{"id":276911,"date":"2025-07-20T08:29:08","date_gmt":"2025-07-20T08:29:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/276911\/"},"modified":"2025-07-20T08:29:08","modified_gmt":"2025-07-20T08:29:08","slug":"its-like-two-worlds-everyone-notices-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/276911\/","title":{"rendered":"‘It’s like two worlds, everyone notices it’"},"content":{"rendered":"

In statistics, Saddleworth and Oldham are worlds apart. But are they really so very different?<\/p>\n

06:53, 20 Jul 2025Updated 07:52, 20 Jul 2025<\/p>\n

(Image: Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n

There are just five miles between the two areas of Alexandra and Uppermill, both in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham<\/a>. Yet they couldn\u2019t be more different.<\/p>\n

One is a twee village steeped in history, festooned stubbornly with Yorkshire roses and surrounded by softly undulating fields and forests. The other is a densely populated urban area with few shops and rows of tightly-packed terraced homes sprawling for miles beyond Alexandra Park.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not just a \u2018town and country\u2019 divide. The living standards of both areas are vastly different.<\/p>\n

A child born in Saddleworth<\/a> is likely to live almost 12 years longer, is more likely to leave school with qualifications, more likely to find employment and will ultimately go on to earn on average double the amount of a child born in central Oldham.<\/p>\n

\"'They're‘They’re like two worlds,’ says Rebecca Lee(Image: Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re like two worlds,\u201d Rebecca Lee, an Oldham local who spends time in both places tells the M.E.N. \u201cEverybody notices the wealth inequality. They\u2019re very different places under the same Oldham umbrella.\u201d<\/p>\n

Oldham isn\u2019t the only Greater Manchester district where there is a divide in living standards. But the borough is frequently named as one of the most \u2018deprived\u2019 parts of the region – scoring high on child poverty benchmarks, personal debt and percentage of incomes spent on basic necessities.<\/p>\n

The wards around the borough\u2019s town centre are hit hardest. The median income in St Mary\u2019s, Alexandra and Coldhurst sits between \u00a320k and 23k, with unemployment at around 12 per cent. Meanwhile median incomes in Saddleworth\u2019s two wards are between \u00a346k and \u00a347k – more than double – with just two per cent unemployment.<\/p>\n

\"RowsRows of tightly-packed terraced homes in Coldhurst. (Image: Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n

Homes in central areas hover around \u00a3120k (though have been rapidly rising in recent years), but a house in Saddleworth costs upwards of \u00a3344k. Yet 80 pc of people in Saddleworth own their own homes, compared to under a third in central wards.<\/p>\n

And the most shocking figures show that in central wards like Coldhurst, one in every three children lives below the poverty line.<\/p>\n

Yet, in sunny Saddleworth, where the high streets are full of artisan cafes, boutiques and craft shops, those statistics seem like they belong to another world.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t feel like we\u2019re part of the same borough,\u201d Eileen, 60, told the M.E.N. on her way to Uppermill high street. She\u2019s lived in Denshaw for 28 years, after moving over from Manchester. \u201cYou definitely know it\u2019s a much better standard of living here. You\u2019ve got the countryside, cafes, restaurants, bars, very good schools. You know everybody.<\/p>\n

\"'It‘It doesn\u2019t feel like we\u2019re part of the same borough’, says Eileen – but the signs beg to differ.(Image: Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel very comfortable, very safe here walking around on my own – which I definitely wouldn\u2019t in some parts of Oldham – because there\u2019s less people in Saddleworth and you know more of them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like many people we spoke to in Saddleworth, Eileen rarely goes to Oldham town centre – she thinks the last time she ventured into town was pre-Covid – and opts to go to Manchester instead.<\/p>\n

But Pam and Dave, both in their seventies, are the exception to the rule. They moved from Huddersfield to Grasscroft eight years ago to help out with their grandkids.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe downsized to move here and have no regrets,\u201d Dave said. \u201cWe love it. My only comment would be: it\u2019s very white and middle class. We\u2019re used to living a little more in mixed communities, which you get in Oldham but not in the villages.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pam agreed: \u201cSometimes I feel we\u2019re in a bubble.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"'Sometimes‘Sometimes it feels like we’re in a bubble’, says Pam from Grasscroft.(Image: Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t like how many of the people my age say that Oldham has been \u2018ruined\u2019 because of immigrants. We don\u2019t share that view,\u201d she added. \u201cThe richness of the community lacks multiculturalism.\u201d<\/p>\n

The demographics are very different in Saddleworth, which is 95pc \u2018white British\u2019, compared to 39pc in Alexandra, 20pc in Coldhurst and 23pc in St Mary\u2019s. But Pam and Dave firmly believe reducing the divide to ethnicities is narrow-minded.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a more complex picture – where history plays an enduring role. In post-industrial Oldham, central areas that had historically attracted migrant workers because of job opportunities fell into decline and consequently became cheaper to move to.<\/p>\n

Whereas accumulated wealth in Saddleworth, its long-term status as a tourist destination, and later its more direct link to Manchester through the trainline buffered most of the area against the decades of economic stagnation experienced just five miles down the road.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe wealth divide is partly due to historic developments. (Image: Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n

And today\u2019s material conditions are self-perpetuating, Gareth Cornell, 38, implies. The Saddleworth dad who works in health was waiting for his daughter on a small hillock in the King George V playing fields.<\/p>\n

