Estate agents often get hot under the collar – and rightly so – when their home turf comes under attack.
Burnley, in Lancashire, has been reported as one of the cheapest – and nastiest – places to live in the UK. Even The Guardian suggests you’d have to be mad to move to Burnley – “a crime-ridden, chav-infested slum divided into ghettos”.
According to Mouseprice, the town has five of the cheapest streets in the country, with Angle Street (averaging £32,400) the cheapest place to live in the whole UK, while the local paper, the Lancashire Telegraph, paints a picture of a town riddled with poverty, drugs and crime.
You’d think all this might make it rather, well, difficult to be an estate agent in Burnley. But not so, says Ian Bythell of Petty Estates, who reckons Burnley is better than London. And Manchester.
He said: “There have been extremely frustrating media reports in recent weeks about cheap residential property in Burnley – some of which was skewed, and misrepresented our town beyond recognition.
“All former industrial towns have areas that need improvement, but very few such towns present the wealth of opportunity that we see in Burnley. I genuinely believe that we have a residential offer that is as good as anything in the country – delivering a lifestyle that is practically unattainable elsewhere.”
He went on to give a masterclass in how to deliver a riposte. He said: “My view of a poor-value terrace house is one that calls itself a mews cottage, costs £1.4m and is in Notting Hill.” Touche!
Bythell added: “I’m sure national media will soon wake up to the fact that our area isn’t cheap – it’s affordable and it can deliver a lifestyle beyond the reach of our over-worked, over-stressed and over-charged city cousins.
“A cursory look at a London property website reveals the stark truth that if you spend under £250,000 (i.e. the 3% stamp duty threshold), you’ll be lucky to get a flat on an estate in none-too-salubrious areas of east London such as Canning Town, Limehouse or Beckton.
“For a comparison that is closer to home – have a look at Manchester prices. Coming in under £250,000 you’ll struggle to get anything reasonable in areas like Didsbury and Chorlton, although you can just about get decent two-bedroom flats in modern city centre developments.
“By comparison, within five miles of Burnley centre, £250,000 will buy you a modern four-bedroom detached property, a fabulous three-bedroom cottage in one of our many wonderful villages, or even a three-bedroom barn conversion set in scenery that our south-eastern and Mancunian counterparts can only dream of.”
The town is, he concludes, not just affordable, but set in spectacular countryside and with some great facilities. In fact, he reckons that Manchester could soon be describing itself as within commuting distance of Burnley.
Which kind of makes up for stories like this:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2014634/Council-paints-homely-scenes-boarded-windows-attract-buyers-Burnley.html
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Comments
It's actually spelt - touché.
Poor football team too, great history but sad now.
Although I now live in North Wales, I went to school in Bury ( a beautiful Town with delightful countyside on the doorstep and a great market!. I also know the Rossendale Valley well and the countryside close to Burnley, and we still occasionally travel for days out to enjoy its attractions. For quality of life in this area just pop up the road to the Tough of Bowland, much favoured by The Queen and The Dule of Westminster anongst others. Some of the Lancashire villages and towns within easy striking distance of Burnley such as, Downham, Gisburn Clitheroe and many more are simply delightful places with views that would adorn any Chocolate Box. Of couse there are those Guardianista members of the unlamented Blairite Islington Faction who consider anything north of High Wycombe to be something akin to Beirut. They seem to delight in damning whole areas by reference to just some of the undisputed deprived spots, without mentioning the quality areas. For some time, two of my sons worked in London and we had to suffer the "horrors" of visiting them in appalling places INMO such Tooting, Clapham/Brixton, and Steatham UGH! where as we all "up north" know everybody carries a knife, a pocktet full of Crack, a rolled up copy of The Guardian and beat up passing foreigners for fun. Comparing the worst parts of Burnley with the worst parts of Peckham, may be a close run thing, but dont't condem whole areas by lazy poor quality and simply misleading journalism (nothing new for the Guardian.)
David Pearse
Vebra, Core and CFP users who help to fund the Grauniad would do well to call up their area reps and demand an explanation.
I'm originally from the Rossendale Valley (around 6 miles from Burnley) and it is a really lovely place to live, but the main issue is lack of employment more than anything which is the main reason for low house prices.
Many people live in Rossendale and commute to Manchester yet prices in Rossendale are low for the same reasons.
Burnley is nothing like what the Guardian reports. Every town or city have problems.
I do remember a few years ago that Burnley council auctioned off lots of properties starting at £1. Many investors bought in to them and spent lots of money on them, but most still remain empty simply because there are no jobs to bring people to the town.
love the passion
BUT
he says Manchester nothing under £250k compared to Burnley and 5 miles around....errmmm unfair comparison try Manchester 5 miles around compared to Burnley 5 miles around (this is fairer)
Manchester expensive! Hardly......search for 4 bedroom properties with a miximum of £250k to spend within 5 miles of Manchester....and happy house hunting, oh and you can buy about 15 miles or so away from Burnley! I would imagine you can see the same hills! if you look in the right direction.