Six of the best reasons to love Warrington as a place to live and work

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WARRINGTON is a varied place with more than 213,000 residents living in urban communities, villages and some dotted around the town centre in flats which have popped up in the last 20 years.

It may have been a New Town established in 1968 which was designed to house overspill population from slum clearances in Manchester, but it has a long history predating the Industrial Revolution.

It led to hundreds of homes being built in Birchwood as a new community was established.
There are clear Roman roots with the arrow straight London Road dating back to ancient times.
As the lowest fordable point of the River Mersey, Warrington as a settlement has been significant for thousands of years.
For hundreds of years, the ford at Latchford was the only crossing point of the River Mersey to the west of Manchester.
A seigneurial Borough until 1847, it was then incorporated as a municipal borough. For almost 130 years it was in Lancashire, apart from Stockton Heath and Latchford to the south of the river that were in Cheshire.
This all changed in 1974 with the local government reorganisation when it changed to Cheshire.
But why is it such a popular town to live and work?
Here, Warrington Worldwide takes a look at some of the best bits about Warrington.

It’s surrounded by countryside

lymm dam

Lymm Dam – a popular venue for anglers

Whether it is Risley Moss to the east of the town or Sankey Valley Park near the town centre, Warrington is surrounded by lush green open spaces that are popular with families, runners, dog walkers and cyclists alike.
It always feels that no matter how built up the town is, you are never too far away from trees, stretches of open water and wildlife. There are great havens too, such as Ackers Pit in Stockton Heath, which has wildfowl and even a resident kingfisher. Bats are also spotted there in warmer months as the day turns to night.
The Town Hall itself is surrounded by parkland, Bank Park, which still has a children’s play area.
Lymm Dam is a popular spot for fishermen, families and walkers with its idyllic location for wildlife and semi-rural walks on the edge of the village.
A popular coffee van and ice cream van also are sited there.
Walton Hall and Gardens is at number one in Tripadvisor’s top 10 parks and nature in Warrington. It gets four and a half out of five with more than 1,250 positive reviews.
Grappenhall Heys Walled Garden is in third place. It has a popular cafe, fish ponds, fruit trees and a well stocked garden.
It’s surrounded by woodland which is perfect for walks where the footprint of the demolished manor still stands.
Spud Wood in Lymm comes in at number eight. On Stage Lane, it is owned by the Woodland Trust.
There are lots of paths through the wood and the area is next to the Bridgewater Canal.
The site has some car parking, but families tend to park near the canal or on Warrington Lane.

Transport links out of town

rail ticket offices

Bank Quay Station

Warrington is a well connected place that’s surrounded by motorways and major roads with excellent road links, too.
For those travelling to Manchester or Liverpool or Leeds, they can quickly get to the M62 over the Pennines.
The M6 runs up and down the west coast of the UK, passing Warrington at junction 20 at Lymm Services.
And then there’s the M56 towards North Wales and Chester in one direction and Manchester in the other.
Of course when there’s traffic issues on the motorways, it hits the town hard and there can be snarl ups and delays on routes that aren’t usually clogged.
For rail travellers, Warrington town centre boasts two mainline stations. There’s Warrington Bank Quay, for West coast main line services to Crewe, Stafford, Birmingham and London southbound and Preston, Lancaster, Carlisle and Glasgow in the other.
Warrington’s Central station has regular services to Manchester and Liverpool and beyond – with trains running as far as Norwich.
Leisure boat users can enjoy the Bridgewater Canal on canal boats and some services run from Media City UK on the Manchester Ship Canal in summer months.

It has its own identity
When asked where Warrington is, many residents will reply: ‘Halfway between Manchester and Liverpool.’
And although it is a halfway point between the two cities, Warrington has its own identity. The town also has its own accent.
It’s neither Liverpool or Manchester’s accent, northern with flat vowels but sounds neutral.
While Warrington is not the perfect place to live, there’s an inherent sense of civic pride for many residents.
This can be demonstrated by the comments on stories written about our town on Warrington Worldwide from concerned residents who hold the council to account.

Warringtonians have a strong sense of community
There are community centres, groups and activities that thrive across Warrington.
For the youngest babies and children, there are mother and toddler groups where lifelong friendships are forged.
There are societies and sports groups and interest groups for all ages running every day and night throughout Warrington.
And the community spirit was demonstrated during the New Year floods which devastated homes in Bewsey and Dallam.
Shop owners and residents opened their doors and offered free food and shelter to those who were affected by the flood water.
Housing associations and utility companies carried out outreach offering warm packs to those affected as the clear up began.
Even now almost a month on, residents are still offering free furniture to those who were badly affected by the floods.
This one event demonstrates the support of the community at the hardest of times.
It was also evident five years back, when a raft of online groups popped up during the pandemic, to offer support and shopping to the vulnerable and elderly in our community.

There’s culture but with a Warrington spin
parr hall
When the Cultural Quarter was established by the council in the heart of town it felt like a bit of a joke.
More like a cultural eighth some wags suggested at the time. But the Parr Hall and Pyramid arts centre are the beating heart of the town’s cultural offer.
The Parr Hall and Pyramid have hosted live rock music, panto and popular comedians like Sarah Millican, Bill Bailey and Jason Manford have all appeared as headline acts.
The music halls and theatres of olden days have long since and been replaced by town centre pubs.
But there are two cinemas and pubs offering live music as bands perform there.
Amateur dramatics are also alive and well with Bridgewater Players performing south of the river.
Presto Music in the town centre opposite Bank Park offers singing and music lessons to aspiring musicians and Sixpence Music in Stockton Heath has singing lessons for all ages.

It’s not as anonymous as a major city with a slower pace
City life can be great. You have public transport that’s efficient and regular with no need to rely on cars to get from A to B.
There’s art galleries and theatres and a buzz about big cities which are 24/7 and run at a fast pace.
But the drawbacks are they can be anonymous and lonely places – particularly for the elderly.
Warrington is not like that.
It’s a place where people strike up conversations at bus stops and in shops. Where you pop into town and inevitably bump into someone you know – whether it be from school, from past workplaces or from your current life.
When the council mooted becoming a city there was a lot of objections from residents who liked the status quo as it was.
Warrington is and always will be a town.
It never feels like a city because it’s a big town with a big heart.


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    • Well I come from a city that is enriched in heritage ? Chester
      I moved to Warrington with employment 50 years ago.
      A big regret but at least I live in one of the nicer areas of the TOWN
      Yes it hasn’t achieved city status yet

  1. 6 reasons 1. stay home after 8pm, 2.Friday Night Leave Centre at last 9pm, 3.avoid Sankey Valley to avoid juveniles, 4. take tools from the van to home otherwise you won’t be working happily in response to the author of this article.5 Warrington Hospital has only 300 beds for over 210,000 people. 6 When the WBC wants a new access road, you can be sure that soon it will be a place for new 200 houses

  2. I can give you another 6
    1.Traffic congestion 2. No town centre entertainment 3.over construction of housing.
    4.lack of infrastructure. 5.A selfish council who only think of themselves.6. lack of resources in the town .

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