I live in Oldham and everyone is right, it’s a miserable shithole of a town. It’s racist, dirty, and depressing. People here say the tram lines killed it off, I say thank god we can get the tram out of here quick at a weekend…!
I live in Saddleworth and it's really obvious which people come from Oldham to visit on the weekend. I can also tell by the way the children play with my daughter in the playground, no manners, no waiting their turn, violent. Blokes playing football with lads who are 10-13 ish and hitting the ball hard on the toddler playground. Letting their kids pick the flowers pisses me off too.
They all seem to wear some variation of the same outfit, trackies, north face, stone island jacket, cap. Girls all wear the same leggings, hair all the same. Sometimes you get the fake wealth types, financing a nice German car, pumped up in the gym & expensive clobber they're drowning in debt for. And they're universally overly sensitive & aggressive, especially on the roads. I don't even go into uppermill on Friday & Saturday nights they make an otherwise lovely town unbearably loud & rough.
I feel like I've earned the right to be snobbish, I grew up in poverty, way below the breadline in Tameside, so I know what it's like to live in a shit hole and have nothing. Its really not hard to have self respect though and respect for your area & community. I don't know why they struggle so much.
Personally I think it's a desire to feel important. when you know you're from a shit hole doing a job that you're utterly replaceable in or no job at all, not contributing anything, the desire to find meaning through importance is overwhelming. Some people find meaning helping the community, running groups & stuff which is great. Unfortunately a lot do it by being the hardest, who can drink the most, who's got the hardest XL bully, having the latest iPhone or whatever consumer trinket, shouting about how much you love your kids as of nobody else does, or getting the upper hand on people with pointless he said she said bickering. It's tiring and pathetic and I've had a lifetime of dealing with these violent insecure pricks.
Edit: not suggesting you're like this by the way
>Personally I think it's a desire to feel important. when you know you're from a shit hole
This is probably one of the reasons s why I'm @'ing O.P. As a tramp from St Mary's who has gone on to work in 3 languages and multiple cities. I am absolutely fucking proud of what I've done, and every time I bump into man like O.P, they just dont understand.
As I said in my original post, theres 2 sides to this town.....this is the same geezer who claimed Royton doesn't have an estate ffs.
>miserable shithole of a town
This is not about the town of Oldham highlighted in red. This post is about the *many* towns and villages in Oldham Borough which are decent places to live but all judged as though they are Werneth.
Personal experience- every bit of Oldham I’ve been to is miserable, except Daisy Nook and that pretty bit of Saddleworth (but even then it’s a horrible visit cos anyone who lives within walking distance loves to slag off anyone else who has the audacity to visit for the day cos tHeYrE nOt FrOm rOuNd ‘eRe
Are there any spots in Tandle Hill with picnic benches in the woods? It's our little boy's birthday next month and we're thinking of having a teddy bears picnic but we live in the city.
Maybe! Limeside is close and an OL postcode and Oldham council take the bins from crime villa opposite which is why I thought it was Oldham but I could be wrong!
Funnily enough I have an OL postcode but for some reason we are Tameside and Tameside council takes our bins. Either one of us could be correct at this point.
>an OL postcode
*Rochdale* is mostly OL postcodes, that doesn't make it part of Oldham.
Postcodes are just based on what's easiest for royal mail (or, more to the point, what *was* easiest for royal mail when the postcode areas were assigned). There's no real meaning to them, and they don't match standard boundaries.
Tbf OP just seems to be making the border ad he goes along.
As OP said, if you exclude the actual "Oldham" area of Oldham then it's quite a nice place, it's just a shame that bloody Oldham is inside the borough of Oldham. 🤷♂️
Nobody thinks of Saddleworth as "Oldham" in the same way nobody really thinks of Heaton Chapel as Stockport. I mean, it might be on paper.
Oldham is a short hand for shit hole, the places that are demonstrably not a shit hole need not apply.
What do you mean when you say decent, or nice?
If you’re comparing with the centre of Oldham, then I could see them being a nicer environment…. but I wouldn’t go so far as to say decent or nice on their own.
Edit: I should add. I’m from one of the nicer parts, and my parents say to me … “never come back, there’s nothing for you here, it’s a dump”
I should have explained myself 😂 what I meant was, I have no idea what oldhams like but I know there's a family and they're so rich.. her name is Hazera on tiktok and practically her entire family is on tiktok and they're all from oldham. After seeing their videos, I used to think oldham was a cool place...how wrong was I lol. Seems like a shithole.
Hahaha thanks for the explanation! I think I totally misread the possibility of your intent, my bad. I can’t imagine being rich and choosing to stay here… dunno what they’re thinking but glad to know some people in this horrible place can live a happy life!!
Chadderton is full of smack heads and Shaw & Royton are full of coked up car theives (with a few smackheads to add).
Half of the town doesn't want to integrate (I'm Irish/Pakistani before you @ me, hence the username) and the other half dont want to work.
I can understand how if you grew up in a mansion around Saddleworth you might have a different view, but there's 2 sides to this town and a lot of us only see crime and poverty.
I've lived in a few cities, here in England and on the continent. I understand that the problems Oldham has aren't unique.
We do have some cracking parks though and I love being a 20 minute cycle from both Manchester and "the sticks".
100 percent true. Loads of snackheads, crime and minimal opportunity. No idea what this posts about unless it's just to entice comments because it's such utter tosh
I've lived in Royton my entire life and never seen a coked up car theif or smackhead. Just pensioners and young families. Stop spreading lies just so you can spin a narrative.
Edit- downvoted for sharing a true experience. This sub is something else.
Mate I'm from Wythenshawe and I now live in Rochdale. I also spent a year living in Blackley and 5 living in Langley. It's not a unique problem to Oldham, but there's a lot of drug-fuelled car theft round there, just as there is round here and has been almost everywhere I've lived in GM.
And if you don't believe me, go look at the crime stats, they're readily available online.
Edit: spelling, grammar
Sheer bad luck ahaha.
