As part of our series of looking at opportunities outside of London we asked LSE alum Dan Martin to tell us about his experiences in Manchester. Dan graduated from LSE in 2014 with a BSc in Social Policy and started with Frontline in 2016.
I spent a couple of years working in London after finishing my degree, but had become slightly disillusioned with the experience primarily because of the high cost of renting: living and working in London is brilliant in some ways, but can also be quite challenging. I am originally from Manchester and always really enjoyed going back, so I saw applying to Frontline as a good opportunity to return, although I could have chosen to stay in London with the programme; placements were offered in Greater London, Greater Manchester and the North East.
Manchester is a fantastic place. It is big enough to provide all the stuff you’d expect from a major city, but is significantly smaller than London so much easier to navigate. It has an unbelievably diverse mix of clubs and pubs and continues be a real hub for music. Bits of the city centre have been absolutely transformed over the last few years and it feels like a city undergoing massive positive change – the Whitworth Art Gallery extension and Central Library refurbishment, for example, have received huge praise nationally. But it’s also a place that has maintained its character, and it has a different culture to London. It’s a really boring cliché, but people do tend to be much chattier up here.
Maybe most importantly of all, moving to Manchester has enabled me to rent a much nicer flat for considerably less money than I would have paid in London. The redevelopment of the city means it is no longer cheap, but there is still a vast difference between the cost of renting here and in the capital. I’m lucky enough to still have friends up here, but Manchester has enough going on to make it really easy to meet people and anyone moving here as part of a graduate scheme would have a ready-made community; there are about 30 Frontline participants in Greater Manchester this year, and more from the first two cohorts.
It isn’t just Frontline that offers jobs in Manchester though – the BBC has moved a big proportion of its staff up here. It’s a centre for the media so there are some really well-regarded marketing firms based here; many of the largest professional services firms, like KPMG, have offices in the city; and Trafford Park, in the south of Greater Manchester, is the largest industrial estate in Europe. There are also three universities so loads of students and recent graduates. It’s easy to see London as the only realistic option for LSE graduates, especially for international students, but there are a few other cities in the UK that have plenty to offer in terms of employment, culture, and entertainment.
It’s also only two hours on the train from here to London and Manchester airport is the third busiest in the UK, so it’s really well connected. I understand that it could be difficult to consider moving out of London after three years living there, but no move needs to be permanent and there are some great places to live in the UK that fall well outside of the M25; Manchester is just one example.
