Living in The Ropeworks

The Ropeworks takes its name from the long rope-walk sheds that once supplied the canal trade. The sheds are now studios, galleries and small workshops, and the surrounding mills have become the city's most characterful loft buildings - Carding Mill, Weavers Yard and the rest - threaded together by cobbled lanes and some of the best independent coffee in the north.

It is the neighbourhood that changes most week to week. A print fair one Saturday, an open-studios trail the next, new names above old shopfronts. Recent infill schemes such as Foundry Row and Tannery Walk have added well-designed townhouses, bringing families and three-bedroom budgets into what was once a flats-only market.

Lofts in the converted mills typically trade between £250,000 and £350,000 depending on floor area and light, while the new townhouses run £400,000 to £450,000. Rentals are taken quickly, particularly furnished one-beds, which suit the quarter's freelance and studio population.