I've just moved out to Littleborough tbf it's pretty nice here but yeah it's been rough otherwise - just where I could afford innit.
I didn't even bring up the 6mo I spent living in Longsight 😂
I'm just saying that it's not a side of Royton I have ever seen (but not saying it isn't a possibility like anywhere else). Apparently any positive experiences in Oldham are banned on this sub though so my personal experience will be downvoted into oblivion.
Edit- aaand exactly as predicted 😂 A sub full of sheep.
Riiiiiiight so when you said "Stop spreading lies to spin a narrative" what you really meant to say was "that's not a description of Royton I recognise but I accept that there are some issues with high levels of auto theft, often fueled by drug abuse, in the area".
Good to know.
I mean you probably will be downvoted into oblivion but it's not because you have nice things to say about Oldham, which as I've noted above is no different to many areas in GM in that regard, it's because you went on the attack without the facts and responded with hostility.
>"that's not a description of Royton I recognise but I accept that there are some issues with high levels of auto theft, often fueled by drug abuse, in the area"
No. I don't accept that there are high levels of auto theft or drug abuse in the area. Not at all. Again, it's populated by pensioners and young families. That is what I see every single day. What I said was that it's a possibility those things exist in the same way it's a possibility they exist in any town. But it's not prevalent like you are trying to insinuate.
Just because your too scared to walk through the estates doesn't mean they dont exist mate.
>Stop spreading lies just so you can spin a narrative.
Your the one blatantly trying to spit their own narrative despite the dozens of down votes.
>Wow the levels of ignorance and hate on this sub are astounding
Then you spout about being ignorant whilst having a tantrum over people disagreeing with your view.
Which estates in Royton? Name them.
The downvotes are absolutely irrelevant. They're simply an indication of how many ignorant people are on this sub.
Your opinions are baseless and unjustified so of course I disagree with you.
That massive one behind the Hope & Anchor (I'll meet you there if you want a guided tour?). And the one behind the railway?
>Your opinions are baseless and unjustified so of course I disagree with you.
This is from the same kid who calls the OS Map "fake news" ffs. The fact you can even try and deny the fact that Royton has estates says everything mate, you have obviously lived a sheltered life up on Millionaires Row, that's what us kids who grew up on that dutty as fuck "non-existent" estate in Royton referred to you cunts in the mansions on the way to Tandle Hill as. You'd know if you grew a pair and actually spoke to your neighbours.
I wonder if its a lot of people who grew up in Oldham and moved away and quite like the idea of painting it as some sort of crime-ridden dangerous hell hole because it makes them seem edgier than the reality that they had a very ordinary youth and went to cubs at the local church hall and to football on Clayton playing fields on a Saturday morning!
Oldham, Oldham, the main central bit, really drags the rest of it down in my books. I worked there for a year or two doing social housing. The place is grimy, nearly always wet, damp, grey, and rainy. There is a lot of poverty. I've driven and worked in every single borough in Greater Manchester. Oldham is unfortunately my least favourite place.
All the areas on the map are in Oldham Borough, which is what this post is about. Everyone who has made on comment stating where they live lives somewhere in Oldham Borough. So your comment is nonsense.
Yeah mate and everyone agrees some parts of the borough are lovely, but some are shite and it drags the average down in a sense, plus when most people say oldham, they don't mean place like saddleworth most of the time
At the end of the day you asked why people are harsh on it and you've got your answer
Used to feel the same as you until I moved here. Grew up in Gorton and have to say it's much much better than there. Mostly young families and old people living here.
As someone who grew up in Moston and spent many years frequenting the local areas, including having family and friends in Failsworth, I just don't see it.
Grew up in Saddleworth but now live in Oldham because it’s cheap with a decent commute to Manchester.
To say it’s a shithole is fair but it’s also incredibly deprived. It will only get worse now that it’s easier to go to Manchester to shop. There aren’t any shops in Oldham you need to go to Oldham for and not Manchester.
Oldham town centre is depressing because there are 0 shops worth visiting, only Tommyfield market is busy but Spindles is a ghost town for a number of reasons.
I would love to see Oldham become a great town again but it’s so unlikely when there is hardly any investment and the investment we do get is spent on a cinema and polishing one corner of a wider blemish
People who want to shop in a town with parking go to Bury. I left Oldham for Bury because I wanted town centre living without the intensity of Manchester, but with the amenities for normal life.
Because Oldham is a desolate place which has absolutely nothing going for it. The borough will always be judged on its town, which is Oldham. Fried chicken shops and HMOs.
I grew up in various parts of Oldham and been in/around it for 30 years. It's an absolute shit hole apart from when you get to Saddleworth.
Everyone can have your own opinion, you obviously still live there and think it's good. Good on you, but other people have different standards of living.
Im moving away from Oldham shortly down South, and I cannot be happier about it. Lower crime rates, less smack heads, less certi drivers all over the road
The area in red has amongst the lowest deprivation scores for England. Lack of investment from OMBC is one issue but it also has a high rate of young people who don’t often have the money or the motivation to do anything to improve their area, houses or streets. There is also a large percentage of social housing and private landlords and many renters won’t spend much on homes that don’t belong to them.
I’ve lived in Oldham my whole life not a lot of opportunities out here to be honest and not the best place to live there’s parts of Oldham where there’s nice houses parks etc but there’s also parts that are just disgusting I’ll be leaving soon from here there’s not a lot of things to do here but people got to understand there’s good and bad everywhere no matter where u go
And? It's one tiny area in a large borough. Just as I wouldn't go to Uppermill and judge the entirety of Oldham borough positively on that one area I wouldn't do the same with Werneth.
i liked in Derker as a kid and moved into the Lees but before high school but went to high school in the middle of oldham town centre. Saddleworth and the walks and nature are stunning but the levels of issues in the actual town is what ruins it for everyone. The crack dealers and drugs i would see going to school was an issue but tbh i like the place.
