WHAT a difference hard cash makes. Even ten years ago Cheshire meant horsey women in Hermès headscarves and genteel shopping in the magpie Rows of Chester. Now, thanks to a resurgent Manchester, bling rules and footballers are the North West’s new aristocracy. Wayne and Coleen had a £3.5 million neo-Georgian pad built in Prestbury, the eastern point of Cheshire’s Golden Triangle, between Prestbury, Wilmslow and Alderley Edge.
Those characters in the Channel 4 series Goldplated, the sleazy property developer or the gold-digging girls from the council estates, aren’t invented. Jimmy Gardner, creator of the series, did his research with Cheshire Life’s gossip columnist. He admits to being “fascinated by builders and how they make their money”. Never have they been making — and spending — as much as they are. There is a higher percentage of £1 million properties in the most desirable parts of Cheshire than in London, according to www.housepricereports.com.
One house in every 20 sold in Hale and Altrincham costs more than £1 million, against one in 50 in the capital. In six years the number of £1 million-plus properties changing hands has risen from under ten to 376. But where, you ask, do the poor people live? Yes, the poor people, those who can afford only the one spa bath and have to dodge the Hummers when they venture out to Sainsbury’s in their people carriers.
“What you have to remember is that Cheshire is deeply aspirational,” says a property insider. “Wherever you live, you want the clothes, the car, the bigger house. You can see that spreading now from the traditional middle-class belt out towards the old industrial towns like Widnes and Warrington.” It doesn’t have the cachet of Wilmslow, but the mid-market property success story is Warrington. Right on the M62, between Manchester and Liverpool, the driving force has been motorway proximity.
Warrington has seen consistent price growth of about 14 per cent over the past five years. The average price there for a house is £167,334, according to the Land Registry, but good roads in good areas such as Stockton Heath, on the town’s southern edge, command significantly higher prices. Denise Garry, 41, a sales manager, and her husband, Adrian, moved to a £250,000 three-bedroom Edwardian semi in Stockton Heath a month ago. She says: “Most people we meet have lived here for a long time, which says something. I’d tell anybody thinking of moving to Cheshire to look over a wide area. Don’t just think of Wilmslow.”
It is rumoured that the Loch Fyne seafood restaurant in Stockton Heath sells more champagne per head than any other branch in Britain. Brewing and the drinks trade remain,but traditional industries, such as chronometry and sail-making, have been superseded. Widnes and Runcorn, out west towards the Mersey, want a piece of the action. Previously known for their chemical works, both have regeneration programmes revitalising industry, landscape and housing. A poignant symbol of new meeting old is The Deck, a 466-apartment development by Bryant Homes, close to the 1970s Mersey bridge. A one-bedroom 483 sq ft apartment is £97,950, a two-bedroom 682 sq ft one is £132,950, which is keen pricing as £122,169 is the Runcorn average.
“The traditional image of Widnes is as a grotty chemical town,” says David Parr, the chief executive of Halton Borough Council. “But that is not borne out by what is happening. Across Halton (which incorporates Runcorn) our housing offer is balanced between Urban Splash’s clinical high-spec modern living at one end, and the big five and six-bedroom executive houses at the other.”
Urban Splash plans a £65 million canalside redevelopment at “old” Runcorn, to include flats, shops and offices. The Urban Splash chief executive, Jonathon Falkingham, says: “The next challenge for us is satellite centres like Runcorn. Prices are just too high in city centres now.”
By which he means not only the price of a new flat but what he pays for the land it is built on. Some think that the tipping point between housebuilding and adequate infrastructure is approaching. For Carsten Kressel, head of economic development at Warrington Borough Council, the biggest bar to sustained growth is the overburdened transport system. He says: “This is our big challenge, to convince people that public transport doesn’t carry a stigma, that if you go on the bus you aren’t one of the poor, stinking classes who can’t afford a car.”
If you’re car-less and can’t afford even the cheapest bits of Cheshire, don’t despair. Stoke-on-Trent, just over the border in Staffordshire, is one of only three areas in England and Wales with an average house price still under £100,000, according to the Land Registry. To move there you would need only about £98,527, though you can get a terraced house for £74,561. After Hartlepool , it’s the cheapest place in the country. Probably not for long. Optimistic estate agents are already calling Stoke “Cheshire borders”.
The Deck, Runcorn, 01928 576126 or www.bryant.co.uk/northwest
NEED TO KNOW
Where’s this “new” Cheshire, then? It’s mostly around former industrial towns, from Runcorn in the west to Stockport in the east.
What’s the attraction? It’s cheaper than the posh parts: a semi in Widnes costs £136,447, one in Alderley Edge £312,350.
Isn’t it all really grim?
There’s a lovely zoo in Chester, stunning coastline in North Wales, top-class rugby league in Warrington and Widnes, birdwatching on the Mersey mudflats.
How about some warm shops? Try the Trafford Centre, southwest Manchester, or Cheshire Oaks Designer Outlet, Ellesmere Port, where you might spot a Hollyoaks actor on location.
Will I be mixing with the stars? Well, Coronation Street’s Tina O’Brien (Sarah-Louise Platt) and Ryan Thomas (Jason Grimshaw) have been seen in the Loch Fyne restaurant at Stockton Heath.
Hollyoaks actors and a couple of Corrie bods, surely we are in Las Vegas? I'd be looking for a rebate on my council tax.
Ken Wyatt, Todmorden, UK