WE ARE ON STOCKPORT ROAD the A6 near the former Council Offices, now Antiques Village. The disused Levenshulme South Station is behind us. It is April 2002, and change has arrived, in the form of new street lights and a new road layout with parking laybys on either side.

The sign announces the organisations involved in the current environmental improvements in Levenshulme: The A6 Partnership, Manchester City Council, Manchester Contracts, Urban Solutions and the North West Development Agency. Part funding has come from the European Regional Development Fund.

EWM says: The derelict shop we saw earlier is still there, now partially hidden by the new sign. Let's hope the improvements help to bring about an upturn in Levenshulme's fortunes.

THIS IS CLARE ROAD LEVENSHULME which runs off Stockport Road, the A6. The arched bridge carries the main railway line from Manchester to Stockport and London, and dates from the 1840's, when the line was first built. This part of Levenshulme, close to Cringle Fields Park and the Stockport border, is less run-down the the areas to the north. It's a sunny day in early January 2002 and the streets have a dusting of snow. To the right is Woodland Road.

EWM says: For some reason I have a yearning to live in a house like that, with a first floor bay window. Maybe it's because I grew up in a similar house, not far from a railway, but ours didn't have the first floor bay window. The house May lived in on Old Hall Lane is also of this type.

WOODLAND ROAD Levenshulme is seen here after a snowfall on a sunny afternoon in Jan 2002 with clear blue skies. These are solid and respectable Victorian semi-detached houses, with ground and first floor bay windows. At the very end of the road is Cringle Fields Park, making this an attractive and convenient place to live.

To the rear of the houses on the left is the Manchester Stockport railway line.

May describes the area in the 1920's: "Levenshulme was much posher than Gorton and Longsight. It was the better end of Manchester"

Rich says: "Actually the infrastructure in Levenshulme is very good, there's some very nice Victorian housing that's very nice to look at. With the railway, you're just one stop out of Manchester, and the bus service is very good too. People have an attitude - you normally get a sharp intake of breath when you mention you live in Levenshulme. I don't think it gets a very good press. But with the current regeneration, peoples ideas are changing."

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