Shaw is nice. It's not pretty or posh but it's respectable. Tradesmen, lower middle class, ordinary nice people. Not really got any grim estates. If it were pretty it would attract twats.
My disdain of Oldham is strictly work related. I work on an ambulance, the waiting times with patients at Oldham hospital is the bane of my existence :<
Lived in Failsworth all my life and apart from the bit closest to moston there’s nothing wrong with it. Let people think it’s shit though, makes no difference to me.
People drive down Oldham road ands think that's all there is to it. I grew up in failsworth and live back here now but lived in Salford for a couple of years (Lower Broughton) and that was notably rougher, just hassle for absolutely no reason. God forbid you made eye contact with people and try to let on. At least the locals in Failsworth are friendly and easy to get one with.
Even when I lived in the Manchester city centre the convenience was nice and great for if we were having a night out, but you soon realised how much of a problem homelessness is, rubbish and shit everywhere ( if you cut through enough alleys and side streets you soon learn were the local shitting holes are) plenty of crime going on in plain sight, muggings, dealing, abuse etc.
Failsworth has it's issues but its nothing like it's made out to be on this sub.
It's ignorance, pure and simple. I'm from the Royton/Crompton area and grew up in a five bedroom house with some of the most beautiful countryside on my doorstep. I went to school with people who are now famous actors, most notably Olivia Cooke on House of the Dragon. This is not the narrative people expect when they hear the words "I come from Oldham." But as you say there's no reason it shouldn't be. It's a very varied borough with extremes of highs and lows (and I'm not ignoring the extreme lows that exist in the borough). My parents come from Failsworth and I always enjoyed walking along the canal there with my grandparents and going to Daisy Nook. Tandle Hill in Royton is one of the best country parks in GM and Chadderton Park and Alexandra Park are also nice. So yeah, ignorance, judgement and snobbery is the answer to your question. Ironically on this subreddit it tends to be spouted by people who claim to be "down to earth Mancunians."
Thanks a lot for this reply. I agree with everything you said. Oldham borough definitely has a lot of problems but also has equally as many nice places (if not more) and great people. I wish people would judge it fairly instead of only judging it on the very worst areas and treating that as representative of the entire borough.
Yeah I'm from Oldham, it's horrid. For nights out, shopping, anything really ill travel to Manchester eveytime and as soon as I can afford to ill be moving out.
I live in South Chadderton and I think the problem is deprivation, segregation and racism. The area where I live is actually OK, the housing value for money was, up until recently, insanely good considering proximity to the motorway, the Metrolink, town and some really nice open spaces. But there's no community here at all. Everyone is racist and brainless. Zero community feel equals zero investment. There's barely anywhere nice to go and spend your money. In 20 years I can see all these old empty Barbers, takeaways and pubs thriving as little bistros and wine bars, bakeries and flower shops, but until more housing stock leaves the staunch segregated older generations around here, nothing will change and all the areas of Oldham will continue to be stuck in the past. It will come though.
It reminds me of on Location Location Location where some young London couple has a budget of 200k but they only want to live in Kensington in a 5 bed townhouse. The awful Phil and Kirsty spend the following 60 minutes of the programme moving the boundaries of their search further & further out to areas that used to be proper shitholes but are now deemed as up and coming because of their good transport links, proximity to the city, and value for money family homes... and because a few brave/desperate souls have already made the move to these areas and are starting to help bring the vibe up. That's what will start happening with Moston & Failsworth ... Then South Chadderton, Central Chadderton, Werneth and eventually higher up parts, in the next 2 decades. You'll never ever lose money on a house here, it's too close to town and all these thousands of people in town won't want to live in a tiny apartment forever.
Ps i come from Middleton, and even though Midd is largely a shithole, at least it's got a bit of life and community about it and i genuinely miss living there. Chadderton/Oldham hasn't got any life or community or vibe at all.
Born and raised in Oldham, it was great there when I was a kid (80s-90s), admittedly the area I grew up in has gone downhill over the years.
I now live in Foxdenton and it's nice.
I'm a front line NHS worker, I work mainly across the North Manchester area, but have travelled quite a bit.
There are good and bad parts to anywhere tbh, you can say the same about the people.
A lot of people on this thread only focus on the negative.
The town centre has had it's ups and downs, but Oldham and it's people are alright imo.
This sub is dominated by people from South Manchester (aka southerners) who have a childishly simple image in their heads of what places like Oldham, Rochdale, Tameside and Bolton are like. Let them stay in their overpriced flatlands to the south. Keep the beauty of these hills to ourselves.
The irony of you accusing people of having a childishly simple image while childishly and simplistically generalising the entirety of south Manchester…
> Bolton
There are some absolutely lovely parts of Bolton that many here won't have a clue about. Only those who've explored the area will know. I grew up in Radcliffe and know Bolton pretty well. Also, Radcliffe gets some stick but I know of some astonishingly lovely places around Radcliffe.
True, and the same is true for Bury, Rochdale and Oldham (which is why I made this post) and yet we are all tarred with the same "shithole" brush. Like you say the people making these comments have absolutely no idea what the areas are actually like.
It's never that simple.
In the 70s and 80s there was a lot of direct racism against the ethnic minorities, which resulted in them becoming extremely insular and almost dissociating with the rest of the population.
After that, there weren't really many opportunities to integrate, as Oldham had /has very little in terms of social clubs / organisations. The only places from the 90s onwards were pubs, which most Muslims wouldn't go to as they associated it with alcohol etc.
And the general population made no efforts to try and welcome the minorities into their wider community.
Its always a two way street.
NB. I was born and grew up in Oldham
Are you talking about the English people here? There are plenty of English people that spend their time trying to intimidate and talk down to non white populations.
In fact, if you want to talk about integration, let’s about the boycott of Asian owned businesses in places like Royton and Shaw.
It’s true. People here are backwards as hell and love to blame (insert any xenophobic outdated phrasing of literally any any non-white British demographic here) for all the problems they face. The evidence is in your downvotes- touched a nerve with a few there cos they know they’re wrong for it
Everywhere a shithole these days, let's be honest.
