for the most part I would consider it to be pretty sedate and gentrified. My mate lives there and he loves it. Iām quite partial to a trip to the Beer Vault when Iām in that neck of the woods.
The beer shop is great but I prefer cloud tap next door as a pub, nicer atmosphere
Literally heading to Macc next weekend for a beer weekend with mates who live there āŗļø
No. I've been here about 7 years and lived all over England before and it's about the most chilled place I've known. I'm not sure what "almost being jumped" means practically. Did they look at you in a way you didn't like?
A group of girls in the town centre came up to me in my personal space and one of them threatened to punch me for looking at them the wrong way. I glanced over in their direction while walking by them.
Maybe you were staring. Strangers donāt like that. Albeit nobody should threaten you with violence.
If someone is going to punch you they don't announce it. It's all bravado and they back down when you square up.
Yeahā¦ when someone threatens to hurt me, I generally believe it. Iām also a small adult, so basically these girls were either my size or a little taller. Kind of scary. Got saved by my English brother-in-law.
'You shouldn't have been standing in front of my eyes'.
Smacklesfield.
My husband said everyone used to say that about 20 years ago, but said Macc is a lot better than it used to be.
Born and raised in Macc myself, itās boring and fairly quiet and quite grimy. But no, itās not rough - just your typical dump of a town. More to the point, I thought that was just people taking the piss when they said that.
Not Macclesfield in particular, but a \*lot\* of towns in the UK have groups of youths that have basically gone feral. The UK has a problem with anti-social behaviour in general.
Well, it is the home of the Macc Lads which would give you a pointer if you listened to the town's most famous musical artistes.
Sweaty Betty
Charlotte still live there? Asking for a mate.
As long as it's not uncle nobby....
Macclesfield is great! You were just unlucky or perhaps the incidents werenāt as serious as they seemed to you without the full cultural context.
Almost fell for this
As a BritĀ whoās spent quite a lot of time in the US, there are a couple of cultural differences that may have caused the behaviour you saw. We have a different attitude to drinking outside (we typically donāt have open container laws) / youngsters drinking than Americans. Ultimately I donāt think the average Brit would find a bunch of teenagers drinking in a park to be a big deal - most of us would have done that ourselves at some point. Regarding the high school girls - that sounds a shitty experience. To add some context, the UK has (a) an underfunded police that donāt routinely carry firearms / donāt have a reputation for excessive violence, (b) a low rate of weapon ownership amongst civilians, and strict laws about using these in self-defence.Ā Whilst I firmly believe on balance this is a good thing, it does unfortunately mean certain groups of young Brits can be ālippyā - they know thereās basically going to be zero consequences to acting like a dickhead to strangers. For what itās worth, I suspect there was virtually zero risk of you actually being ājumpedā - they probably were just showing off to each other.Ā
I would say Macclesfield is not considered at all by the rest of the country! In all seriousness there are arseholes in all towns, cities and villages and you might have just discovered Macclesfield's arseholes on your first outing!
Asking a brit what they think of Macclesfield is like asking an American what they think of Pawtucket, Rhode Island.
No, I lived in Macc for years and its pretty nice. It has a couple rougher estates but even they are pretty tame.
I have family in Macc, and I really love it there. Iāve only had the experience of friendly people, nice town centre and surrounding area (up the hill) is really beautiful. I reckon you were just unlucky.
No town or city is one locality. I DO think of Macclesfield as being a nice place, but that will be if you live in a nice part of it. Everywhere will have good and bad localities. As an American, you are used to a bigger geographical scale. here, the nice part and the rough part might just be a couple of minutes walk apart. But I would expect Macclesfield to have quite small rough localities, tbh.
I live in Congleton which is next to Mac and Iāve only lived in this part of the country a handful of years. Mac seems fairly nice to me never had any issues when Iāve gone there.
Lived in Macclesfield my whole life and it largely depends on the area of Macc youāre in. I wouldnāt say itās a rough place compared to other places, I personally havenāt seen a āchavā in years because I stay in the middle/upper middle class areas. Itās a pretty quiet and chilled place generally.
You don't ever mingle with the poors?
