Thoughtful article. I used to live in didsbury, and visit once a year or so for the excellent Saturday parkrun. The biggest need in the centre is to sort out the public realm, particularly the main road with tiny pavements which totally dominates the street and makes walking and cycling inconvenient and dangerous. Otherwise, I have no problem with Greggs et al at all. It's hardly difficult to get a skinny latte.
What I love about Didsbury is the community here. It is much more than a few shops and pubs. Didsbury Park and it's fantastic friends group. You won't see better flower beds in Manchester. The amount of events on during the year. Didsbury Fete, The Classic Car Show, the Parsonage Gardens Fete, Didsbury Pride.
We regularly have a Sunday walk to Didsbury from where we live in Withington and enjoy coffee and cake and enjoy bumping into friends.
The Didsbury Dozen isn't going to impact on that. So no I don't feel it has lost its way there is a lot more to it although a small gripe of mine is the streetscape and pavements as ever leave a lot to be desired although not uncommon across Manchester unfortunately.
BTW, the 1960s Midland Pulman's only stop on the way to London was Cheadle Heath - not Didsbury, but close. When the line closed (as it duplicated the west coast main line), MCC had huge foresight in protecting the route for what is now metrolink. Stockport refused to even take the tracked for free. If they had done, metrolink would already be running to Stockport.
I hope you can come over to Northenden sometime, it would be interesting to see the place, sometimes referred to as 'The Village', from a visitor's point of view. I like living here but I can't really sell the place... unless you need a haircut, you want your nails done or you want to kick-start your vaping habit... When we first moved here, I overheard a conversation in a local café. "Northenden's up and coming, then." "Huh, it's been up and coming for twenty years!"
Having grown up in Didsbury and spent a large portion of my young adult life there before moving over to Chorlton, it was interesting to read this!
Of the two things mentioned in this article, the Dozen and the rates, I know which I blame more for the high street not being as good as it can be, and it isn't people taking on the dozen.
I still pop back for a drink in Didsbury and to see my parents quite often (and to watch City play in the Oak or the Fletch) and whilst the dozeners can be a bit of a pain, because they come in waves then leave, the pubs they're in never stay too busy/unbearable at the bar I find. And the Fletch has seemed to have a license to just print money for as long as Ive been old enough to drink, it has never not seemed busy, so you can't blame the dozen for that.
The rates and rent however! My dad's an accountant and has had a fair few Didsbury clients, and this is the main issue. It just makes it so hard for places to stick, especially new businesses. If anything were to blame, I'd say that.
Also, for all the talk of stagnation, at least Didsbury has improved from a few years back, when the Mail ran that truly deranged piece about it being a 'no go zone' for white people! (Still the maddest thing I've ever read, I think).
As resident of west Didsbury for over 10 years I enjoyed reading this and getting the perspective of various local people but I do feel it’s a bit of a non-story. Yes places like the fletcher moss and the famous crown have seen a (well needed) boost from becoming more popular with some young people but I’ve spent many Saturday evenings having a few drinks in both pubs over the last year when its not been that busy at all.
There is a better question around the mix of independents and what a ‘thriving’ high street looks like. That woman may not like the idea of Greggs but just as many people want a sausage and bean pasty as a fancy donut from La Chouquette, you need both.
West Didsbury is a lot more compact than its counterpart, probably a few hundred metres from George Charles on the corner up to the tram stop which helps with that smaller and more independent feel. The village is much bigger and as we have seen with the churn of venues a lot more vulnerable.
A good reality check for all that high streets everywhere are suffering be it Ramsbottom, Oldham or Didsbury. We can crave postcard streets with butchers, fishmongers and greengrocers but in reality we all love a supermarket.
