Ahh, Oldham. Our little non-descript town, whose recent claim to fame was ranking #9 in the top 10 worst towns in England, and having a number of schools ranked the worst in England. Yay us, right? Now don\u2019t get me wrong, I love my town. I was born and raised in Oldham, and my family live there. But that doesn\u2019t cancel out the fact that, in all honesty, it\u2019s just a bit shit. So, what is it about Oldham that makes it so grim \u2013 why are we all so eager to leave? Here\u2019s my take on it.<\/p>\n
Ever been to the Spindles on a Saturday? Utter horror story \u2013 and don\u2019t even get me started on the queues in NatWest. I know that towns are sometimes more on the crowded side but Oldham really is pushing its limits. With new housing developments popping up left, right and centre overpopulation is a real concern. Combine all this with the added traffic on the roads and it\u2019s no wonder we\u2019re all dreaming of moving to the peaceful countryside.<\/p>\n
Manchester, home of big brands, good food and culture by the bucketful. With all this just down the road our little town centre, with its 3 different pound shops and various empty storefronts, just can\u2019t compete. I can\u2019t be the only one who\u2019s daydreamed about zipping across Manchester on a Vespa whilst living in a city centre apartment, when in reality I\u2019m waiting for a 409 bus that\u2019s never on time.<\/p>\n
Despite a recent attempt to rejuvenate the centre with the new cinema complex, you can\u2019t deny that Oldham in general is pretty tired looking. The empty shop fronts and dingy back alleys, combined with litter filled streets and graffiti covered walls doesn\u2019t paint a pretty picture. This can be infuriating at times, because a lot more needs to be done to help our image. Sometimes it just feels like the world has given up on little towns like ours, and these feelings of despair are enough to make anyone want to leave.<\/p>\n
This might be a little hard for some people to handle, but it\u2019s undeniably true. In some parts, Oldham is a bit rough. Just take a walk into town on a busy day and you\u2019ll see what I mean. You\u2019ve got your classic litter louts, your guys spitting everywhere<\/strong>, probably a pile of something gross on the floor, and at least 1 person kicking off at someone else. Not great. Plus, our crime rate isn\u2019t getting any lower, and some places are just so overrun with drugs it\u2019s ridiculous. Oh, and there\u2019s always at least one guy on the bus making everyone uncomfortable, or one gang of kids on the tram that gets removed by the police at Derker.<\/p>\n Now please don\u2019t come at me with pitchforks, I know there\u2019s positives to Oldham I really do. But as someone who\u2019s spent 18 years of their life there before moving to university, I know just how much of a mess it really is too. I\u2019m sure if given the chance most people would leave Oldham without so much of a backwards glance.<\/p>\n Living there is like drinking Glenn\u2019s vodka straight out of the bottle, whilst everyone else is on C\u00eeroc and coke \u2013 and if that isn\u2019t the most Oldham quote I don\u2019t know what is. But it\u2019s only because I live here that I can say all this. If an outsider tried to join in on this we\u2019d be quick to defend our little town. Because it may be a trashy mess but it\u2019s our trashy mess.<\/p>\n Ahh, Oldham. Our little non-descript town, whose recent claim to fame was ranking #9 in the top 10 worst towns in England, and having a number of schools ranked the worst in England. Yay us, right? Now don\u2019t get me wrong, I love my town. I was born and raised in Oldham, and my family…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24756,"featured_media":135759,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8522],"tags":[8614,15197,9397,15520],"thb-sponsors":[],"class_list":["post-135756","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-city-life","tag-city-life","tag-growing-up","tag-hometown","tag-oldham"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n<\/h6>\n
What do you think about living in Oldham? Tell me in the comments!<\/h5>\n
Featured Image Source:\u00a0https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Oldham#\/media\/File:OldhamTownCentre.png<\/h6>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"