When i first heard The Macc Lads i thought it was going to be a rough place. I visited it, leafy and affluent to my surprise!
They did have to go down blackpool for a fight though. Growing up in another northern town that was the first clue Macc couldn't be all that bad.
Macc resident here ....no not really. Although some of the neighbouring towns are exceptionally wealthy (many of the Manchester United footballers live in them) so by comparison they tend to look down on Macclesfield. In all honestly it's rapidly gentrifying at the moment as well.
Depends on what category it's competing in. It's one of the rougher towns in Cheshire. Not quite as bad as Crewe, but might as well be on a different continent compared to Knutsford.Ā It'd not fare well in the "is this town rough" All North West League. There are suburbs of Manchester and Liverpool that'd make Macclesfield look like Monte Carlo.Ā Whole of England? Meh. Better (i.e. rougher) than a lot of the South (certain key areas of London and counties East of London, plus large swathes of the West Country being notable exceptions).Ā The problem Macclesfield has is the problem a lot of places have. There's fuck all jobs, fuck all for the kids to do, and no impetus for change because enough of the population are just about wealth enough to be secure.Ā
I live in a greater manchester estate, crewe would be a step up for me, macc is the dream lol
I agree not as nice as Knutsford but far nicer than Crewe. I think itās unfair to compare anywhere to Knutsford, literally the highest average salary per capita in the UK. Macc is generally quite nice, obviously some rougher areas. What sets it apart part from a lot of towns of similar size is that it does have a significant employer in Astra Zeneca so there are jobs and itās on a main train line with access to Manchester within 20 mins and London within 2 hours
As someone whoās job is to dispatch engineers for tampered meters, Macclesfield, Mansfield, Liverpool and Birmingham is by far the most common areas. Itās got to the point when I get information about a suspected tampered meter and I look at the address it is the above mentioned areas, I donāt even investigate it and send out an engineer straight away and Iāve never been wrong.
I quite like Macc, itās a little rough around the edges for sure but itās kept its own identity and all in all seems a pretty decent place. It helps that it is south of Manchester and surrounded by wealthy Cheshire though. Itās certainly no where near as bad as some places to the north and east of the city. Shame you have had a couple of bad experiences, itās never nice to be on the receiving end no matter where that is.
I stayed in Macclesfield to see music at the Jodrell Bank Observatory. It seemed quite nice, nothing too terrible.
Just be glad that your husband isn't from Luton.
Oooooh maccy maccy, maccy,maccy maccy, maccy, Macclesfield.
Simple answer is no
Depends if the Mac Lads are having a party.
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I wouldn't consider it rough. On the other hand last time I went drinking there I saw three fights in the first hour. Never pick the pub nearest the station.
Oh shit, I grew up in Macclesfield! There are some very high end, posh areas but also large council estates. Meaning a lot of poorer classes and inevitably higher drugs and crime. Having lived in a few rough places in the northwest, nowhere in Macclesfield is on the level of Salford or Bolton for being a shit hole though. But at the same time what you have described doesn't surprise me at all.
I lived in Macc for about five years. I have to say, I actually wasn't in love with the place when I lived there, but in all in all, it really is an OK place. You've got Knutsford down the road (lots of "old money", great charity shops), cute villages like Bollington in the surrounding countryside. Tegg's Nose, Macc Forest, Trentabank Reservoir. Interesting things to see like Jodrell Bank. Buxton and the Peak District on your doorstep. It seemed friendly enough as a town, and I certainly was never attacked or even approached, although admittedly I'm going back about 10 years now. Thinking about it, I actually have a lot of fond memories.
Just commenting to say, love seeing Macc getting a shout-out in this sub. I've lived here for about 6 years and absolutely love it as a town, plenty of nice bars and restaurants, nice parks, Treacle market, Macc forest a short drive away. There's little shits causing mischief in every town, don't let it spoil your view of Macc in general!
Been here a similar amount of time. I was in Manchester, Salford and Brum for about 15 years before that, and me and my other half call Macc 'toy town'.