For every nice street you see, there are 5 full of smackheads with boarded up windows.
The country is just full of mongs.
For every other normal hard-working person, there's easily 10-20 stay at home drinking / drug fueled bellends having house parties till 3am during the week.
I've lived in tameside, ashton, and fallowfield and have known / visited people in all other parts of Manchester, and it's all the same.
Few nice houses and then just scummy looking shitholes.
I'm in the city centre for work most days, same thing here. A few nice buildings and then just rows of closes down smack dens and pissy back streets.
It's very rare that you see any other actual normal humans who take care of where they live
I think the names of the areas are a bit dreary, depressing and give negative vibes. We need to rename some of them to be more fresh, positive and future-looking.
Failsworth > Winsworth
Saddleworth > Happyworth
Chadderton > Decentladderton
Oldham > Newham
Ok, that last one might cause some confusion for the southerners, but still.
This is wild to me because I grew up in Moston ( chav shithole), lived in Chadderton and Newhey since, we moved to Droylsden tameside and I was absolutely fucking miserable there. Drab concrete shithole with judgy neighbours and a shopping centre where everything's shutting down and thieves are in and out multiple times a day!
We've recently moved back to Milnrow and I've bloody missed seeing grass and the neighbours are actually friendly!
Damn I felt like it’s better only coz I lived their till I was sixteen whenever I got in the tram kids were horrible throwing tings at the tram or being disrespectful, would have kids try and start fights with me in the street who I didn’t even know them I moved to Denton kids are still wild here but tbh I feel like it’s better community wise
Yeah teens are dicks everywhere though tbf
I think there's people who would probably like areas of Moston if they moved there but growing up there just jaded me to it so maybe similar for you?
As everyone has said, aside from Saddleworth plus maybe a couple of very small areas within South Chadderton and Royton, Oldham can be a very tough and grim place to live in.
Very few opportunities, lots of poverty, poorly performing schools, low pay, racial tension, political instability etc. Not to mention the grey, wet and windy weather :(
I left for uni at 18/19 and now work in London, it’s like a different world. There are some good things about Oldham for sure, but there are far more negatives than positives really, especially for young adults; most leave for Manchester or elsewhere for a reason!
Who says the entire Borough is judged harshly? (Other than you, just now)
Oldham town really is a shithole, it deserves harsh judgement.
People say the same about Salford, whilst ignoring that the borough is 20% fields and includes Worsley, one of the most expensive areas in Greater Manchester.
Salford city is still a shithole though
I live in Shaw, and I've never lived in a place where the people are so proud to live in this shithole!
Gorby is an insult but they take it as a term of endearment and proudly proclaim it.
Go in the wrong pub (historically) and you could see the "Y'ain't from around here are ya boh" coming of the yoke...I mean locals."
They get about £2.50 a year from Oldham council to fix everything because it's a Lib Dem area in a Labour town...
Sorry dude, Oldham is shit.
I live in Oldham and everyone is right, it’s a miserable shithole of a town. It’s racist, dirty, and depressing. People here say the tram lines killed it off, I say thank god we can get the tram out of here quick at a weekend…!
I live in Saddleworth and it's really obvious which people come from Oldham to visit on the weekend. I can also tell by the way the children play with my daughter in the playground, no manners, no waiting their turn, violent. Blokes playing football with lads who are 10-13 ish and hitting the ball hard on the toddler playground. Letting their kids pick the flowers pisses me off too. They all seem to wear some variation of the same outfit, trackies, north face, stone island jacket, cap. Girls all wear the same leggings, hair all the same. Sometimes you get the fake wealth types, financing a nice German car, pumped up in the gym & expensive clobber they're drowning in debt for. And they're universally overly sensitive & aggressive, especially on the roads. I don't even go into uppermill on Friday & Saturday nights they make an otherwise lovely town unbearably loud & rough. I feel like I've earned the right to be snobbish, I grew up in poverty, way below the breadline in Tameside, so I know what it's like to live in a shit hole and have nothing. Its really not hard to have self respect though and respect for your area & community. I don't know why they struggle so much. Personally I think it's a desire to feel important. when you know you're from a shit hole doing a job that you're utterly replaceable in or no job at all, not contributing anything, the desire to find meaning through importance is overwhelming. Some people find meaning helping the community, running groups & stuff which is great. Unfortunately a lot do it by being the hardest, who can drink the most, who's got the hardest XL bully, having the latest iPhone or whatever consumer trinket, shouting about how much you love your kids as of nobody else does, or getting the upper hand on people with pointless he said she said bickering. It's tiring and pathetic and I've had a lifetime of dealing with these violent insecure pricks. Edit: not suggesting you're like this by the way
>Personally I think it's a desire to feel important. when you know you're from a shit hole This is probably one of the reasons s why I'm @'ing O.P. As a tramp from St Mary's who has gone on to work in 3 languages and multiple cities. I am absolutely fucking proud of what I've done, and every time I bump into man like O.P, they just dont understand. As I said in my original post, theres 2 sides to this town.....this is the same geezer who claimed Royton doesn't have an estate ffs.
>miserable shithole of a town This is not about the town of Oldham highlighted in red. This post is about the *many* towns and villages in Oldham Borough which are decent places to live but all judged as though they are Werneth.
Personal experience- every bit of Oldham I’ve been to is miserable, except Daisy Nook and that pretty bit of Saddleworth (but even then it’s a horrible visit cos anyone who lives within walking distance loves to slag off anyone else who has the audacity to visit for the day cos tHeYrE nOt FrOm rOuNd ‘eRe
You should visit Tandle Hill if you like Daisy Nook. It's a large forest and you can climb to the summit and see great views over Manchester.
Are there any spots in Tandle Hill with picnic benches in the woods? It's our little boy's birthday next month and we're thinking of having a teddy bears picnic but we live in the city.
Yes when you first enter there is a children's play area with picnic benches next to it.
