This beautiful/amazing/welcoming/friendly Yorkshire I’ve never witnessed

[Agsjsgkahs]

I appreciate this is probably provocative

But I’m from Yorkshire, a shit hole town in West Yorkshire, very close to where happy valley was filmed. I lived there for 18 years and went to school in a neighbouring, and also not great town.

I now live in Scotland, but wherever I go people clock my accent and tell me what an amazing place I’ve come from, amazing to live, couldn’t imagine ever leaving, x,y and z live there. So friendly and welcoming.

The town I am from is inherently racist and the schools are more or less (unofficially) segregated on race lines. Racist language seeps into many conversations, largely but not exclusively, aimed at the Asian community.

I went to a Catholic school in a neighbouring town and even this attracted harassment. My friend who is mixed race (her own description) was called all sorts of horrible slurs and told to go home.

People who claim benefits were hated upon, and most people seemed to think they were paying everyone else’s benefits. (My party trick is to tell them what being a net contributor to society means).

We of course have a conservative MP. And I would say are a new Tory heartland.

I have also lived in North Yorkshire which was not much better, and definitely even more racist and xenophobic.

I’ll give it to the county that it’s green, and maybe parts are nice to look at. Not West Yorkshire.

I have never lived in South Yorkshire or the East Riding so maybe this is the Yorkshire people speak of, but the West Yorkshire I left four years ago and North Yorkshire I left weeks ago certainly isn’t.

So basically, is it just me that’s sick of being told I come from some paradise, that really isn’t

Interestingly, where I live now used to be part of West Yorkshire but we're now considered part of Greater Manchester.
There are people who campaign to be be brought back into WY, who refuse to write Manchester on their address and all have white roses on their houses! Yorkshire Day celebrations are a 'thing' round here and the primary school's logo is both a red and white rose.

I grew up in East Yorkshire. It was a nice place to grow up for me, a privileged white person, but I'm sure it would be more difficult for others as it was a bit of a backwater. No more than in many places across the UK though.

I miss the humour but for me that is a northern thing not just a Yorkshire thing. Having lived in the north east, which has the loveliest people ever (again, just from my perspective), and spent time in places like Wales, I wouldn't describe Yorkshire as particularly friendly compared to these places. More blunt and honest... It is however a lot friendlier than some places I've been to in the south.

I'll get my coat now in case anyone comes for me with pitchforks...

@Ohmygoshandfolly

It’s the biggest county in the country so lots of sweeping statements here based on anecdotal experiences of small parts of the county.

I’m from Bradford which is a rather strange city. Lots of segregation, it’s a little like 1950s USA tbh. Large areas which are primarily white, large areas primarily Asian. Some schools have 0 white pupils, others are mostly white. I did experience racism growing up, white people knew not to go to the areas mostly populated by the Asian community because they were considered shitholes.

I now live in a small village close to Wakefield and it’s totally different. Largely white area but never experienced or witnessed racism. More friendly people here than in Bradford actually. My DH went to the private school here and grew up in a similar sort of place so he was used to this way of living but I was not. I couldn’t believe how people greeted you in the street here, it would never happen in Bradford! I remember telling DH I couldn’t believe how many people said hello to me in the street, he couldn’t believe I found that so surprising. It is a tory area but I think the majority of affluent areas are…

I have some experience of North Yorkshire, not so much south. Beautiful places right across the county which is probably the image people not from Yorkshire have. Most people are just regular people, I don’t know anyone who is small minded and bigoted but then it’s just who I choose to mix with I guess. Overall it isn’t a bad part of the world, it’s like anywhere in the world though with some parts worse than others. You’ll never find a completely perfect place, it doesn’t exist.

I grew up in Bradford and it seems to have gone backwards as far as integration and attitudes go. There were still the problems you mention but there was also a sizable subculture when I was a teenager which was very mixed and who completely rejected the racism and homophobia which had been common among their parents' generation. But perhaps you only discovered this better side to Bradford if you knew where to look.

That is not to say that there wasn't still a lot of racism, but it would have been more openly challenged. At that time, people tended to feel they came from Bradford (rather than one of it's many ethnic groups); which is perhaps not surprising when friends from Leeds still joked that we still lived in caves, and other non-Bradfordians described it as 'Hell'.

