Should we stay or should we go?

Staying in the UK is the new holiday trend, reports say, as families cut back to beat the recession. Even the Spanish Costas now cost too much because of the drop in the pound versus the euro.

This year it is said that 60 per cent of Brits — 37 million of us — are planning to holiday in the UK on so-called ‘staycations’. Janice Barker found out if shoppers in Oldham town centre were thinking along the same lines . . .

Mike Howard (43) and Denise Shepherd (42), from Chadderton, will be swapping bucket and spade for garden spade this summer as they have just bought a new home.

Mike said: “We normally holiday abroad but we will be getting a lot of work done in the garden.”

Denise added: “I’m a bit miffed but resigned to it. We are hoping for a good summer.”

Jean Foster (62), from Hollinwood, will be off to Wales this year with her caravan.

She said: “My family and grandchildren will be going to Tenerife but I can’t afford it.

“It’s a bit expensive this year and my husband has just been made redundant. We haven’t had foreign holidays for a few years because of the cost, so we are trying somewhere new.”

Merlyn Robinson (78), from Ashton, goes to Spain every year. She said: “I will be looking at the prices.

“The euro isn’t helping, but I will go as long as I can afford it. It makes you feel better.”

Her friend Wanda Schofield (82) added: “I am staying at home through choice because I am too old to travel.

“My grandson lives in Spain and I could go there, I also have family in Italy, where I come from, and used to holiday there.”

Barbara Donaldson, from Chadderton, is going on a Mediterranean cruise with her husband to celebrate his 60th birthday. She said: “We usually go twice a year to Portugal and Greece.

“The cost has not put us off this year, but it might do next year.”

Tricia Martindale (29), from Ashton, was shopping with her three daughters and said they are too young to take abroad yet. She added: “My boyfriend’s mum has got a villa in Spain and I am hoping to go next year, but we normally do Haven holidays, real family holidays in Blackpool.”

Her mother Tahria Rehman (48), also from Ashton, said: “ I think you can have just as good a holiday in England if you get the weather.”

Patricia Irwin, from Salem, shopping with her daughter Katherine (12), said: “We haven’t been abroad for quite some time.

“We will be in England or possibly Wales, somewhere close by. We have got fantastic countryside if you get the weather.”

Scotland is the holiday destination of Joanne Heffron and her daughter Lauren (12), from Oldham.

Joanne added: “We have never been abroad. We have always stayed in this country because of the cost.

“Among the things that put you off are the price of passports for four people.

“We have been to Wales, Scotland and Newquay, and this year we’re hoping for a good summer.”