[OmaniPHD]

I will be coming to Manchester as Postgraduate student in September, and I wanted to know if the accommodation is affordable especially for students with families.

Also is Manchester a suitable place for families? are there activities that my wife can do during the daytime when I am busy at the University?

Are there family activities during the weekend?


What about safety? Is it safe for a adult with a child to wonder in the City Center or in Shopping Centers?

Are there many families from Middle Eastern origin in Manchester?

What about Halal food, is it available in Manchester?


I know I am asking a lot of questions, but studying with a family does not seem to be an easy decision.

Thanks for help in Advance !

[Origami Bullets]

(Original post by OmaniPHD)
..

I will be coming to Manchester as Postgraduate student in September, and I wanted to know if the accommodation is affordable especially for students with families.
Certainly it is much more affordable than cities like London. You can have a look at websites like findaproperty.com to see how much you are looking at.

Also is Manchester a suitable place for families? are there activities that my wife can do during the daytime when I am busy at the University?
Yes, there will be lots of different things to do - for instance, there are community centres where she will be able to take any young children you have for activities, to play with other children, and to socialise with other mums. There are also lots of nice parks, with children's play equipment, ducks to feed etc. I have to admit, however, that as a student without children I'm not very familiar with anything too specific!

Are there family activities during the weekend?
Yes, as there are in all British cities. You could ask for some suggestions on http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/local_manchester - Mumsnet is quite a famous parenting forum, with lots of active members who know about these things!

What about safety? Is it safe for a adult with a child to wonder in the City Center or in Shopping Centers?
Yes, perfectly safe. Children often go to shopping centres with friends (but without parents) from the age of 12 or 13; they're always fine. I can only think of one particularly bad thing happening to a child in a shopping centre in the UK - the abduction of James Bulger, but that was in 1993 (19 years ago!) and in Liverpool, so it just goes to show that such things are incredibly rare and shouldn't worry you in the slightest.

After about 9/10pm, you will start to find that the drunken idiots start to emerge in certain parts of the city centre. but
a) That's after the point where the shops shut anyway, so you probably won't have much reason to be there are after that point.
b) Drunken idiots might do stupid things, but they will leave people who obviously aren't drinking, women and children alone.

Are there many families from Middle Eastern origin in Manchester? What about Halal food, is it available in Manchester?
There are lots of families from the Middle East here. They tend to be concentrated in certain areas, particularly Rusholme (an area shared with South Asians and a few students). It's home to what's known as the 'Curry Mile' - a mile-long stretch of shops devoted to curry, halal food shops (including two good-sized supermarkets, Worldwide and Meezan), middle eastern / Indian restaurants (many of which are halal), shisha bars and shops with names like 'World of Islam'. You'll be well catered for


I know I am asking a lot of questions, but studying with a family does not seem to be an easy decision.

Thanks for help in Advance !
No worries

[soya salami]

There are TONS of middle eastern families there. I know loads so no worries about that, though really if it was me id like to try and intergrate. And halal food is available in every city in England.

[OmaniPHD]

Thanks for your reply and the information was indeed very helpful !