Thanks everyone for your replies.

I never said the place I moved to was superior, I prefer it, but I think leaving and not living in Yorkshire is what really highlighted the issues there is, rather than it being a Yorkshire vs Scotland competition.

Yes, without getting flamed I've not found West Yorkshire (where I've lived for the past 7 years) remotely friendly. I reckon I could count the nice people I've met on one hand. My accent and introversion saw me marked as different early on both in workplaces and areas I've lived. I've been on the receiving end of "banter" that I thought/hoped had died in the 1970s but obviously not, and because I didn't play along I was frozen out. I'm white and from Northern Ireland, and I find some areas more segregated than what I grew up in. I've also been made to feel very uncomfortable by clannish families in areas I've lived.

I do want to leave but most of my links to home have since died and it's proving hard to persuade my local OH as we get plenty of value for money for what we're renting now.

I don't think it's a great place for introverts, to be honest, or people who come across as "different" (Hebden Bridge notwithstanding from my visits). But this is my opinion gleaned from my own experiences. I'll retreat now

I can't speak for the rest of Yorkshire as there's a lot if it I don't know, but I've enjoyed time spent in Knaresborough (so pretty), York and good old Bridlington for seaside fun. I found Whitby a bit League of Gentlemen-ish and any time I go to Harrogate I lose something, so it's made me reluctant to go back

But YOU op have imo rated these locations and their people.
I'm not particularly attached to either Yorkshire or Scotland though I've lived in both. You seem a bit naive (and slightly bigoted if I may venture.)

Im from York (don’t live there anymore)
Everyone seems to think it’s wonderful-historical,charming and such a nice place to visit
I hate it
They see the minster,Ouse and cliffords tower-I see the sink estates,the drug abuse and the poor homeless sods
I only ever go back to see my grown up children,left to me I’d forget it exists
It’s the same everywhere I think-if your just visiting you see the charm of somewhere but if you’ve grown up there you see it’s problems

it's a big place, but I have found the attitudes in some places of WY and a exactly what you describe.

I also moved to a village on the boarder of WY and found it awful, it was insular, close minded, many openly spoke with racist language, it also felt I'd moved 20 years into the past.

I did make some goods friends there, unsurprisingly they were all new comers. The locals had been there for generations and yes quite literally were mostly related to each other, they did not like new people at all.

I also get the Ooo Yorkshire so lovely and beautiful why would you leave?

I reply Yorkshire is a big place and it's not all like heartbeat, Emmerdale. There are plenty of absolute shit holes, and lots and lots of land isn't moors and Dale's, Just bog standard farming and arable land.

But mostly I'm a Yorkshire girl and still love the area I grew up and love going home. (home is not in WY or the village on the boarder)

Again thanks for your replies.

Maybe I am bigoted towards my own hometown and surrounding areas. I’m not so arrogant as to think that I can’t change/ be wrong @PinusSylvestris. The view I have of West Yorkshire is limited to what, me, my family and friends have experienced, which is partly the reason I started the thread

Knackeredcat, I started to type something along the lines of this and then didn't post: "My accent and introversion saw me marked as different early on both in workplaces and areas I've lived."

I think, especially if your accent marks you out, it takes a long time to be integrated. I was born in W Yorks but both parents come from other parts of the UK (one from London, Eastenders territory, which is and was diverse when they were a post-war child). Although their accents are not really of anywhere now, and they have been in the same place 45 years ish, it took a long time to be accepted and they would be judged as 'posh'. Not on the same level as a racial judgment but still an instant marker based on insider/outsider. That said, I think there are many more regions in the UK that have that characteristic as well.

I agree that some places seem to be much more amenable to keeping an image going like Harrogate, Haworth etc. To my mind they're the exceptions, because I grew up between former industrial cities which were not about drystone walls and rolling hills. I find it so strange to see the buildings when I go back - early 80s I thought they were all dark and brooding; many have been surface cleaned now and look sandy and orangey or greystone, nothing like the way I remember.

One of the peculiar things about the picturesque part of West Yorkshire is that you’re not really allowed to say you don’t like it.
Especially in the Calder Valley. So many people are living their dream life after selling up in London / buying an air bnb, that they’re deeply offended at any suggestion that may rock their impression of the place as one big lentil weaving commune.