(Most people would kill for the footfall of the Dozen…)
A very good article though I take issue with some things. The Village and West Didsbury aren't really comparable. West Didsbury is almost exclusively cafes, bars and restaurants - and fairly bougie ones at that. There's very little there that's of any use in day-to-day life beyond the co-op and a hardware store (unless you routinely need boutique furniture and expensive glasses frames?). The Village has much more - banks, butchers, fishmongers, grocers, bakery, some charity shops, a (better) ironmongers... There's more variety in what's on offer, too. I used to live in Didsbury and now live in Withington ("North Didsbury" made me laugh), and I'd go to either one for different things. They're also incredibly close to one another - talking about them as though they're miles apart makes little sense.
On the comments about the former Manchester Met campus - if that had expanded I doubt the Village would be nearly as nice or popular as it is now. You'd have seen more studentification - it'd be another Withington, if not another Fallowfield. I'm not sure residents would have wanted that.
I totally agree that sky-high rents are a big problem, though. The rent hike asked of Greens was insane.
Lastly I was glad to see a bit of shade thrown at Gail's. As far as I can tell their business model seems to be to work out where a small, independent bakery cafe is doing well, then open up down the street to try and force the independent out of business. That's what happened where I used to live in Oxford (to one of my favourite cafes), so I hope they can't pull it off in Didsbury.
It may have got worse but I don't think this is a new problem. We used to live in Burnage and stopped going out in Didsbury on a Saturday night maybe 16 years ago after it got a bit fighty. Really felt like the atmosphere had changed. Still used to walk in every Saturday morning with my eldest on my shoulders for an early breakfast at Saints & Scholars though. She was a very early riser and it was the only place open at 7am!
Glad to hear the Crown has improved. We had lunch in there 20 years ago while waiting to find out if our offer on our first house had been accepted. When my wife's jacket potato came out it was clear they had microwaved the whole plate, including the salad and the butter packs.
I’ve just moved to Didsbury from London and I’m loving it so far. Attractions for me: concentration of useful shops and businesses; public green spaces; decent places to eat; and good transport links. Great reporting by the way; this is proper journalism.
Thoughtful article. I used to live in didsbury, and visit once a year or so for the excellent Saturday parkrun. The biggest need in the centre is to sort out the public realm, particularly the main road with tiny pavements which totally dominates the street and makes walking and cycling inconvenient and dangerous. Otherwise, I have no problem with Greggs et al at all. It's hardly difficult to get a skinny latte.
What I love about Didsbury is the community here. It is much more than a few shops and pubs. Didsbury Park and it's fantastic friends group. You won't see better flower beds in Manchester. The amount of events on during the year. Didsbury Fete, The Classic Car Show, the Parsonage Gardens Fete, Didsbury Pride.
We regularly have a Sunday walk to Didsbury from where we live in Withington and enjoy coffee and cake and enjoy bumping into friends.
The Didsbury Dozen isn't going to impact on that. So no I don't feel it has lost its way there is a lot more to it although a small gripe of mine is the streetscape and pavements as ever leave a lot to be desired although not uncommon across Manchester unfortunately.
BTW, the 1960s Midland Pulman's only stop on the way to London was Cheadle Heath - not Didsbury, but close. When the line closed (as it duplicated the west coast main line), MCC had huge foresight in protecting the route for what is now metrolink. Stockport refused to even take the tracked for free. If they had done, metrolink would already be running to Stockport.
And a very minor correction to the article is the London services ran into St Pancras, not King's Cross.
I hope you can come over to Northenden sometime, it would be interesting to see the place, sometimes referred to as 'The Village', from a visitor's point of view. I like living here but I can't really sell the place... unless you need a haircut, you want your nails done or you want to kick-start your vaping habit... When we first moved here, I overheard a conversation in a local café. "Northenden's up and coming, then." "Huh, it's been up and coming for twenty years!"
Hoped this was going to be an article about the Village People. The Mill does cheesey disco!
But having said, the Village People did have the answer in their 1979 hit. If you're looking for the place to be - 'Go West' (Didsbury).
See you in Folk.
Having grown up in Didsbury and spent a large portion of my young adult life there before moving over to Chorlton, it was interesting to read this!
Of the two things mentioned in this article, the Dozen and the rates, I know which I blame more for the high street not being as good as it can be, and it isn't people taking on the dozen.
