There's no doubt Stockport feels like it's on the up. It's one of two Greater Manchester towns recently named as the 'best areas to live' in the UK by The Sunday Times.
Both Stockport and Prestwich made the list after impressing the panel of judges who visited each area, assessing everything from schools, transport and broadband speeds. Other factors taken into account included culture, access to green spaces and the health of the high street.
Stockport topped the list of the best places to live in the north west in the guide this year. It is the second year in a row that the area has featured, with judges calling it 'one of the most exciting towns around'. The panel praised Stockport for its abundance of 'good-value' houses, new and improving transport links and 'funky independent businesses.'
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The Sunday Times judges said: "The town in Greater Manchester is in the throes of a mighty metamorphosis that's turning it into one of the most exciting towns around. The conversion of the vast Weir Mill into a new neighbourhood is well underway."
Praise was also given to the train and bus links enabled by the new Interchange project. The judges added Stockport was "functional and family-friendly, too, with unbeatable rail connections, parks, sports clubs and good-value houses up and down the property ladder."
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Great news for Stopfordians, however, it's all in stark contrast to another guide the town appeared in 20-years ago. The Idler Book Of Crap Towns: The 50 Worst Places To Live In The UK, to give it its full title, was published in October 2003, edited by Dan Kieran and Sam Jordison, and it wasn't long before it was hitting national headlines.
The blurb suggests the guide would lift the lid on the "shady, corrupted towns lurking in the dark corners of the nation, from inner-city poverty to self-satisfied middle England". Not the worst - this damning accolade was awarded to Hull - but Stockport still came in at a bruising 12th worst place to live in the UK, according to the controversial guide.
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The nominations for which towns and cities, and what number spot they would occupy on the worst places list, followed a 12-month online poll from satirical magazine The Idler. Introducing Stockport as the place communist philosopher Friedrich Engels documented the "appalling working conditions" in the town's hat mills, the review said the town had "gone downhill ever since".
The review described Stockport's Merseyway shopping precinct as the "town's heart", but only if you wanted to "buy anything from Woolworths, Argos or 'Everything For £1'. And don't, whatever you do, walk underneath the precinct's second-floor balcony, otherwise you might face a "shower of gob, McDonald's fries and stones from the gangs of youths above."
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And it wasn't just the town's amenities that came in for a literary kicking - it was the people too. The guide labelled Stockport fashion as a "shaven head with optional Fila cap perched on top, a Reebok shellsuit, the legs of which are tucked into a pair of overpowering patterned socks.
"Anyone deviating from this universally accepted look faces daily verbal and physical abuses. Entertainment includes being glassed in one of the town's many pubs, avoiding being stabbed on the infamous 192 bus and avoiding leaving your house as much as possible."
It went on to describe the Stockport inhabitants as being partial to gold jewellery, particularly "sovereigns and/or marijuana leaf motifs." The guide also went on to mention The Dutch Experience, the Amsterdam style cannabis café, whose opening had been thwarted by police.
The reaction
Stockport's politicians leapt to the defence of the town . Mark Hunter, leader of Stockport Council, hit back at the guide saying: "Everyone is entitled to an opinion but most residents of Stockport say they are happy here. We happen to be a national leader in recycling and we would be very willing to deal with all the left over copies of this obscure publication.
"Stockport is a thriving and successful borough and there is plenty of evidence to demonstrate it is a place to which people want to move and businesses re-locate. Nearly half of Stockport is green space, making it an attractive, leafy borough.
"A number of studies have shown the town is one of the most prosperous in the region and there are exciting regeneration projects, which will transform the town centre. The people of Stockport also have an excellent sense of humour and we are big enough to laugh off this kind of nonsense."
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And it seems Stockport's Council leader may well have had the last laugh, with the town now ranking the best place to live in the UK, according to The Sunday Times' judges. But in defence of the people behind the 2003 Crap Towns guide, editors Sam Jordison and Dan Kieran admitted the book was meant to be 'tongue-in-cheek'.
They admit in the book's foreword that the entries didn't always reflect their personal opinions, and came from the number of nominations by the public and what made them laugh. The lads also braved the people of Stockport later the same year when they signed copies of the book in Borders bookshop in the town.
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