Ashton-in-Makerfield....

Recently featured in MSN reports as THE place where property values were increasing the most.

I recently had been considering returning to Ashton. My sister sent to me property details of where we once had lived.

My parents had payed £1,000 for this property in 1960's.

A couple of years back, it was on the market for £260,000

During this period, earnings have increased by around 50 times, so gerring more than 5 times better than inflation ain't bad.

No wonder we have a housing crisis!

Its the present 'vogue' to name your child after a famous Place and, I think I would like a child of mine named " Bryn Station" ,

I see plenty of people who have the name, Rose Hill.

(Shut up you old bat: comes to mind)

If I was moving to the Wigan area, the South of Wigan would be my choice, because that is where the infrastructure has been the most improved in recent years, so Ashton could definitely be the place, the centre of Ashton can be a nightmare traffic jam wise, but only in the centre of Ashton, but as regards to shops and services, they are all to the South of Wigan, there is nowt to the North, West or East of Wigan

I liked Bryn/Ashton when I lived there as a child.

When I left school, I found myself commuting to Preston to pursue my chosen career, (Though still went to Wigan Tech)

The trend continued: Manchester for college, and London for occupation, then moved around the country and abroad an awful lot.

Back to Greater Manc at the end of 1970's, but soon found myself in uncomfortable circumstances on account of being a whistleblower in NHS.

Eventually, I succumbed to enticements to 'get yourself out of there and come and work with us', so once again away from the North West.

In the meantime, family in the area have all now passed on. Also what I liked about living there now is history: it has all gone.

There is no rationale to prompt me to return.

Just the completely irrational sense of home.

ena the reason we have a housing crisis is because there,s no social houses being built ? .

A housing crisis caused jointly by the population increase fropm a flawed immigration policy and the wrong level of housing being built by building firms whose policy is, "the bigger the house the more profit we make"

After the war, there was a real housing shortage which was solved by a massive Council House Building programme of two and three bedroom houses by the then Attlee led Labour Goverment which unlike today a great deal of the house building consists of three to seven bedroom houses built in abundance for the better off while not enough affordable housing is being built for the less well off, many of whom are the immigrants.

Priorities in housing today is all wrong with wealth taking priority over need and Councils now more interested in getting larger amounts of Council Tax from the bigger houses which was never the case in the harder times of 1945!

Homes

The Term ' affordable homes' is a joke, Up until the 1980,s builders used to build houses .There would be a building firm with an office several sites and a foreman on each site ,and then .The big change came, The money men saw building as big profit for little investment The money men bought all the small building firms and Large companies were formed and came the ,
CEO's , sales Managers, Area Sales coordinator, research and development , marketing suite directors and lots of other blood sucking, middle managing leeches taking the big profits and wanting more , This pushed the price of houses through the ' imitation slate' roof because, The materials were now cheaper but the house much dearer

housing crisis ??? blame immigrants if it makes you feel better...
Or there is the truth!!!Keep building at the minimum so you can inflate the price and buy land and then sit on it !!!!

Tomplum

Barratt have bought Redrow for £2.5 billion. Barratt are short of land with planning permission, Redrow have a substantial land bank with planning permission in very good areas. That’s one hell of an investment by Barratt.

In the mid 40's the council built the Downall Green estate now how many of the houses are in private hands.Even on Whupsy's street there is a ex council house for sale. There should be a minimum period of at least 10 years before council houses can be bought and then a minimum period before they can be sold on

Gaffer Yes and ALL the workers who build the houses are self employed , So the cost of building houses is more or less the same percentage wise because there is no ' tooling up' needed or upgrading factories/warehouses, Their investment is better than buying GOLD,,

I once lived in a Barratt-built house.....

NEVER AGAIN!

I remember reading, a few years back, of Barratt being refused planning permissions on the ground of the rooms in their proposed houses being considered too small to be fit for purpose of human habitation.

I've lost count of the people who buy new builds and when they come to move in. their furniture won't fit in the house , The show houses have special furniture built so it looks cosy but not purchase able in the high street,
Common practice is for the builder to take the biggest window out and fork lift the new customers furniture in. The problem arises when the new buyer moves, The builder has no obligation to help them,,,

The best houses were built in the 1960's, They were good sized rooms with cavity walled ( twin brick) with no insulation in the cavity, Wooden beams , copper pipes and proper wood ( no chip board or MFD ) second fix joinery, the only improvements need was, double glazing and loft insulation , After that came, cheap blockwork walls, paper doors, plaster board internal walls, plastic pipes ,Timber framed houses and they build them so close together you cannot get a wheelbarrow down the side,

So, missing only Welsh slate for the best of all possible worlds?

Rubbish

Tom Plum

Correct, and the Wife and I live in one, built in 1967.

Perhaps the new thown up individual styed large detached houses of today may look posher, but with internal walls made up of wood and plasterboard, it might explain why so many now have high energy bills to keep them warm in the winter months.

