I live in UK’s coolest council estate – Erling Haaland lives nearby & A-listers visit our pub… but it’s not for everyone
MANCHESTER City striker Erling Haaland lives around the corner and his team-mate Jack Grealish also called it home.
Trendy bars, a hip food market and vintage clothes shops are all on the doorstep in Manchester‘s trendy Northern Quarter.
And bizarrely, tucked in next to Nordic designer shops, record shops and buildings covered in street art, is a council estate which residents claim is the coolest in Britain.
One resident of the Smithfield Estate has even enjoyed a pint in the local boozer with Hollywood actor Billy Zane, and lucky residents enjoy free city centre parking.
Sipping a coffee and reading a book at a café just by the estate, IT worker Jack McDonald, 28, says: “It’s a great place to be.
“It’s so unusual to have a council estate right here in the middle of it.”
The estate is housed in what was the bustling Smithfield Market which sold meat, fish, fresh fruit and veg as well as flowers.
It stood for more than 100 years and was so busy in the 1960s that it spilled out into surrounding street.
The estate was built by Manchester City Council in the 1960s after slum clearances in the Ancoats area just outside the city centre.
It was a traditionally poor area which housed mill workers during the Industrial Revolution.
However now it is one of the trendiest places to live with cafes, bars, restaurants and expensive new-build flats with many in old mills.
The Smithfield Estate is made up of 100 red brick houses and is closed off from the cafes and crowds of people by locked railings and gates.
The building’s service charges are capped at £60 per quarter – a much lower fee than new building apartments in the town with a £200-a-month fee.
The Manchester City Council still owns two third of the properties but occasionally, houses do come up for rent or sale.
I think we do live in Britain’s coolest estate. There is so much on our doorstep
Aimee Pearson
Health sector worker Aimee Pearson, 27, who rents her flat, says: “I think we do live in Britain’s coolest estate. There is so much on our doorstep.
“I love all the fashion shops and all the stylish people. You see some real characters walking by, and the whole place is so colourful.
“There is always something going on and there are flea markets all the time.
“I pay £400 rent a month and share with two others, so it’s a lot cheaper than most flats round here.
“The only downside is the noise sometimes, but I am well inside the estate.
“But sometimes the karaoke from the local pub can get a bit noisy.”
Most of the houses are rented out through Northwards Housing, although around 34 have been bought through Right to Buy.
Now a one-bed flat now sells for £220,000 while a two-bed is on the market is on for £325,000.
Weaver Ian Birtles, 65, who bought his ex-council house 30 years ago, has seen a huge transformation of the area.
He says: “It’s changed a lot, it wasn’t as desirable back then as it is now.
“There were break-ins and anti-social behaviour but that has all changed now as there are locked gates around the place.
There were break-ins and anti-social behaviour but that has all changed now as there are locked gates around the place
Ian Birtles
“I wouldn’t sell as it’s a great place to live. I love it as there is so much going on – and yes, we are definitely cool.
“My neighbour had a pint with Billy Zane once after spotting him in the local. He just bumped into him and they had a few beers.”
Ian, who tends the looms at Quarry Bank Mill in Styal, Cheshire, adds: “I know I could cash in on my flat but there’s nowhere like this.
“There are decent normal pubs around it where you can get a cheap pint as well as everything else going on.
“We even had people filming a TV series with Ralf Little on the estate a while ago. It all happens here.”
Legendary music venue Band on the Wall, where post-punk bands The Fall, Buzzcocks and Joy Division played, is just across the road from Ian’s flat.
There is also food market Mackie Mayor, where people cram into the former Smithfield market to tuck into steak, pizzas and noodles in a communal eating area surrounded by bars.
Manchester City striker Haaland, 22, has been spotted in the area with his Norwegian girlfriend Isabel Haugseng Johansen, 18, who has moved into his Northern Quarter open-plan flat.
There are decent normal pubs around it where you can get a cheap pint as well as everything else going on
Ian Birtles
The couple have been seen out walking as well as being driven in a white Rolls Royce.
The Northern Quarter’s industrial architecture has often seen it double for New York in films and TV shows.
Hit shows Peaky Blinders and The Crown shot there, as well as films such as Captain America.
Murals sprawl across buildings, with fences covered in graffiti including one huge drawing of Snoopy.
Art work by street graffiti artist Akse P-19, who created a famous mural of Manchester United and England forward Marcus Rashford, adds colour to the local area.
On nearby Oldham Street, which is home to vintage clothes emporium Afflecks Palace, there is pavement street art paying homage to the Madchester music scene.
This includes artwork celebrating The Stone Roses and Happy Mondays next to shops selling Manchester Bee T-shirts.
Accountant Sam Kerr, 32, who also rents his Smithfield flat, says: “It’s a fantastic place to live – and it’s amazing to have free parking right in the city centre.
“You feel like you are in a protected little zone with all the gates surrounding it.
“And despite all the noise outside, it can feel quite peaceful.
“I wouldn’t live anywhere else – people are very jealous.”