His outpost overlooked a branch of Uppermill\u2019s TikTok viral Grandpa Greene\u2019s cafe, and a babbling brook, where primary schoolers waded giggling through the water and teenagers made a game of trying to push each other off the stepping stones.<\/p>\n

\u201cThings are very different when you get into central Oldham compared to the villages,\u201d Gareth acknowledged. \u201cBut then not so very different when you\u2019re used to going to different parts of Manchester.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"GrandpaGrandpa Greene\u2019s cafe in the King George V playing fields.(Image: Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n

Gareth\u2019s job, which he didn\u2019t wish to publicly disclose, means he spends a lot of time analysing health outcomes in areas with different socio-economic situations. Saddleworth and Oldham have come up in his works: there\u2019s a 12 year gap in life expectancy between them.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s things like access to education, green spaces and sports facilities. And house building around here is aimed at affluent people, rather than for social benefit. We\u2019ve also got a direct line to Manchester with the train station in Greenfield, which makes it easier to commute to higher paid jobs,\u201d he explained. It all stacks up.<\/p>\n

Yet speaking to residents in Alexandra and St Mary\u2019s – it\u2019s clear that statistics alone don\u2019t always tell the whole story.<\/p>\n

\"Mohammed,Mohammed, who lives in Alexandra, says there’s a great community in the area.(Image: Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n

\u201cActually, I love living here,\u201d Mohammed, 64, said, getting ready to use a communal outdoor gym on the border of Alexandra Park. \u201cThere\u2019s a good community. I came here 15 years ago from Pakistan to join my son. I like the English people. I like this park.\u201d<\/p>\n

A local mum waiting outside Zaf\u2019s News Agents with a pram also highlighted there was a strong sense of community. She shared that she knew of people who \u2018struggled\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith rent, food shops, things like that,\u201d said the 32-year-old, who didn\u2019t wish to be named. \u201cI\u2019ve not experienced it myself, I\u2019m lucky I\u2019ve got a lot of family members who help out. I think everything is expensive at the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

As we talked, several young men popped into the shop to buy soft drinks on their way to work, bantering with the shopkeeper and offering wry smiles of recognition as they passed by.<\/p>\n

A recent Coldhurst community day, organised by a local community group, where 30 local women fed hundreds of locals for just \u00a31 each and youth workers provided entertainment. (Image: Jake Lindley \/ Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n

There are run down houses, boarded up shop-fronts, and endemic fly-tipping that local volunteer groups are fighting hard to put an end to. But the few people who agreed to speak to the M.E.N. painted a picture of a resilient, close-knit local community<\/a> where people look out for one another.<\/p>\n

And some even suggest the sense of a \u2018divide\u2019 is blown out of proportion by public perception.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know Saddleworth is a posh area. But that\u2019s more just based off people\u2019s perspective,\u201d Shannon, 24, who lives and works near Oldham town centre said. \u201cAnything when it comes to money, it might be that Saddleworth is financially not that different from this area, but it\u2019s just perceived differently.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"'It‘It might be that Saddleworth is financially not that different from this area, but it\u2019s just perceived differently,’ says Shannon. (Image: Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n

Rebecca Lee, lunching outside the Sainsbury\u2019s on King\u2019s Street, added: \u201cI think [the wealth divide] isn\u2019t as clear-cut as people say. I\u2019ve got friends up there, I wouldn\u2019t say they were well-off.\u201d<\/p>\n

The main difference is the high street, Rebecca added, describing Saddleworth as \u2018beautiful, historic, nice\u2019, while the only word she could conjure up for Oldham town centre was \u2018scruffy\u2019.<\/p>\n

But Mark, 46, disagreed: \u201cWhen I hear Saddleworth, I think: posh, upper-class.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s definitely a big wealth divide. If you tried to buy a house in my estate and then tried to buy one in Saddleworth, there\u2019s a massive difference.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MarkMark in a striking pink top and matching trainers says there’s ‘definitely a big wealth divide’. (Image: Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n

The dad from Chadderton<\/a>, who hails from Lime Side, described seeing homelessness spike in his role as a volunteer at a soup kitchen, and said the town is \u2018in a bad way\u2019.<\/p>\n

But he also sees something aspirational in the Saddleworth villages, where those issues seem like they belong to another borough, not the next town over.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you work hard, then you deserve it,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t hate on people for having more than me. I\u2019m in a one bedroom flat with my two dogs and my daughter.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d love to be able to live up there.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In statistics, Saddleworth and Oldham are worlds apart. But are they really so very different? 06:53, 20 Jul…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":276912,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8813],"tags":[748,2268,104524,104523,393,4884,85251,2465,1286,14984,285,49364,16,15,104522],"class_list":{"0":"post-276911","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-manchester","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-chadderton","10":"tag-coldhurst","11":"tag-denshaw","12":"tag-england","13":"tag-great-britain","14":"tag-greenfield","15":"tag-manchester","16":"tag-oldham","17":"tag-oldham-council","18":"tag-politics","19":"tag-saddleworth-and-lees","20":"tag-uk","21":"tag-united-kingdom","22":"tag-uppermill"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114884634989717889","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276911","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=276911"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276911\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/276912"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=276911"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=276911"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=276911"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}