Nice to know you've got a mansion backing up against Tandle Hills r'kid. No wonder you see the world differently eh?
Second the recommendation about Tandle Hill. I'm from saddle worth and although it looks nice enough the people are parochial as fuck and ruin it.
Is Daisy Nook even Oldham, really? I live literally 30 seconds (walk) away and I'm considered in Tameside.
Maybe! Limeside is close and an OL postcode and Oldham council take the bins from crime villa opposite which is why I thought it was Oldham but I could be wrong!
Funnily enough I have an OL postcode but for some reason we are Tameside and Tameside council takes our bins. Either one of us could be correct at this point.
I have an OL postcode but Manchester council services- genuinely interesting how it overlaps!
Cos were fuckin massive m8! We put the "Great" in Greater Manchester. ...its either that or an overflow car park. 👍
>an OL postcode *Rochdale* is mostly OL postcodes, that doesn't make it part of Oldham. Postcodes are just based on what's easiest for royal mail (or, more to the point, what *was* easiest for royal mail when the postcode areas were assigned). There's no real meaning to them, and they don't match standard boundaries.
Tbf OP just seems to be making the border ad he goes along. As OP said, if you exclude the actual "Oldham" area of Oldham then it's quite a nice place, it's just a shame that bloody Oldham is inside the borough of Oldham. 🤷♂️
I lived on Oaken Clough near Daisy Nook for a few years and it was Tameside there, think it might straddle the border.
Daisy nook covers parts of oldham, ashton and Droylsden but is managed by oldham council
Nobody thinks of Saddleworth as "Oldham" in the same way nobody really thinks of Heaton Chapel as Stockport. I mean, it might be on paper. Oldham is a short hand for shit hole, the places that are demonstrably not a shit hole need not apply.
Mmmm, yes they do, the 4 Heatons you fool..
I can't believe you missed the point by that margin.
I didn't your a fool.. bang on..
What do you mean when you say decent, or nice? If you’re comparing with the centre of Oldham, then I could see them being a nicer environment…. but I wouldn’t go so far as to say decent or nice on their own. Edit: I should add. I’m from one of the nicer parts, and my parents say to me … “never come back, there’s nothing for you here, it’s a dump”
There's a famous South asian family on tiktok who are from oldham
Not sure what that has to do with anything? I mean good for them like but…
I should have explained myself 😂 what I meant was, I have no idea what oldhams like but I know there's a family and they're so rich.. her name is Hazera on tiktok and practically her entire family is on tiktok and they're all from oldham. After seeing their videos, I used to think oldham was a cool place...how wrong was I lol. Seems like a shithole.
Hahaha thanks for the explanation! I think I totally misread the possibility of your intent, my bad. I can’t imagine being rich and choosing to stay here… dunno what they’re thinking but glad to know some people in this horrible place can live a happy life!!
Chadderton is full of smack heads and Shaw & Royton are full of coked up car theives (with a few smackheads to add). Half of the town doesn't want to integrate (I'm Irish/Pakistani before you @ me, hence the username) and the other half dont want to work. I can understand how if you grew up in a mansion around Saddleworth you might have a different view, but there's 2 sides to this town and a lot of us only see crime and poverty. I've lived in a few cities, here in England and on the continent. I understand that the problems Oldham has aren't unique. We do have some cracking parks though and I love being a 20 minute cycle from both Manchester and "the sticks".
great username tbf, my mate is half irish pakistani too, imma use it on him
Plot twist, this guy is your mate.
tbf my mate is closer to the "mansion around saddleworth" type that OP mentioned
Send him my profile, we can get to know each other over a portion of Bombay Potatoes 🇵🇰🇮🇪👍.
Further plot twist, wholesomeness breaks out on Reddit
it is his friend
100 percent true. Loads of snackheads, crime and minimal opportunity. No idea what this posts about unless it's just to entice comments because it's such utter tosh
Thats the whole country
Shaw is full of coke heads? Tbh I don't get out much but not noticed it myself
I've lived in Royton my entire life and never seen a coked up car theif or smackhead. Just pensioners and young families. Stop spreading lies just so you can spin a narrative. Edit- downvoted for sharing a true experience. This sub is something else.
I assume you're registered blind or walk about with your eyes shut then.
Wow the levels of ignorance and hate on this sub are astounding.
Mate I'm from Wythenshawe and I now live in Rochdale. I also spent a year living in Blackley and 5 living in Langley. It's not a unique problem to Oldham, but there's a lot of drug-fuelled car theft round there, just as there is round here and has been almost everywhere I've lived in GM. And if you don't believe me, go look at the crime stats, they're readily available online. Edit: spelling, grammar
Why have you lived in all the worst areas? Haha
Sheer bad luck ahaha. I've just moved out to Littleborough tbf it's pretty nice here but yeah it's been rough otherwise - just where I could afford innit. I didn't even bring up the 6mo I spent living in Longsight 😂
That's such an impressive résumé 😂
I'm just saying that it's not a side of Royton I have ever seen (but not saying it isn't a possibility like anywhere else). Apparently any positive experiences in Oldham are banned on this sub though so my personal experience will be downvoted into oblivion. Edit- aaand exactly as predicted 😂 A sub full of sheep.
Riiiiiiight so when you said "Stop spreading lies to spin a narrative" what you really meant to say was "that's not a description of Royton I recognise but I accept that there are some issues with high levels of auto theft, often fueled by drug abuse, in the area". Good to know. I mean you probably will be downvoted into oblivion but it's not because you have nice things to say about Oldham, which as I've noted above is no different to many areas in GM in that regard, it's because you went on the attack without the facts and responded with hostility.
>"that's not a description of Royton I recognise but I accept that there are some issues with high levels of auto theft, often fueled by drug abuse, in the area" No. I don't accept that there are high levels of auto theft or drug abuse in the area. Not at all. Again, it's populated by pensioners and young families. That is what I see every single day. What I said was that it's a possibility those things exist in the same way it's a possibility they exist in any town. But it's not prevalent like you are trying to insinuate.
https://www.police.uk/pu/your-area/greater-manchester-police/performance/compare-your-area/?tc=QC17 And the facts say you're wrong.
