The Mancunian Way: Manc estate in millionaires' town
manchestereveningnews.co.ukKeep up to date with all the big stories from across Greater Manchester in the daily Mancunian Way newsletter. You can receive the newsletter direct to your inbox every weekday by signing up right here. Hello, Built on an old tip, the Longridge estate was soon nicknamed 'Ratridge' by the residents of the middle-class Cheshire market town where it was constructed.
The overspill estate was created on the outskirts of Knutsford as part of the inner-city slum clearances of the 1960s. It came with the promise of fresh air, modern homes, countryside and opportunity.
But it wasn’t always easy for the newcomers who moved there. "People in Knutsford were not friendly, and they treated Longridge residents as 'interlopers'," Rose Oliver, one of the early tenants, told Creation of a Community, an online history of the estate. "For example, the shopkeepers served Knutsford people ahead of Longridge residents, even though they were behind them in the queue.
I felt that there was a divide between more middle-class people in Knutsford town and the working-class who moved to Longridge.
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