I started my Stockport General Election night under a disco ball and ended in McDonald's at 5am

Ahead of my coverage of the 2024 General Election from this much talked about seat and increasingly fashionable borough of Greater Manchester, I wandered its streets and saw several of the spots that had put the area on the map.

Stockport has had a lot of positive light shed on it of late, from its new transport interchange and its improving nightlife, to more success for the town's football club and the looming possibility of the Greater Manchester Metrolink extending its reach to this town by the M6. Oh, and lets not forget about indie rock band Blossoms that have album number five - wonderfully named ‘Gary’ - on the way. 

A quick stop in The Calverts Court on St Petersgate ahead of a long night of counts, ballot boxes and declarations gave me the chance to simply take stock. The pub was full of people seemingly content with what was going on with their lives, with plenty of upbeat chat or friends reuniting and a great deal of laughter.

‘You wouldn’t think it’s the Fourth of July would you?’ One customer addressed a member of bar staff with. He wasn’t wrong.

The sun had almost set on a mixed bag of a weather day, and the punters in the pub were coming and going. I took a slow walk along its streets, with the countdown to the end of polling and the exit poll release drawing closer.

A calm evening was over the town, and I walked around the old St Mary’s Church and Stockport’s famous market hall that has stood for more than 150 years. I made my way through a quiet high street and before my town hall stop, enjoyed the view from the viaduct park that sits on top of the still pretty new transport interchange.

I sat for a few minutes, the hum of the town and the melodic pattern of trains coming across the viaduct were only pierced by the occasional aircraft flying into Manchester Airport. Stockport was heading to snooze for the night, but one location was just getting started.

Stockport Town Hall is a grand building at the best of times, but hosting a count for three parliamentary constituencies under its roof is one of many top democratic duties it has to attend to.

With a disco ball twinkling in the ceiling, hundreds of people hurried to work on counting votes from across the borough. By the early hours of the morning, the three seats had been all sorted and the political layout of Cheadle, Hazel Grove and Stockport was written. 

My final words were typed not in the media room of the town hall, but in a McDonald’s around the corner. The staff at the hall were probably absolutely done after a long night, and I don’t blame them one bit. Stockport was waking up with its coffee from the fast food restaurant, I was just about all finished.

People in Stockport I’ve spoken to before take great pride in saying they’ve not Mancunian, and so they should. On its own merit, Stockport is making a name for itself and changing leadership at the very top would do well not to ignore this place.