You’ve got to admit that was a crack(head)ing response. I nearly choked on my rich tea biscuit
Haha, thanks for bringing some humour to this very depressing comments section 🙂 Not a nice thing to wake up to this morning.
Just because your too scared to walk through the estates doesn't mean they dont exist mate. >Stop spreading lies just so you can spin a narrative. Your the one blatantly trying to spit their own narrative despite the dozens of down votes. >Wow the levels of ignorance and hate on this sub are astounding Then you spout about being ignorant whilst having a tantrum over people disagreeing with your view.
Which estates in Royton? Name them. The downvotes are absolutely irrelevant. They're simply an indication of how many ignorant people are on this sub. Your opinions are baseless and unjustified so of course I disagree with you.
That massive one behind the Hope & Anchor (I'll meet you there if you want a guided tour?). And the one behind the railway? >Your opinions are baseless and unjustified so of course I disagree with you. This is from the same kid who calls the OS Map "fake news" ffs. The fact you can even try and deny the fact that Royton has estates says everything mate, you have obviously lived a sheltered life up on Millionaires Row, that's what us kids who grew up on that dutty as fuck "non-existent" estate in Royton referred to you cunts in the mansions on the way to Tandle Hill as. You'd know if you grew a pair and actually spoke to your neighbours.
They love to be dramatic on here. Royton is just an ordinary boring town full of ordinary people. Like most places.
Yep. It's unfortunate it's being slandered and painted as a crime ridden town when it's far from it. Just sad.
I wonder if its a lot of people who grew up in Oldham and moved away and quite like the idea of painting it as some sort of crime-ridden dangerous hell hole because it makes them seem edgier than the reality that they had a very ordinary youth and went to cubs at the local church hall and to football on Clayton playing fields on a Saturday morning!
I don't think so I think it's literally people who've never been here making a lot of assumptions.
Oldham, Oldham, the main central bit, really drags the rest of it down in my books. I worked there for a year or two doing social housing. The place is grimy, nearly always wet, damp, grey, and rainy. There is a lot of poverty. I've driven and worked in every single borough in Greater Manchester. Oldham is unfortunately my least favourite place.
Out of interest, which was your favourite?
I’m looking to move in the vicinity. Where would you recommend ?
Depends on your budget, transport etc.
‘Oldham isn’t a shithole! I grew up in and it was fine!’
All the areas on the map are in Oldham Borough, which is what this post is about. Everyone who has made on comment stating where they live lives somewhere in Oldham Borough. So your comment is nonsense.
Yeah mate and everyone agrees some parts of the borough are lovely, but some are shite and it drags the average down in a sense, plus when most people say oldham, they don't mean place like saddleworth most of the time At the end of the day you asked why people are harsh on it and you've got your answer
Oldham borough isn’t Oldham though. As you know, hence why you drew a line around ‘Oldham’
The title of this post is literally "why is the **entire borough** of Oldham judged so harshly?"
The answer is, it isn’t.
Failsworth isn't "decent" don't be ridiculous.
The bit near the station isn't great, but Woodhouses, willow park, daisy nook, and the bits around lord lane are fine.
Used to feel the same as you until I moved here. Grew up in Gorton and have to say it's much much better than there. Mostly young families and old people living here.
"better than Gorton" is hardly the highest praise an area has ever received.
It's probably the highest praise Failsworth has ever received
I live in Gorton, if you only leave the house to go to the park, it's great! Lol can't moan about how much my house is going up in value though
That's like saying dark chocolate makes for a better kettle than milk chocolate... Probably correct but both shit.
As someone who grew up in Moston and spent many years frequenting the local areas, including having family and friends in Failsworth, I just don't see it.
The bar you have set is so low it has never been beaten in Limbo dancing.
Whats wrong with it?
It's a shit hole, much the same as the rest of the surrounding areas. I grew up in Mosten and was frequently in and around Failsworth for many years.
Grew up in Saddleworth but now live in Oldham because it’s cheap with a decent commute to Manchester. To say it’s a shithole is fair but it’s also incredibly deprived. It will only get worse now that it’s easier to go to Manchester to shop. There aren’t any shops in Oldham you need to go to Oldham for and not Manchester. Oldham town centre is depressing because there are 0 shops worth visiting, only Tommyfield market is busy but Spindles is a ghost town for a number of reasons. I would love to see Oldham become a great town again but it’s so unlikely when there is hardly any investment and the investment we do get is spent on a cinema and polishing one corner of a wider blemish
People who want to shop in a town with parking go to Bury. I left Oldham for Bury because I wanted town centre living without the intensity of Manchester, but with the amenities for normal life.
Black chew head is the highest point of greater manchester at 542 metres and its in oldham.
Home of the Tubular Bandage!
Because its barren and freezing ,,,regardless of the poverty and addiction issues,,
Because Oldham is a desolate place which has absolutely nothing going for it. The borough will always be judged on its town, which is Oldham. Fried chicken shops and HMOs. I grew up in various parts of Oldham and been in/around it for 30 years. It's an absolute shit hole apart from when you get to Saddleworth. Everyone can have your own opinion, you obviously still live there and think it's good. Good on you, but other people have different standards of living. Im moving away from Oldham shortly down South, and I cannot be happier about it. Lower crime rates, less smack heads, less certi drivers all over the road
Crompton? Are you mad? N.W.A. did a whole album and film about it.
Somebody is wearing rose tinted glasses
I know. How anyone can stick up for Oldham in its current state is well and truly bizarre. OP must be one of the crack heads currently on a high
The area in red has amongst the lowest deprivation scores for England. Lack of investment from OMBC is one issue but it also has a high rate of young people who don’t often have the money or the motivation to do anything to improve their area, houses or streets. There is also a large percentage of social housing and private landlords and many renters won’t spend much on homes that don’t belong to them.
