Bombs away on Harpurhey

This area like the rest of north manchester, made up of nothing but estates, seems to be the forgotten part of town, would this be the case if the airport was to the north of the city or if whitehall was to the north?
Maybe we need more politicians passing through to get a real taste of life.
The kids have a bleak future around here with nothing to do but hustle in any way they no how because the council & govenment dont want to provide any facilities for the youth.
The reason 60% of adults do not own a car in this area is for the simple fact that insurance companys screwtanise this M9 post-code that also covers the whole of Blackley, Harpurhey & parts of Moston.
From my own experience it would seem that the govenment waits for these type of areas to hit rock bottom before making a much needed move.
The population around here have been waiting for major investment for the last 15-20 years at least.

I once broke down around there with a puncture in my car (BMW 7 Series) & had to park on the Asda car park whilst waiting for assistance. There was a market open nearby, so I decided to have a look around to pass the time.
I must say I have never before encountered such scruffy & dishevelled people that were hanging about there.
What really upset me most was that the majority of them were pushing baby buggies about with the infants in the buggies chewing on sausage rolls & the children walking in tow with the mothers, who didn't look old enough to be out of school, never mind old enough to have children all eating cones of chips & it was only 9.30 a.m. Not a one of these mothers had a wedding ring on but they were all tattooed with black roots growing in their bleached hair & screaming four letter obscenities at their children.
On returning to my car I saw to my horror that it was surrounded by a 20 strong gang of shaven headed youths who on spotting me, threatened me with a knife & then ran away & to my horror took all my wheels with them with my car resting on bricks. This resulted in a bill of over B#4000 for my insurance company.
I thought then what chance do these children have in life & this report has confirmed my fears.

Why does this come as a suprise ? Having visited your city last month, I would say that it seems to revel in dirtiness and grime and there seems to be no effort on the part of your council to improve matters. Its all very well holding events like the Commonwealth games in Manchester but it seems to me, as a visitor to your city, that the ordinary residents live like pigs. Piccadilly station is nice though, and not just because you can get a train out from there. My advice ? Move if you can.

I am the Vicar of Christ Church Harpurhey and I am proud to live in Harpurhey. Our riches are found in the people here and all that God is doing in the Community. In fact we have a lady in church who chose to move from Chorleywood to be part of the church and community here in Harpurhey! C'mon Harpurhey!!

As a member of the Labour party...All I can ask is??


Is the Labour Party and its leaders working for the people of Harpurhey only they can say.

Is Labour working???

I ask!!!!

Blair got elected on the backs of people who fill the streets of Harpurhey. We all went out and voted singing 'things can only get better'. Time to wake up. Things got better for Blair, not us.

i am so upset at the new statistics for manchester
ad especialy harpurhey
i live4d all my life on the border of harpurhey and moston manchester untill that is the couciil forced us out in compulsary purchace
i and my family provided a wonderful facility for the young people of north manchester
they had all the care and love they needed and they had access to horse ponies and donkeys we took the youngsters to shows we let them ride and tought them to ride they were given a look at what they could achieve and let me tell you they achived a lot they still own their owen horses
we gave all we had for the people of manchester we opended our home and lives to them we loved them and the animals but the councill wanted our land we lost it all in 1996 when we were forced [ burned out ] we were told to get out and stay out of manchester by the council
a wonderful place was lost and a unique place was lost and for what NOTHING hapurhey would not be the most deprived place if the manchester council had not forced us out and stole our valuable land
the young people would not be alone now as they are it breaks our hearts to see this wrong and stupid tag put on the people of north and cetral manchester
how our hearts break my family gave all they had their time their furtune their lives thier love and manchester council has only its own self to blame for now harpurhey is a balcklist on anyones list of hates
how sad for a people who are wonerful or were wonderfull that is,
i am so sad and haertsick at this terrible slure
i remember a wonderful people i remember the whit weeks walks
the laughter
the joy i remeber conran st at christmas all was full with lights, sid's the butchers
jones the lecky
mill modes crosses the litle corner shop that sold papers the local hebalist males the greengrocer
mr snape then Jack the local groccer
mrs burgess the local milleners and the chemist landsman mr rogerson the 0ther butchers
and the market conran st
it the market was still there when we left
and we did not want to leave, i asure you that is the truth and still we as a family we remeber it all but now it is nothing more than rotten row
but the people of harpurhay are better than that, they are strong and humerrouse
they were and are now kind and good and i miss them so much you and anyone will never know but the worst place is now what people wil always remebr , what has become of of a good hardworking people
is their anyone to blame
yes there is the manchester council its councilors and its polices #
if i could come home and sort things out i would but i was made to sign a paper saying i would stay away from manchester for ten years i have two years to go and then i will come and try to help if the valley and the sanctuary we preserved for so many years was still ther this terrible statement would never had been made one day i will come home and help put right a wrong when i am aloud to do so
but please peoples of harpuhay and moston you are good and better that the idots who made this list keep on going and keep good heart
love to manchester always the place of my birth
hazel wilkinson right
i may be excild but my heart is always with you , forever and wherever i am my heart and soul is with you everyhour every day
for a life time to all the young people we did help if you ever need me you know where i am and you know my heart is always with you and in the valley
i am just a phone call away
love always
hazel wilkinson wright .

