The North

[ILikeyourHairyHands]

I've seen yet another thread where the OP is lambasted for being in a SE bubble (she was in a bubble tbf, but a bubble of incredible dimness), and many posters talk about The North as a place of scant opportunities, cheap housing, low wages and general divorce from The South, which is generally considered as the land of milk, honey, opportunity and high house prices.

It's very divorced from my experience of both places. I'm from an area in The North that is one of the wealthiest political wards in Europe, I went to work in the city after University (25 years ago) and despite having a very middle-class upbringing and accent, my flat vowels were treated as something of a curiosity (and they're really not that flat, everyone up here considers them 'southern') and Sheffield, my home city was, and still is, perceived as being some 'flat cap and whippets' place, despite having one of the highest proportions of professionals per capita in the UK.

My take from that experience was that born and brought-up Londoners are the most parochial people that I'd ever met. I had a much more 'worldly' experience being brought up in thr middle-class North than that of the supposedly urbane Southerners.

But still it goes on, people speak of The North as some kind of otherworldly shit-hole where the denizens scrabble around for cheap terraces on MW jobs and anything worth happening happens in The South.

Leeds, Manchester, Sheffield, Newcastle, Durham, York, the smaller towns and places where there's a huge amount of creativity, wealth creation, and professional people living fine and prosperous lives, and have for generations.

I just cannot understand the stereotypes that divide us so badly.

And yes, I also know and understand industrialisation and post-industrialisation that has affected certain areas of the UK. I'd say the area of the UK that's been hit worst by post-industrialism is the Midlands though. But no-one talks about that, or the poverty in the SW, it's always THE NORTH.

@JacquesHammer yes I find that sad and limiting. Imagine a Londoner saying 'I've been to the country once, never again' as if ALL of the country / London is one homogenous thing.

I could understand it if someone's teenager were completely obsessed with, say, the V and A. Something that only London offers access to and you'd miss out on if you weren't there. That makes sense. But making batshit claims about roller skating just sounds like the hard water has affected her brain.

You can’t do that in the North because the weather is so bad (I lived there for 18 years) you might manage a few days of nice weather before it rains.

That's an exaggeration. I do find it generally colder and wetter than when I lived in the south, but not to the degree that it stops people doing things. We baked along with everyone else in last summer's heat wave. It's more that, say, in autumn I will need my coat on earlier than I would where I used to live.

yes I find that sad and limiting. Imagine a Londoner saying 'I've been to the country once, never again' as if ALL of the country / London is one homogenous thing

Why though. Why do you find it sad when nobody is suggesting anything other than that’s how I feel.

It’s not limiting to want to spend my money and my time how I want.

What kind of Londoner would highlight Oxford Street or Westfield as top positive experiences anyway bloody hellish.

I actually am a gossipy fishwife, tbf.

@shemakesmewaitonabedofnails this.

(Northerner here, have lived in the East midlands and overseas, currently marooned in the West Country). There are only three things I'd change about the north - better transport links, more jobs, and better weather. Although looking out at the torrential rain here this morning I did contemplate looking up plans for an Ark.

Over the years I've come to the conclusion that the divide is actually the rest of us, and the rich bits of London (and the big Southern cities like Bristol). Bristol is a bit of an anomaly in many ways, though, unfortunately lots of people from London and the South East have moved in recently and house prices have soared and lots of bits have become "gentrified"; exactly the same thing that happened to Exeter when the Met Office moved in which apparently up till then had been a pleasant West Country town; for the years I lived there it was more like Kensington-on-Exe in places).

And not all of the North is the same, either - I worked in Manchester for a few months and have to agree with a comment someone from the city made to me along the lines of "Now there's a city that doesn't suffer from an inferiority complex". And then Harrogate, Ripon and bits of Northumberland are more like the south in some ways. York is a bit more mixed though. And the East midlands are just confused....(went to uni there).

But anyway, let's keep telling Southerners that it's grim up north and they'd hate the lovely beaches, countryside, friendly folk with a good sense of humour, and above all, the pies.

Weather is ok where I am. Never snows or floods, only a bit of light drizzle here. Our skateparks, sports pitches and outdoor high ropes course are still very much in daily use and the kids have a great outdoor lifestyle. Watersports and dry ski slopes play a decent part in that. 30 minutes away from the coast, where the local children all scoot up and down on roller blades, bikes, scooters etc not to mention fabulous parks on my doorstep where most children are on some form of wheels.

Our local museums and art galleries are all free, swimming too. £5 theatre tickets for under 25s available every week.

Selfridges, Harvey Nics etc in nearest major cities.

Yes have two friends in my friendship group.that are from London now living near me ,they both day our tap.water is so much nicer than London water 😂

Sorry, swimming (indoors) is free for under 16s with a local postcode.