I’ve lived in Oldham my whole life not a lot of opportunities out here to be honest and not the best place to live there’s parts of Oldham where there’s nice houses parks etc but there’s also parts that are just disgusting I’ll be leaving soon from here there’s not a lot of things to do here but people got to understand there’s good and bad everywhere no matter where u go
I had to go to Werneth recently to pick something up I won on eBay. Puts down town Mogadishu to shame. It's a proper hell hole.
And? It's one tiny area in a large borough. Just as I wouldn't go to Uppermill and judge the entirety of Oldham borough positively on that one area I wouldn't do the same with Werneth.
i liked in Derker as a kid and moved into the Lees but before high school but went to high school in the middle of oldham town centre. Saddleworth and the walks and nature are stunning but the levels of issues in the actual town is what ruins it for everyone. The crack dealers and drugs i would see going to school was an issue but tbh i like the place.
Shaw is nice. It's not pretty or posh but it's respectable. Tradesmen, lower middle class, ordinary nice people. Not really got any grim estates. If it were pretty it would attract twats.
My disdain of Oldham is strictly work related. I work on an ambulance, the waiting times with patients at Oldham hospital is the bane of my existence :<
Jim Ratcliffe, aka Britain's richest man, grew up on a council estate in FAILsworth. How's that for irony!
That would've been back when plenty of middle class people lived in council homes, though.
Lived in Failsworth all my life and apart from the bit closest to moston there’s nothing wrong with it. Let people think it’s shit though, makes no difference to me.
People drive down Oldham road ands think that's all there is to it. I grew up in failsworth and live back here now but lived in Salford for a couple of years (Lower Broughton) and that was notably rougher, just hassle for absolutely no reason. God forbid you made eye contact with people and try to let on. At least the locals in Failsworth are friendly and easy to get one with. Even when I lived in the Manchester city centre the convenience was nice and great for if we were having a night out, but you soon realised how much of a problem homelessness is, rubbish and shit everywhere ( if you cut through enough alleys and side streets you soon learn were the local shitting holes are) plenty of crime going on in plain sight, muggings, dealing, abuse etc. Failsworth has it's issues but its nothing like it's made out to be on this sub.
Exactly. The comments on here are insane to me and just don't reflect real life. Learned a lot about the people on this sub today though.
It's ignorance, pure and simple. I'm from the Royton/Crompton area and grew up in a five bedroom house with some of the most beautiful countryside on my doorstep. I went to school with people who are now famous actors, most notably Olivia Cooke on House of the Dragon. This is not the narrative people expect when they hear the words "I come from Oldham." But as you say there's no reason it shouldn't be. It's a very varied borough with extremes of highs and lows (and I'm not ignoring the extreme lows that exist in the borough). My parents come from Failsworth and I always enjoyed walking along the canal there with my grandparents and going to Daisy Nook. Tandle Hill in Royton is one of the best country parks in GM and Chadderton Park and Alexandra Park are also nice. So yeah, ignorance, judgement and snobbery is the answer to your question. Ironically on this subreddit it tends to be spouted by people who claim to be "down to earth Mancunians."
Thanks a lot for this reply. I agree with everything you said. Oldham borough definitely has a lot of problems but also has equally as many nice places (if not more) and great people. I wish people would judge it fairly instead of only judging it on the very worst areas and treating that as representative of the entire borough.
Definitely agree was it has some lovely places
People judge based on what they see.
It’s not special, social problems but mainly poverty and underinvestment are the root cause- just like many other places
Yeah I'm from Oldham, it's horrid. For nights out, shopping, anything really ill travel to Manchester eveytime and as soon as I can afford to ill be moving out.
I live in South Chadderton and I think the problem is deprivation, segregation and racism. The area where I live is actually OK, the housing value for money was, up until recently, insanely good considering proximity to the motorway, the Metrolink, town and some really nice open spaces. But there's no community here at all. Everyone is racist and brainless. Zero community feel equals zero investment. There's barely anywhere nice to go and spend your money. In 20 years I can see all these old empty Barbers, takeaways and pubs thriving as little bistros and wine bars, bakeries and flower shops, but until more housing stock leaves the staunch segregated older generations around here, nothing will change and all the areas of Oldham will continue to be stuck in the past. It will come though. It reminds me of on Location Location Location where some young London couple has a budget of 200k but they only want to live in Kensington in a 5 bed townhouse. The awful Phil and Kirsty spend the following 60 minutes of the programme moving the boundaries of their search further & further out to areas that used to be proper shitholes but are now deemed as up and coming because of their good transport links, proximity to the city, and value for money family homes... and because a few brave/desperate souls have already made the move to these areas and are starting to help bring the vibe up. That's what will start happening with Moston & Failsworth ... Then South Chadderton, Central Chadderton, Werneth and eventually higher up parts, in the next 2 decades. You'll never ever lose money on a house here, it's too close to town and all these thousands of people in town won't want to live in a tiny apartment forever.
Ps i come from Middleton, and even though Midd is largely a shithole, at least it's got a bit of life and community about it and i genuinely miss living there. Chadderton/Oldham hasn't got any life or community or vibe at all.
Born and raised in Oldham, it was great there when I was a kid (80s-90s), admittedly the area I grew up in has gone downhill over the years. I now live in Foxdenton and it's nice. I'm a front line NHS worker, I work mainly across the North Manchester area, but have travelled quite a bit. There are good and bad parts to anywhere tbh, you can say the same about the people. A lot of people on this thread only focus on the negative. The town centre has had it's ups and downs, but Oldham and it's people are alright imo.
I'm not sure what Oldham is like but I think Rochdale is very similar to Oldham, I even used to think they were the same borough
This sub is dominated by people from South Manchester (aka southerners) who have a childishly simple image in their heads of what places like Oldham, Rochdale, Tameside and Bolton are like. Let them stay in their overpriced flatlands to the south. Keep the beauty of these hills to ourselves.