A load of tosh! It's certainly not one of the nicer places to live but having lived and worked here for over 23 years I have to come to its defence. There are a lot of decent people whose lives have been blighted by a the anti-social behaviour of a few and the abundance of properties owned by absentee landlords attracted by their low cost. This is all changing and I genuinely believe that the B#17m investment in the new district centre combined with the new City stadium and Central Business Park just down the road will see Harpurhey transformed into the desirable area it was many years ago. My business has prospered in the area and three of the country's biggest household names have had very successful stores in this area for many years.

i know harpurhey has always had a reputation for being deprived but i can think of worse places to live, i currently work in the area and i find i have never had any problems with the area, the shopping district is great for a bargain, and i have voted for the district as being not the worst

harpurhey is not the worst place, some of the places in oldham are not so clever, i work in the community in harpurhey and there is loads of help around for the people of the area and the shopping centre is good

I live near Harpurhey precinct and can understand why Harpurhey has received this label, but I must defend the quality of some of this area's population (only some, mind), as many of the comments I've seen are a generalised critisism of Harpurhey's people and not it's bricks and mortar (or lack of),lack of proper policing and policies, and lack of quality education and healthcare, which are the important factors in the decline of quality of life around here. It was for the most part a degenerating town, but hopefully the B#17 million funding will continue to improve the situation. I have already witnessed improved street lighting and speed bumps on the prime joy riding roads and am confident that effort is being put into making this area safer. I moved to this area ten years ago and it was a reasonable area then. It has since declined and I feel the main contibutary factors are lack of education and underage sex resulting in young pregnancies, increase in rented properties, all this and more coupled with unemployment. This area is highly dominated by young adults who have never been taught the meaning of respect, there is low employment and low morale, some of our neighbours resort to crime for money and the ones that do work hard, work very very hard and often long unreasonable hours, this in turn does not give them any joy in life and having so many bored and frustrated people togther in one spot ensures that this town remains on a rolling boil. However, the people are only as good as they are taught to be and I do not wish to appear hypocritical when challenging the description of this area's population, I am mearly stating that we cannot blame the people only, we must study what effect the environment contributes to the problem! This is also a nationwide problem due to a decline in society standards anyway and lack of a decent government that know's what it is doing! We bought our house here originally because it was affordable and was pleasant when we first visited, populated mainly by pensioners and middle class workers, we saw no reason not to move here back then. Since then I've realised that it would be difficult for us to move (even more so now with this label attached to the area) because we cannot sell our house for a decent sum. The majority of properties are being bought by landlords who don't care who lives on the property and so we have no choice over our neighbours and they do not respect 'a house' in the same way as we do 'our home', because we own our property and look after it. Could other people please realise that not all people who live in Blackley and it's surrounding areas are of bad ilk?. Some of us are fed up with the assuming nation that scoffs when we say where we live and wrinkle thier noses, I currently don't have a choice about where I live and who lives here with me, I just do my best and hope that my neighbours will improve thier behaviour, but I do not wish to be forced out of an area that was once nice by a minority of idiots that will eventually grow up and move themselves! I am well educated, hard working, and proud, and I do not appreciate being stereoptyped by the area in which I live.