I still pop back for a drink in Didsbury and to see my parents quite often (and to watch City play in the Oak or the Fletch) and whilst the dozeners can be a bit of a pain, because they come in waves then leave, the pubs they're in never stay too busy/unbearable at the bar I find. And the Fletch has seemed to have a license to just print money for as long as Ive been old enough to drink, it has never not seemed busy, so you can't blame the dozen for that.
The rates and rent however! My dad's an accountant and has had a fair few Didsbury clients, and this is the main issue. It just makes it so hard for places to stick, especially new businesses. If anything were to blame, I'd say that.
Also, for all the talk of stagnation, at least Didsbury has improved from a few years back, when the Mail ran that truly deranged piece about it being a 'no go zone' for white people! (Still the maddest thing I've ever read, I think).
As resident of west Didsbury for over 10 years I enjoyed reading this and getting the perspective of various local people but I do feel it’s a bit of a non-story. Yes places like the fletcher moss and the famous crown have seen a (well needed) boost from becoming more popular with some young people but I’ve spent many Saturday evenings having a few drinks in both pubs over the last year when its not been that busy at all.
There is a better question around the mix of independents and what a ‘thriving’ high street looks like. That woman may not like the idea of Greggs but just as many people want a sausage and bean pasty as a fancy donut from La Chouquette, you need both.
West Didsbury is a lot more compact than its counterpart, probably a few hundred metres from George Charles on the corner up to the tram stop which helps with that smaller and more independent feel. The village is much bigger and as we have seen with the churn of venues a lot more vulnerable.
Also I grew up in Didsbury and there always was a Greggs or similar? It wasn't all independents in the 80s. Tesco was in the village then.
A good reality check for all that high streets everywhere are suffering be it Ramsbottom, Oldham or Didsbury. We can crave postcard streets with butchers, fishmongers and greengrocers but in reality we all love a supermarket.
(Most people would kill for the footfall of the Dozen…)
Didsbury problems eh.
A very good article though I take issue with some things. The Village and West Didsbury aren't really comparable. West Didsbury is almost exclusively cafes, bars and restaurants - and fairly bougie ones at that. There's very little there that's of any use in day-to-day life beyond the co-op and a hardware store (unless you routinely need boutique furniture and expensive glasses frames?). The Village has much more - banks, butchers, fishmongers, grocers, bakery, some charity shops, a (better) ironmongers... There's more variety in what's on offer, too. I used to live in Didsbury and now live in Withington ("North Didsbury" made me laugh), and I'd go to either one for different things. They're also incredibly close to one another - talking about them as though they're miles apart makes little sense.
On the comments about the former Manchester Met campus - if that had expanded I doubt the Village would be nearly as nice or popular as it is now. You'd have seen more studentification - it'd be another Withington, if not another Fallowfield. I'm not sure residents would have wanted that.
I totally agree that sky-high rents are a big problem, though. The rent hike asked of Greens was insane.
Lastly I was glad to see a bit of shade thrown at Gail's. As far as I can tell their business model seems to be to work out where a small, independent bakery cafe is doing well, then open up down the street to try and force the independent out of business. That's what happened where I used to live in Oxford (to one of my favourite cafes), so I hope they can't pull it off in Didsbury.
It may have got worse but I don't think this is a new problem. We used to live in Burnage and stopped going out in Didsbury on a Saturday night maybe 16 years ago after it got a bit fighty. Really felt like the atmosphere had changed. Still used to walk in every Saturday morning with my eldest on my shoulders for an early breakfast at Saints & Scholars though. She was a very early riser and it was the only place open at 7am!
Glad to hear the Crown has improved. We had lunch in there 20 years ago while waiting to find out if our offer on our first house had been accepted. When my wife's jacket potato came out it was clear they had microwaved the whole plate, including the salad and the butter packs.
I’ve just moved to Didsbury from London and I’m loving it so far. Attractions for me: concentration of useful shops and businesses; public green spaces; decent places to eat; and good transport links. Great reporting by the way; this is proper journalism.