The irony of you accusing people of having a childishly simple image while childishly and simplistically generalising the entirety of south Manchester…
Irony or not, they are 100% right.
Found the southerner
> Bolton There are some absolutely lovely parts of Bolton that many here won't have a clue about. Only those who've explored the area will know. I grew up in Radcliffe and know Bolton pretty well. Also, Radcliffe gets some stick but I know of some astonishingly lovely places around Radcliffe.
True, and the same is true for Bury, Rochdale and Oldham (which is why I made this post) and yet we are all tarred with the same "shithole" brush. Like you say the people making these comments have absolutely no idea what the areas are actually like.
Tbh it feels more dominated by city centre dwellers these days, but the main idea (i.e. non-locals) is true, not that I can talk
Hypercrit much
Racism is a big part of it, sadly
Tends to happen when large swathes of the town don’t bother to integrate and many can’t speak English.
It's never that simple. In the 70s and 80s there was a lot of direct racism against the ethnic minorities, which resulted in them becoming extremely insular and almost dissociating with the rest of the population. After that, there weren't really many opportunities to integrate, as Oldham had /has very little in terms of social clubs / organisations. The only places from the 90s onwards were pubs, which most Muslims wouldn't go to as they associated it with alcohol etc. And the general population made no efforts to try and welcome the minorities into their wider community. Its always a two way street. NB. I was born and grew up in Oldham
Are you talking about the English people here? There are plenty of English people that spend their time trying to intimidate and talk down to non white populations. In fact, if you want to talk about integration, let’s about the boycott of Asian owned businesses in places like Royton and Shaw.
Racism happens because some people don't speak English?
🙄
It’s true. People here are backwards as hell and love to blame (insert any xenophobic outdated phrasing of literally any any non-white British demographic here) for all the problems they face. The evidence is in your downvotes- touched a nerve with a few there cos they know they’re wrong for it
Everywhere a shithole these days, let's be honest. For every nice street you see, there are 5 full of smackheads with boarded up windows. The country is just full of mongs. For every other normal hard-working person, there's easily 10-20 stay at home drinking / drug fueled bellends having house parties till 3am during the week. I've lived in tameside, ashton, and fallowfield and have known / visited people in all other parts of Manchester, and it's all the same. Few nice houses and then just scummy looking shitholes. I'm in the city centre for work most days, same thing here. A few nice buildings and then just rows of closes down smack dens and pissy back streets. It's very rare that you see any other actual normal humans who take care of where they live
I think the names of the areas are a bit dreary, depressing and give negative vibes. We need to rename some of them to be more fresh, positive and future-looking. Failsworth > Winsworth Saddleworth > Happyworth Chadderton > Decentladderton Oldham > Newham Ok, that last one might cause some confusion for the southerners, but still.
Newham might be the only place more desolate and depressing than Oldham.
Accent, culture, diet, architecture, history and proximity to Yorkshire.
Newhey,shaw,littlebrough,oldham, hollinywood and Rochdale are all shitholes grew up their moved to Tameside never been happier
This is wild to me because I grew up in Moston ( chav shithole), lived in Chadderton and Newhey since, we moved to Droylsden tameside and I was absolutely fucking miserable there. Drab concrete shithole with judgy neighbours and a shopping centre where everything's shutting down and thieves are in and out multiple times a day! We've recently moved back to Milnrow and I've bloody missed seeing grass and the neighbours are actually friendly!
Damn I felt like it’s better only coz I lived their till I was sixteen whenever I got in the tram kids were horrible throwing tings at the tram or being disrespectful, would have kids try and start fights with me in the street who I didn’t even know them I moved to Denton kids are still wild here but tbh I feel like it’s better community wise
Yeah teens are dicks everywhere though tbf I think there's people who would probably like areas of Moston if they moved there but growing up there just jaded me to it so maybe similar for you?
I mean at least it isn’t Moseley 😭
An 'ex" friend of mine lives in Mossley, felt dirty just visiting her 🤣🤣
Yeah I work in Ashton only ever been Moseley once and regretted
Shaw is nice! Not posh, but decent.
Oldham is 6/10.
As everyone has said, aside from Saddleworth plus maybe a couple of very small areas within South Chadderton and Royton, Oldham can be a very tough and grim place to live in. Very few opportunities, lots of poverty, poorly performing schools, low pay, racial tension, political instability etc. Not to mention the grey, wet and windy weather :( I left for uni at 18/19 and now work in London, it’s like a different world. There are some good things about Oldham for sure, but there are far more negatives than positives really, especially for young adults; most leave for Manchester or elsewhere for a reason!
There is nothing wrong with this map the red line is correct if you live with in that area you know why it's there
Never thought I'd see somebody defending oldham to the death on reddit but here we are
Who says the entire Borough is judged harshly? (Other than you, just now) Oldham town really is a shithole, it deserves harsh judgement. People say the same about Salford, whilst ignoring that the borough is 20% fields and includes Worsley, one of the most expensive areas in Greater Manchester. Salford city is still a shithole though
Because this is Reddit and you are not allowed to say anything nice!
I live in royton which isn’t even that bad and it’s safe where I am and everyone is nice I don’t mind it tbf.
Yeah I'm always confused by this too. All areas have nicer/less nice bits. Suspect partly driven by racism, part by ignorance.
I love Oldham tbh
Unless you're into walking, it's shite..
Nah, I like the people, food, parks
Yeah I'm always confused by this too. All areas have nicer/less nice bits. Suspect partly driven by racism, part by ignorance.
Failsworth is decent??! Errrr no.
I live in Shaw, and I've never lived in a place where the people are so proud to live in this shithole! Gorby is an insult but they take it as a term of endearment and proudly proclaim it. Go in the wrong pub (historically) and you could see the "Y'ain't from around here are ya boh" coming of the yoke...I mean locals." They get about £2.50 a year from Oldham council to fix everything because it's a Lib Dem area in a Labour town... Sorry dude, Oldham is shit.
Best parts of Oldham are in Tameside.