Bramhall is a suburb of the borough of Stockport in Greater Manchester. Long regarded as an affluent area, its population of 25,500 people are mainly commuter-belt residents who work in outlying areas, particularly central Manchester. Alan Howard had plans to move from Weatherfield to Bramhall in 1970 and he and future wife Elsie viewed a house there in March of that year. In the event, his business interests failed and he was left with a large number of debts to pay off, meaning he was unable to complete on the purchase of a house in Hawthorne Grove.