I grew up in blackley,moston,harpurhey and moved to australia 12 years ago .its no secret that things are tough around there,but i recently went home for a holiday and,considering the label the people still have one thing that all these well off aussies will never have ,the crack,a smile for you when you think its all going against you,the ability to look on the bright side because god knows weve had to over the years.Yep people of m9 can hold there heads up,i for one will always be proud of my roots,heres to a better future cmon blair pull yer finger out

Well its all the talk, on thought for the day on Radio 4, Happy smiles in Chorleywood and I say what should we be doing for Harpurhey

I work at a travel agents within shouting distance of the new market centre in Harpurhey. To be honest I am jealous,everywhere around us the council are helping and improving properties,the shops on the Rochdale and Lightbowne roads for example, Have had major facelifts and refurbishments, we happen to be in between them on a road that doesn't lead directly to any of the new stadiums built for the Commonwealth games, seems strange, perhaps we were just forgotten. I know some of the owners who have had their properties improved and they tell me the council intigated the changes they weren't actually asked for. Wonder why we were not approached, perhaps they thought not enough visitors would pass us by. Whatever the reasons and I'm sure some smarta--e at the council can explain them,in the meantime,we are still in our little oasis, workind hard and keeping our heads above water, but sorry Manchester, if anyone important happens to pass by we will have our refurbished signs up by about 2007/8 try and keep them away until then, don't want to show you up.

37 years old lived in harpurhey since i was 10 yes it does have some bad points but so does everywhere else people are friendly round here its just the few that spoil it.

I have worked in Harpurhey for over 7 years. The heart of Harpurhey is the people who face the problems of the area without fear and with determination and who want to stay there, have history there and want to make a future there. They have taken part in getting the area to the stage where it is now in the spotlight for major investment. And never was it more richly deserved. It is a falsehood to blame the people of Harpurhey for the problems they experience. So don't do it, alright? They are problems faced by any typical inner city area in the North West. There is a lack of pretension in Harpurhey that captures the real Mancunian spirit as we used to celebrate it. But the area is owed the choices, opportunities and a right to basic standards of living that the rest of the city largely enjoys. And when the big improvements come, as they will, Harpurhey will be more than ready to get up, make the most of them and party!

I have lived in Moston which is close to Harpurhey for 22 yrs,I have brought up two children one a nurse the other is at university. It has only got bad in this area through private landlords dumping anybody in their houses just so they get the rent paid. Also we are sick and tired of all these bad families being dumped in the area like all the asbo kids.

i think harpurhey is great because i used to live iin salford in the kersal where it was bad in the time we was there (3months) we was broken into the femnce was bverned down 3 times and our car was broken in to and all the abuse you got of the kids and people who lived round there it was unbelaveable where we live now we havent heard a soul causeing triuble

I grew up on Sharston St, Harpurhey in the 50s. Although Harpurhey may not be the best place in England I do not consider it the worst!. Hey, I went to Alfred St Girls and I made it to the USA have been to college and get a load of this I came from Harpurhey!
I was home to Manchester last year and found other places very run down in the Manchester area, so give Harpurhey a break .
I am very proud to call Harpurhey my hometown I am aware there is a lot of vandalisum in Manchester shops boarded up, etc., this I could not believe. How about neighbourhoods getting together and doing something about the youths that are doing this? I went to Christ Church Sunday school and noticed vandalisum there also.
Anyway, you can't take away my Harpurhey it's in my soul.
I plan to come back next year for a visit, see you then.
Barbara Cunningham.
(nee) Doubleday

I am a student nurse currently working in Harpurhey. I am doing a neighbourhood study of the area. I am focusing on Older People. I am interested in how these government boffins conduct their research of the area. At the moment there is major work going on in the area so how long or will Harpurhey ever loose the title of being the worst place in England to live?

i used to live in manchester and yes harpurhey was very bad but now i live in the so called wonderful capital. I don't think so anymore, you do have the amazing attractions and historical monuments in the city and the west end but london is a big city. Alot bigger than manchester and there are a quite frankly disgraceful number of run down high rise tower blocks that are only complemented by the the obscene amount of drugs, guns,murders,gangs and ghetto like behaviour. Harpurney is bad but trust me london is an extrermly rough place that i believe is the roughest city in England

Benchill in Wythenshawe was named the most deprived are in England a few years ago, it seems Manchester has a monopoly on this title.

Just goes to show, Manchester keeps pumping money into the centre, and ignores the problems on its crime ridden estsates, Manchester eats caviar, but has nothing in the fridge.

I think that this web page is displaying Harpurhey in a very bad way. As a resident on Harpurhey i think that it is not as bad as it is portrayed i have lived there all my life and this website is very very very wrong!!!

Well said Andy, Wythenshawe. I was brought up in Benchill in the 70s. A poor area even then but nowhere near as bad as it has become after many millions of so called "regeneration". I know many people who live in equally bad areas of manchester - Openshaw, Ardwick to name but two. All have had bucket loads of money to try to improve the areas but they forget one thing. The area is brought down by the people - bad council and private tenants who dont give a monkeys for the area as long as they get enough to go down to the pub and buy cigarettes.