April 2026. Alderley Edge.
I’m not sure my heart will stand these tense City games, but after a period of letting the lads use my season ticket I thought I’d better see The Arsenal, apparently champions elect. If you don’t use your season ticket enough it gets cancelled and you have to pay £88 a game.
Mrs RM came with me, got annoyed with my “frantic*” pace somewhere near the Petersgate Tap, and I left her for an hour to get Alderley Edge ticked.
The towns and suburbs get progressively duller as you leave Stockport, I can say nothing good about Wilmslow, and Alderley lost any edge it ever had when it became a dormitory town for footballers.
The shopping precinct mirrors posh Essex,
but bars called “Bubble Room”, Corks Out” and “Salmon of Knowledge” say more than my photos can.
Completely out of place, the new GBG entry is thebl Union Club, and I don’t think the union is the PFA.
It’s a sparkling, cheery, club with more snooker tables than the Crucible.
I’m let in after I press the buzzer and extend my gold card.
“Can I get a beer please?”
There’s an ominous pause while the barman considers the question.
“You’ll need to sign the book“.
He then gives me the spiel that presumably won the Union Club of the Year, lots of stuff about beer festivals and rotating beers.
I had a Wreckless, cool and chewy and assured him it was great.
And then dashed back to the station. No-one should have to spend TWO hours in Alderley Edge.
*Frantic ? Me ?
retiredmartin 
I have probably said it before Martin, but one of my best ever geology field trips was to Alderley Edge. Copper mines under the edge are amazing
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/cheshire-greater-manchester/alderley-edge-and-cheshire-countryside/history-of-alderley-edge&ved=2ahUKEwjLpK3Z6YSUAxWCnf0HHTINFKoQFnoECCYQAQ&sqi=2&usg=AOvVaw0aA8nfifvVL2TI5t_QoXfZ
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Thanks for that insight into Alderley Edge, Prof. Far more interesting than the club where our intrepid pub ticker spent 15 minutes, or so nursing a pint that many people have never heard of.
Those copper mines, described in your link, certainly get my vote!
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Did you visit Alderley Edge when you were at Salford, Paul ?
The National Trust sites in that area are fantastic. I’m guessing the small town itself wasn’t as wealthy 50 years ago when footballers didn’t earn much more than miners !
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It’s possible that I visited Alderley Edge whilst studying at Salford, Martin. My degree course was in biology (Botany and Zoology), and we had several botany field days out in the surrounding countryside.
From memory (which isn’t always that reliable, 40 years on), most of these daytrips were to Derbyshire, rather than Cheshire, (limestone pavements, and all that!).
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Agree there’s not much to Alderley Edge (although Mrs RM might have been interested in the charity shops where designer gear donated by WAGS can be found dirt cheap)
Nether Alderley watermill, on the other hand, is fascinating.
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As others have said, Alderley Edge might be a dull town catering to the millionaire footballers and soap stars who congregate in that corner of Cheshire but the Edge itself is far more interesting. The children’s author Alan Garner, who grew up locally, based the stories on the myths associated with it. He also used to go running round it in the fifties with the computer pioneer Alan Turing who lived nearby.
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I blogged about the Edge and Hare Hill, last Summer, Matthew. They’re spectacular, which makes the town itself so disappointing.
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It’s not really a town though, just a surburb of Wilmslow, and part of the Manchester hinterland. Rather like many of the soulless commuter towns around London in some ways. I would settle for the location and surrounding attractions over places like Rochdale and Oldham
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I’d take Rochdale every time.
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I once saw Robbie Savage in the Costa there. On his own making phone calls. It was the highlight of my life. I often saw Peter Schmiekel in the Kwik Save, he’s a big bloke him. You should have gone to the Drum and Monkey
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