Why are Northeners so much nicer?

[forgiveormakehimpay]

I'm from The south east, 40 mins away from London by train.

I've come up to Liverpool to see an old friend and what?! It's like a different culture. People are so lovely to us?

My child has a disability and people have been brilliant. I know I'm generalising but literally, guarantee a hard look from lots of people when out in my own area back home

People here are just so.. personal? Very friendly and kind.

Why aren't people in the South East like this? Mostly they aren't anyway! Mostly just keep themselves to themselves etc And I'm not even talking about London

My mum lives in Billericay and people there are vile.

I'm a Northerner through and through. You do no Harold Shipman, Ian Brady and Peter Sutcliffe were also Northerners? We are more friendly to strangers, like Americans, but not actually any nicer really. No group of people divided by region, race, religion or nationality is.

I've lived north west, Midlands, London and north east. In my experience, Liverpool is very friendly but also in your face - someone will shout over the road they like your hat. They'll also shout over that they hate it.

Londoners are as friendly and helpful as anywhere else, it's easier to make friends because it's more transient so people are looking to set up their life. It's also constant low level stressful - am now north east and have had to calm down my stressy public transport responses because they are irrelevant. My experience so far is people are chatty and friendly and make extra effort to make things easier for me with the buggy. Making friends is harder due to working from home, my life stage and having a nursery where everyone drops off by car so we don't meet people on the walk home.

I’ve lived up and down the country form kent, Sussex, Northumberland, cheshire, yours, lancs, Herefordshire, Hamps and berks and london
I do not agree that people up north are more friendly. I heard it a lot particularly form Liverpudlians who claim to be friendliness people - to the point of a badge of pride especially those that had never lived anywhere else!

It such a load of shite

generally, IMHE, the smaller and “closer” a community the friendlier it is. Big cities like london are a huge melting pot of cultures and transient populations particularly of the young moving in and out for work. People have long commutes, are time poor and simply don’t have time to stop and chat .

Also people are going to feel any place they grew up in, or still have family ties to friendly- they know the place, they know the people. Similarly if you go somewhere on hols it’ll seem friendlier- you’ve more time and less stressed to appear approachable and the shops etc need your custom.

compare that to my current village- only lived here 1 year. It’s small, I know tons of people to say hi to, I am retired and can strike up random conversations with random people I encounter.

I’m the same person who lived in london. And all those other places. And all the people I have encountered are just the same wherever you go. You get standoffish, friendly, rude, arrogant, helpful depending on the person and the circumstances you meet in- not the place.

Agree with @use47 its cultural communication differences, not being nicer

I do think that there is a difference between 'genuinely friendly' and 'chatty with random strangers that you'll probably never see again.'

I'm an immigrant so no skin in this game! There are definitely parts of the country where random strangers will want to chat more than in other places. And if 'chatty' equals friendly to some folk then sure, I get that.

But for true open friendliness, give me a place where most people originate from somewhere else every time. We know we have to make the effort.

I'm a Northerner but lived all over the Uk. I find people are often more chatty outside of busy areas and away from really touristy areas.
TBH I find people in the UK to be friendly all over the country.

Don't be ridiculous, those of us born in God's own county realise we are the lucky ones.

We know it is not the fault of the individuals that their parents had them in other places and we do try not to pity you too much.

I actually laughed when I read your title.

I am a Londoner. Lived in London for over 40 years then Essex for 15 years. Moved north 5 years ago.

The people are no nicer or friendlier here than London or Essex. I get sick of people saying "Northerners are so much friendlier"

@maddy68 Oh come on, London has had and still has its fair share of poverty, Tower Hamlets is one of the poorest boroughs now.
Growing up in the east end you could never have met more friendly helpful people and the real eastenders are still the same.
I live bordering east london, Essex now and always end up chatting to someone.
I feel there is a predjudice against southerners in general, stuck up, unfriendly, greedy etc... and it's so untrue in general.

@NellesVilla
Oh but there are so many different northern accents. I love the gentle Cumbrian accent.

Utter rubbish.

