Rochdale in General

When people think of Rochdale, it usually includes comments about cobbled streets, shut down mills and unemployment following recent reports. But having lived in Rochdale for all of my 23 years of my life I feel I am in a better position than london journalist to paint a picture of my northern town. They are right that unemployment is higher than the national averae but that is just one downside to the many upsides (no pennine hills pun intended!) that Rochdale has. Rochdale is a large borough that consists of a few different villages that have been swollowed up by the borough during expansion, some of these being Littleborough, Smithy Bridge, Shawclough, ...  Read the complete review

When I tell people I'm from Rochdale, I either get told I must be rough or I must live in the hills on a cobbled street...! Well, I'm not either! I'm from Smithy Bridge, so on the outskirts of Rochdale - near to Littleborough and Hollingworth Lake. My parents have lived in the same house for 25 years and I was brought up there - in a lovely suburban cul de sac next to a farm. I had a fantastic childhood and feel very lucky for growing up in such a great place. I now live in Shawclough after buying my first house. It is a very similar area to Smithy Bridge and again I live in a quiet cul de sac, which is next to large open areas of green ...  Read the complete review

So what's so special about Rochdale? I hear you cry. Well apart from being the town of my birth, its is also the birth town of Dame Gracie Fields, former MP Sir Cyril Smith, Lisa Stansfield and Anna Friel. Rochdale is also the birthplace of the Co-Operation Movement in 1844, and the museum can be visited on Toad Line just outside the town centre. Rochdale grew up around the cotton industry and many of the old mills still remain in the town but now are industrial units or have been turned into luxury apartments. So where is Rochdale? Well, Rochdale is now made up of several smaller towns, which go to make the borough of Rochdale, these towns ...  Read the complete review

Hi, I lived in Littleborough which is a little village five minutes outside Rochdale for 15 years before I moved to university and as no-one else has wrote about Rochdale I thought I would, so here goes: Rochdale is pretty much like any town, an average size with the usual facilities- library,town hall,swimming pool,cinema,bowling alley etc. etc. The shops to be honest are pretty below average with most of them being either a mobile phone shop or a pound shop!! There aren't loads of shops neither so I would normally hop on a train to manchester!! But there is a rileys pool hall in the centre so when I get bored I can go and beat people at pool!!! The ...  Read the complete review