Bury New Road was more or less built along the corpse of a Roman road, which once connected the forts of Mamucium, now Manchester, and Bremetennacum, now Ribchester. These days it sets off from under the shadow of Strangeways prison, running from Counterfeit Street where Operation Vulcan routinely ransacks the once-ancient road for knock-off handbags, and travelling North until just after Whitefield. Not long ago, and somewhere in between these two locations though significantly closer to the latter, something happened on Bury New Road that resulted in a slew of local outrage, widespread online discourse, and over ten articles in the MEN prophesying either the downfall or the heyday of the once-great or otherwise soon-to-be-great North Manchester. In December of 2024, Bury New Road got a Rudy’s.
The segment of the road that makes up Prestwich high street has long found itself in the public eye. Last year, the town made it onto the Sunday Times' list of best places to live, with the paper waxing lyrical about roomy Victorian terraces and "like-minded folk with whom to chomp your grilled cheese and kimchi sourdough sandwich.” The same article also drew predictable comparisons between the town and Didsbury – South Mancunian pinnacle of fine-living. Media coverage surrounding Prestwich in recent years has been nothing short of breathless (See: "'Prestwich Transformed': Eight things you probably didn't know about the massive £100M regeneration of the town", and "The Rise of the 'Burbs: How Manchester's Outlying Neighbourhoods are Booming"), and this attention was only exacerbated by the news that two upmarket chains, Rudy's and Gail's were soon to descend. The new narrative was that Prestwich is all very posh now. It’s not mid-gentrification, it is gentrified, the deal is done.
At the risk of adding fuel to the media fire, we wanted to delve into what's going on in the town. How has it changed? Has becoming a culinary destination made Prestwich a nicer place to live for locals? And do Gail’s and Rudy’s arrival really spell the beginning of the end?

So first, figures. A story about Prestwich changing is also a story about Covid-19. On visiting, locals told me of the influx of newcomers that arrived during the pandemic — families and dog owners keen on clough access and a wealth of green spaces at their door. This is backed up by the data, which shows that while house prices in Prestwich have been increasing at above-average Mancunian rates for the past 20 years, these prices shot up post pandemic. In the year before the lockdown landed, the average house price in Prestwich Central was 12% higher than the Manchester average. Four years later, this disparity hit 41%.

Comments
How to comment:
If you are already a member,
click here to sign in
and leave a comment.
If you aren't a member,
sign up here
to be able to leave a comment.
To add your photo, click here to create a profile on Gravatar.