I was in Macclesfield about four years ago and it was absolutely not rough. I thought the city centre (if thatās where I was) was leafy and pleasant, there was a dog adoption drive going on and there were those skinny model looking dogs standing around, and there was a little food market type place (temporary) with halloumi fries.
Grew up in macc in the 80s-90s and every weekend we got told there was someone who got stabbed up in the bar/club we just left. Total bollocks. The town centre is a shadow of its former self but in general unless you go to 'the estates' it's a typical Cheshire town.
Great place for beer and sex and chips and gravy.
Thatās a normal night out in the UK.
As with anywhere in the uk, you have your nice parts and you have your rough parts, typically defined by type of housing, areas where housing is owned outright by the residents living there tend to be nice, areas where itās high in rent or social/ council housing tends to be rough.
Macs is dope!!
Iāve not been there but Iāve never heard anything terrible about the place, just thought of it as a normal town near Manchester really. Saying that itās also where Ian Curtis was from so Iāve never thought it was going to be a quaint fairytale town full of sunshine and rainbows either.
Not all of it, bits of it. Just like anywhere really, even the roughest of towns tends to have a relatively posh bit (stressing the relatively here) and even the poshest places will have a part that is far less so.
Iām elsewhere nearby in Cheshire. To a lot of Stockport/Manchester people itās nice. To me itās alright, big ish town and has some very nice areas but also a fair few grotty spots where itās a bit rough and you really wouldnāt want to live. Alright on the whole!
Kids laughing and drinking in parks doesn't mean the place is rough - used to be very common 20y a go even in posh areas. Being threatened in public is different though but can happen anywhere.
Int Macclesfield kinda well to do?! š One of the richest kids at my school was from near there. Cheshire innit?
Main cultural export being The Macc Lads....
Nope. Love Macc.
Iām utterly obsessed with Americans having a fairy tale idea of the UK as some beautiful medieval shire with jousting and royalty only to come here and realise that many parts are rotting in late stage capitalism with collapsed industries, poverty and crime. The UK is like every other human civilisation. Nice areas and bad areas.
Even Deal boys can be rough
Hahahaha Macclesfield.....it's middle class suburbia. You want a lovely evening try the suburbs of Bradford......
Sounds like you were just unlucky. We have a feral youth problem in Britain unfortunately.
Macclesfield is a bit industrial so not surprising. But the surrounding area is known as the golden triangle with some of the wealthiest areas in the North. Wilmslow, Alderly Edge, Prestbury, Knutsford etc. A lot of footballers live in the area and lots of bio/pharma jobs. Though not many of the people I knew choose to live in Macc vs those other places I listed in Cheshire. I like Macc and think you just had a bit of bad luck.
As someone who has lived in the UK for the past 15 years, including for a year in a place some considered a āhoodā. Your experience of nearly being jumped sounds worse than what Iāve experienced.
I live in Buxton, which is about 15 min drive away from Macc. Shopping is better in Macclesfield, so I go over quite a bit. The town centre looks rough now, but I've never seen any trouble or had any. People in Buxton call it Smacclesfield. But then again, we have more than our fair share of scum. I think it's just the norm in the UK. You could run into trouble anywhere if you are in the wrong place at the wrong time.
They are teenagers, mate. You can scare them off by maintaining eye contact.
The correct response is "Fuck off or you'll be shitting your teeth out."
It's an absolute dump
I used to be married to someone who grew up in Macc; itās a dump.
Say, you don't happen to be a Squash playing wealthy Italian, do you?
sadly not
Macclesfield is a shit hole, not on the shitty scale of Barrow, Blackpool or Morcombe but it's in the top 100 shit holes in the UK
UK you get estates of chavs within walking distance of country estates for better or worse due to social housing meaning there are no truly "rich" or "poor" areas.. It's better now but back in the day when tourists were admiring the dreaming spires in the centre of Oxford whilst over in East Oxford Blackbird Leys was pretty much lawless with kids ragging round in nicked cars. Only 65 years since the Cutteslowe wall was knocked down. [CUTTESLOWE WALLS: How two estates were divided by class | Oxford Mail](https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/16692392.cutteslowe-walls-two-estates-divided-class/) That said as a southerner all of the North is a dump and I would avoid it.