But we have free outdoor pools and wild swimming for anyone that fancies that too not me I'm a wimp

Weather is ok where I am. Never snows or floods, only a bit of light drizzle here. Our skateparks, sports pitches and outdoor high ropes course are still very much in daily use and the kids have a great outdoor lifestyle.

Where is this magical bit of the uk that only has drizzle not rain and where you can be outdoors all year round?

One of the annoying things about living up North is how long it takes to get to the Channel ferry ports.....

Sometimes I do wish I lived closer to them....

But I do like the easy access to the scenery...But there are Northern cities which have a lot of congestion. Nothing like London though.

However, there are parts of the South with gorgeous scenery. Nearly as good as the Dales.

I should have said "only a bit of light drizzle here TODAY" (as some people seem to think the entire North is currently flooded). We do get heavy rain sometimes but not all that regularly, maybe 4-5 days a year total wash out tops.

Yeah there's only light drizzle in my part of the North too ,today in fact I have just been out with the dog ,and the weather wasent bad at all a bit chilly ,but ok .

And sometimes ,gasp,_our weather is better than in London, I remember watching the weather reports a few summers ago all focused on London of course , saying how disappointing the weather was for that time of the year( June) it was cracking the flags near me .

I've lived in the Midlands, London, the North and now Scotland. Honestly, I feel so sorry for people who are born in London and stay there. Property prices are ridiculous and I think the standard of living is so much worse, unless you are rich.

I think people in London think that The North or Scotland is remote, which is utter rubbish! I live in a small Scottish town, but I can be in Edinburgh in 20 minutes. I have a 5 bedroom house here that cost £200k, and in London it would be easily over a million quid.

I could scream at the telly when Location Location Location is on, and Phil & Kirsty show a young couple a 1 bed flat in London with a price tag of £500k. You would literally get a mansion here for that. But half the time, I don't think these young people even realise that. What a shame!

I agree OP - on MN 'The North' is some deprived land where you can buy a 4 bedroom house for 50p and everyone works down t'mine, whereas in 'The South' you can't buy a studio flat for less than £1million and it's IMPOSSIBLE to move away from London or the Home Countries because it's the only place their careers exist.

Yet try comparing the wages/job opportunities/lifestyles in Merthyr Tydfil or huge swathes of Cornwall, or Plymouth, to those in Edinburgh or Harrogate and see which is more affluent!

Well the weather in North London today is shit, fair dos, but there are lots of free things going on. I don't know about not available anywhere else but as well as the museums which we do very regularly we have done free concerts, theatre workshop, sports and violin camps, lots of protests(!), changing of the guard, wine tasting, circus open day, Parliament tour, open house events, spider trail, fireworks, canal carnival, apple festival, Arsenal v Tottenham women's football, university lectures, author talks etc. And then there are the things that you pay for once and can return to eg transport museum, wobderlab, i get free entry to Hampton court and tower of London with work. Obviously lots of other places offer fun things to do as well, but i do enjoy getting up at the weekend exploring somewhere new, and because I have a travelcard anyway for work there are no extra travel expenses involved. Bad things include: air pollution, not being able to get into the countryside/to the coast easily, rising inequalities, visible crime, crowds.

All the sneering at people with pity and amusement is a terrible character flaw .
Ive met people from all over the UK who do this and they are who are usually stuck in their miserable lives and cope with it by laughing at other people.
Likewise all the winky dont tell the Southerners posts 🙄
No one wants to move up North,its freezing. I say that as a Scot happily basking in the South.
I bloody love it !

Like most of these threads people seem to get into an over the top defensive mood about whichever area they like. And end up putting other places down as a result. Which is a bit sad really.

I was reading a thread once about London and reasons not to leave London and one poster said she had visited somewhere in NotLondon,and apparently there were no.pavements so obviously everywhere apart from London doesn't have pavements Another poster on the same thread advised not to leave London because when she moved to a very rural part of the country from London there was something like one bus a week and all shops closed after 5pm and at weekends ,now I'm sure there are places like that but not in towns and cities

How much warmer is it in the South than the North,really are we talking ,tropical weather or just a few degrees warmer ?

Well it's absolutely pissing down in Surrey and very grey and grim.

All the sneering at people with pity and amusement is a terrible character flaw .
Ive met people from all over the UK who do this and they are who are usually stuck in their miserable lives

Hark who's fucking talking about sneering!

London is more like a village on steroids than most people like to admit

So true

certainly no skateboarding or rollerskating going on up here

Our local skate park is where the drug dealers hang out.

How much warmer is it in the South than the North,really are we talking ,tropical weather or just a few degrees warmer?

On the “I hate summer” threads London appears to be significantly warmer than South Yorkshire. I have no idea whether these posters are exaggerating or whether it is usually about 5 degrees warmer though. Usually the “I hate this hot weather” posts elicit “what hot weather?” from anyone north of Watford.

Personally I would love London temperatures and better public transport links where I live, but I don’t want to live in London to get them. Been there, done that.