And unlike many of the newer houses, we have a drive which accomodates two cars and a wider distance between the next door neighbours houses in our Band B property!

MEN is bigging up A in M

I didn't know that Andy Burnham had moved to Ashton, because where he lived before was less than 5 minutes drive to Ashton, if no traffic jams, he will want what he had at Golborne, which is easy access on to the East Lancs and M6 roads.

As regards Ashton in Makerfield being on the up, then I would agree, but only because Ashton is near Warrington, and has good access to the Gemini and Omega business area's.

TTS

The access to the M6 southbound would be much easier if the slip road to the East Lancs from Lodge Lane had a longer run off.

Gaffer

I agree, there is no room for traffic to wait at the traffic lights.

Yeah I've noticed Ashton seems to be getting expensive to live. I lived in Wigan road as a kid in a terraced house, my mum and dad I think paid about 10k in 1983 for it, now that house is probably valued at about £180,000. Moved to near Lowbank Road in the early 90s to a semi and the houses in that row are worth next to nothing. I remember someone next door but one selling his house about 10 years ago and it was on the market for only £110,000. When my grandma died about 6 years ago her lovely red brick house in Wolmer St was sold for only £115,000, yet a few months later a house at the bottom of the street was on the market for £170,000. The bloke who bought the house has completely destoyed the period look of it by modernising it with new bricks and putting those ugly grey windows and door on that seem to be fasionable now.

Behind me is the posh estate leading to Skitters where eveyone seems to have money burning a hole in their pockets with a new extension and drive way built. Then there's Liverpool Road where they must all be millionaires. Clive Unsworth's old bungalow on Liverpool Road has been rebuilt. That house must be worth in excess of a million now with the amount of work done to it.

Speaking of Bryn, but what a dump it has become. I was walking on Bryn Station side of Wigan Road the other day and many of the front gardens of those terraced house were littered with rubbish. Behind the fence at the station the overgrown grass is full of rubbish. It used to be lovely when I was a kid in the 80s. I think putting a Bargain Booze on the corner, plus all the takeaway joins, hasn't helped, it's attracted alot of poor families, druggies, chavs/scallies and alcholics. Worse part of Bryn I've seen are the backs of the houses facing Whitledge Green, it's full of crap that the owners have just thrown out, it's a disgrace. I think there are too many people. There's no such as overpopulation, but we are being moved away from the countryside and push into towns and cities which is causing overcrowding. Of course this is good for the greedy developers and landowners who will make a killing.

I always liked the black and white houses on Liverpool Road. When I was a kid, parents had considered rental of one, I think it was next door to the doctor's. (Dr Levine, I think) 'tis a long time back, so I could be wrong, and in any case it did not happen. Although I do not recall details of the house, I do remember that I was impressed.

Old Dr levin lived on wigan road behind his surgery a cross from the council building then his son took over the surgery

this was in the paper/online this morning about Ashton
ashton

I've noticed in certain parts of Ashton, particularly around the Liverpool Road area and near to Skitters there is hardly anyone who speaks with a Wigan accent. All I hear are Mancs or the odd scouse accent. I've even heard posh southern accents. This is what the high house prices are doing, it's bringing in all the wealthy people from the south. And as for community spirit then forget it's virtually non existent around around the posh estates. Most of the people around there are either miserable or strange who move about 10 feet away from you when you walk past them if they think you have a disease, the area has a very unwelcome vibe to it IMO, and I've lived around there for over 30 years. I often see this old bloke near Skitters who lives on Woodedge, he has this ridiculously long Moses beard that's almost down to his belly lol. The area is full of eccentrics. Constrast that are with someone like Whiston where my ex lives and it's like night and day. the people are alot more welcolming and friendly and they will look out for each other. You won't get much of that in Ashton. The Wigan spirit isn't there anymore like it used to be, or maybe it's just certain areas.

I know several people who live on Liverpool Road who were born in the locality. The accent is probably more down to working in the professions and/or a university education.

I wonder if this Mr Burton sells genuine crystals and not fake ones?. I've heard alot of crystals like Shungite which can be used to absorb EMF radiation from wifi emissions. They can also be used to help with sleeping and healing.

Ashtonmon, I don't think you know your arse from your elbow about Ashton, having lived there for 30 years or not. I've lived in the area for over 65 years and, yes, it's changed, but not in the way you make out.
Anyroadup, why on Earth should anyone from Ashton speak with a Wigan accent? Unless, of course, they're imposters from Wigan who've moved upmarket, and they'd stand out like a sore thumb!

Can I say something ?

TTS no, not yet.
I've lived in Ashton for 58 years. I agree with what Tonker put in his last post.

Ok

Posted by: tonker (27721) View tonker's page

Ashtonmon, I don't think you know your arse from your elbow about Ashton,

not took him long