I've lived various places and in all there are people who will chat nicely when you're beside them on the bus (or even, the Tube) and people who don't want to chat. People who will say "hello" to people they don't know as they pass in villages all over the country-people don't tend to do that in towns. Can you imagine walking along the street in Manchester and saying "hello" to each person you pass? People who are welcoming, and people who don't want outsiders of any description. People who embrace diversity and people who hate it etc.

What I will say is I've come across more villages in the north for whom if your family hasn't been living there for at least two generations then you will never be an insider- you'll always be "that incomer that came from village down the road" even when you've lived there 25 years. I haven't come across that attitude in anywhere south of Nottingham.

Do stop , its cringeworthy that adults behave like this under the guise of humour.
Guess where I was born?
Yep York 😂
Moved abroad as a child.

I hate the North vs South threads because they always seem to forget that Midlanders exist. Bit like the weather report...Its going to be sunny down south today, but a bit windy and chilly in the North. Those of us in the Midlands are obviously in a weather free zone 🙄

We live in Manchester & fond people generally friendly & warm - but we go to Northumberland once a month and were genuinely "shocked" at the difference, chattiness, smiley warmth & help with little things

Maybe a shoes on/off in the house one? With each party more disgusted than the other

I don't find southerners rude but there's definitely a friendly vibe in Scotland where I live. My neighbour moved up here from London and he said he found it a bit overwhelming at first. He was walking from the bus stop in heavy rain his first week here and told me several people "tried to make me get in their cars"😂

I agree with this, but Harold Shipman was born in Nottingham - I wouldn't count that as Northern.

I think it's not that people are friendlier in some places, but the way communities interact with each other changes depending on various social factors. (Size of community, deprivation/wealth, pace of life, how much people have to rely on their neighbours, availability of local amenities, number of commuters vs local workers, size of transient population etc..). Northern communities, whether in a village or a city like Manchester, tend to function very differently to London or to SE commuter towns.

What someone said upthread about rural communities in winter was right - people here rely on their neighbours in a way you don't in a large southern city. (I lived in London for 14 years, so plenty of experience.) The main road to my village got cut off by several fallen trees in one of last winter's storms, and small places like this are always low on the priority list to be cleared. But it didn't matter - by mid morning the locals had sorted out chainsaws and tractor trailers, and had been out and cleared the road. In places like this, we all know each other because that's what makes things work - you don't want to fall out with people who you may rely on.

I actually found the area of SE London I lived in much more friendly than the SE commuter towns I've been told about by friends who live in them (it was a very deprived bit of London, a long time ago, which may make a difference). I guess commuter towns have the worst of it because everyone tends to travel out for what they need.

That post amused me too!

"The accent".... which one??

Shhhhh stop telling everyone, all the Southerners will want to move up here!!!

It's because we Northerners have to huddle together like penguins to keep warm.

I'd also add that the historic cultural stuff makes a difference too. Someone mentioned that they thought Liverpool was friendly due to the sizeable Irish population - I think there's likely to be something in this.

When you have immigration, people bring with them some of the cultural behaviours from their home country. If the immigrant community is big enough (in many places it isn't, but in places like Liverpool it definitely is) this will have an effect on wider behaviours and interactions. Of course, the amount of integration between immigrants and the original population will make a difference too.

I'm from the North West originally. Yes, there are friendly people there. There are also awful people there. Just like anywhere else really.

I've moved around a lot including the South East and there are friendly people everywhere.

I find all the talk of the North/ South divide quite othering to be honest and don't like it. I think people are people wherever you are. It's just a slightly different culture in the South but the people are no less warm and welcoming in my experience. The only exception is London which is obviously a big city - Manchester and Birmingham are similar.

The people I met from Yorkshire were very proud of 'telling it like it is' and I don't understand this - to me it's just an excuse to be rude. No everyone needs to know what you think, expressed in blunt terms, at every given moment!
Also why do they need to tell everyone they are from Yorkshire? What do they want, a bloody medal? Besides, we can tell by the god awful accent.

My mum lives in Billericay and people there are vile.

People in Billericay are vile? What, all of them? Come off it.

There are as many 'vile' people in Liverpool as there are in Billericay or anywhere else. You just met a few nice ones.

This.
Plus you don't have 'professional southerners' in the same way as 'professional northerners' , of whom my BIL is the self declared president. I like to time in my head how long it will be before the words mardy southerner will be uttered.