@AspartameMartin 🤣 🤣

I live in this area too but am not from it. There's lots I love about it, but lots I don't!
Having spent a little bit of time over the border, Lancastrians are much friendlier. Yorkshire people are slower to warm to you but are mostly decent enough people.
I am still occasionally shocked by seemingly nice people expressing views I really don't agree with but suspect that happens in lots of other places too.
Just wish it didn't rain quite as much.

The 'from Yorkshire' excuse for blatant rudeness makes me absolutely hopping mad too OP!
I live in North Yorkshire and I miss Manchester where I was born and brought up. Also so many Yorkshire people think being from Yorkshire adds some sort of magical touch to their personality... Well, news flash, Yorkshire people, it doesn't. You just look a bit ridiculous going on about how awesome Yorkshire is. You don't get that with Dorset or Ayrshire or Powys or Sussex. Just shut up about it now!

And breathe....

Sorry the above was more angry than I anticipated

It is the only place i have ever lived where local people would put dog shit through the letter boxes of outsiders. Walking into the local pub was like walking into the slaughtered lamb from American werewolf in london.

I don’t recognise the everyone knowing everyone else. I think that applies to non immigrants/ descendants only.

Wow! That's a heck of an assumption to make, and not borne out by my experience of living there (or now in similar towns the other side of the Pennines).

Vaguely racist? I don't know. Something doesn't sit right with me about that quote.

I hear you OP. I grew up in West Yorkshire and couldn’t wait to leave.

I visit family who still live there. Each time i think it will have improved and each time something will happen to prove it hasn’t.

The last occasion was a visit to an Indian restaurant. The racist comments from customers to waiters (dressed up as ‘we’re only having a laugh’ banter) made dp and I cringe.

Lovely days out to the sculpture park etc. But could never live there.

Also so many Yorkshire people think being from Yorkshire adds some sort of magical touch to their personality... Well, news flash, Yorkshire people, it doesn't. You just look a bit ridiculous going on about how awesome Yorkshire is. You don't get that with Dorset or Ayrshire or Powys or Sussex. Just shut up about it now!

I'm from West Yorkshire and now live closer to Manchester. I've never really noticed people talking about how awesome Yorkshire is or the magical effect it has on their personality but I absolutely see and hear Mancunians do this about Manchester!!!

Totally agree. I grew up in North Yorks it is beautiful but very narrow-minded. I went to Lady Lumley’s school who recently had an awful ofsted inspection highlighting homophobia/racism and many students not feeling safe. I would say it made for shocking reading but it was exactly as I remember it 25 years ago. Hopefully now it has been brought to light things will change…

I’ve no idea as I’ve never lived there but I think you could apply this post to most areas of the uk.

I think it highlights how diversity and multiculturalism does not always lead to people living happily and harmoniously and that class divide also remains an issue.

Basically, people are generally sticking to mixing with people who are similar to them and are wary and in some cases rude to those that are not like them. And that this applies to people of all colours, ethnicities and classes.

Whilst the media portray a cohesive, multicultural, diverse society, it is often difficult to relate to that in real life.

I think you're describing a "small town syndrome" issue rather than a Yorkshire one. I've lived in different parts of the country and seen the kind of things you've described in each of them. I live in Leeds now and what you've described isn't represented in how I experience my life here. Granted I am white and not in education and so may well be shielded from certain things. But on the whole I think certainly the bigger places like Leeds are more ethnically diverse and there's so much to be gained from that.

Having random chats whilst you're waiting for a bus or sitting in a bar or at the supermarket are pretty commonplace and although I don't know all my neighbours personally, I know their faces and we always greet each other when passing and all look out for each other.

I think you really can't generalise. That may be your experience of your part of the place you grew up but it certainly isn't the Yorkshire I live in!

@Feedingthebirds1

Okay, I with two immigrant parents am racist because me and other immigrants were not a part of this everyone knowing everyone else?

@Feedingthebirds1

I am heavily dyslexic so I’m hoping you have misread what I have written and that I have written badly because what I’m saying is it is racist, immigrants in parts of West Yorkshire are excluded from the everyone knowing everyone else club. We are the outsiders and it is made abundantly clear