Making friends in Manchester

SashaFierce

Hi Guys, I've been a long term lurker but first time poster and hoped you might be able to offer some helpful advice Without giving too much away, I've been living in Manchester for around four years, but I'm really struggling to make friends and to feel really settled. I had started to feel that maybe I was getting there, but having recently broken up with my partner following a health scare he couldn't really cope with, I'm feeling a bit lost and a bit daunted at the prospect of starting again. Does anyone have any experience of making friends in the Manchester area, good places to go, anything that worked for them? I'm 30 years old and no children. Thanks for any help anyone can offer

annie_d

Oh Noooo. You couldn't make it up. My daughter ( 27 ) has been desperately looking for people to make friends with and socialise with here in Manchester but hasn't managed to do so. This week she moved to Brighton. Good luck in your quest Sasha, i hope you are successful. x

j.e.j.

SashaFierce wrote: »

Hi Guys, I've been a long term lurker but first time poster and hoped you might be able to offer some helpful advice Without giving too much away, I've been living in Manchester for around four years, but I'm really struggling to make friends and to feel really settled. I had started to feel that maybe I was getting there, but having recently broken up with my partner following a health scare he couldn't really cope with, I'm feeling a bit lost and a bit daunted at the prospect of starting again. Does anyone have any experience of making friends in the Manchester area, good places to go, anything that worked for them? I'm 30 years old and no children. Thanks for any help anyone can offer

Yup, I lived there for 3 years. (I'm from the South originally)

I could talk about what I think of Manchester, but not without alienating most of the Mancs on here , who probably for reasons best known to themselves think the place is marvellous, but frankly I found it to be a depressing dump. For all its supposed trendiness, it's a shitehole when you actually have to live there 24/7.

There are a few 'trendy' pubs and bars but you need someone to go with, of course, and they're likely to be full of very drunk fresher students at this time of year.

Honestly, I found the best way to deal with it is to leave :rotfl:
And I wasn't the only one!

scubaangel

In fairness the Manchester area is pretty big - I live around 20minutes north of the city centre, one of my best friends is a 20 minute drive to the south, we never go in to the city Centre because it's a hole but we both have lovely local villagey pubs instead.

OP whereabouts are you?

SashaFierce

Oh no, overriding opinion seems to be to get out of Manchester as soon as possible Anyone have any ideas that don't involve me uprooting?! I do love Manchester, but not sure if that's because I originally turned up from somewhere even more awful - Manchester seemed like an absolute ray of sunshine at the time!

SashaFierce

I live in Didsbury

annie_d

Didsbury is good! Hang about during the day on the weekends...the Cheese Hamlet, Solita ( new place ). I live in Stockport but find the people much more friendly in Didsbury. How about Revolution De Cuba...now theres a GREAT place to meet new and friendly people

annie_d

How about a night school class?

Person_one

I don't think the pros and cons of Manchester is really the issue here! It can be hard to make new friends as an adult wherever you live, but being in a big city with a lot of people around and a lot of activities going on improves your chances over being in a tiny village or a commuter town.

A lot of people start volunteering to meet new people, and there are tons of choices in Manchester, does that interest you at all?

What sort of things do you enjoy? Playing a musical instrument? Singing? Gardening? Knitting? Cooking? Dancing? Swimming? Running? Reading? I know people in Manchester in every sort of club/group you could think of, one even joined a roller derby as a complete beginner after seeing it in a film! It can be daunting putting yourself out there and going to something alone, and it can be scary making the first move in a new friendship, but what's the worst that can happen?

Good luck (and Manchester is fantastic, don't let southerners or scousers tell you any different. )

j.e.j.

SashaFierce wrote: »

I live in Didsbury

I must concede Didsbury was one of the nicer parts

rachhh

There are a lot of good meet up groups around here, I've recently been going to an 'Out With The Girls In Manchester' one, and it's definitely worth checking out https://www.meetup.com is the website.