Spotlight on Gorton

WHERE: Three miles south of the city centre on the Manchester/Stockport border. Three miles from junction 24 of the M60 motorway.

WHY: Price. Despite seeing prices double in the last 12 months, property in Gorton remains some of the most affordable around. At first sight it all looks pretty grim, a run-down market area, unwelcoming library and the infamous Gorton Tub pool now wrapped in barbed wire and hardboard. But things are getting better here.

The city council has improved security, gating the alleys between the terraces and planting small landscaped areas; the Tub will soon be a fitness centre and Tesco is opening a new store here as part of a whole regeneration of the market area.

And there's Gorton Monastery, a wonderful piece of architecture that highlights the area's history. Amid the typically-Mancunian street scenes are some wonderful roads like Far Lane and Tan Yard Brow with 200-year-old cottages which could be in the middle of Cheshire. Honestly!

WHO: Five years ago the investors were buying up the small terraces wholesale, raking in the rent and failing to do repairs which led to a decline in housing stock and social problems. Now first-time buyers, no longer able to afford nearby Denton and north Reddish have moved across the border to get on the property ladder. They improve and renovate the houses, which have proved a sound investment for the outlay - a £30,000 terrace last year is now worth £60,000.

TRANSPORT: Five minutes down Hyde Road into the city in one direction and five minutes to the M60 in the other. There is also a station where the trip to Manchester takes 12 minutes.

SCHOOLS: Cedar Mount High School got 22 per cent of its pupils through five or more GCSEs at A-C in 2003.

RESIDENT'S VIEW: Joan Cook, 67, has lived in Gorton for 40 years. She said: "I rent my house from a housing association and they did it up for me 10 years ago right through. It is on a lovely crescent with nice people around me. My daughter lives nearby as well. I can't afford to buy and I don't think she wants to either. I like to go to Ashton for the market because ours is really run-down and I am not sure about Tesco coming in. I like my little local shops. You should use them, they are part of the community. It has changed a lot, there are some not very nice people around here, but the real Gorton folk are lovely."

AGENT'S VIEW: Mike Kidd, from Edward Mellor in Gorton, the chain's oldest branch, said: "Even I could not have predicted how prices have shot up this last 12 months. It is a combination of things, Sport City and the whole east Manchester thing, the council improvements and new owner occupiers coming in to the area have all had a big impact. Price-wise we are in unknown territory for Gorton now. I valued a nice two-bedroom terrace today at £59,950 and I know I will sell it within a week. People who dismiss Gorton don't really know it. It is handy for the city, has some lovely quaint streets and has Debdale Park on the doorstep. There is still room for more growth."

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