To think the north of England offers a worse quality of life than the South or Midlands?

[DDRickyDD]

I was thinking of moving to Lancashire, but having done some research online, it seems a lot of people have negative opinion of it. I'm now set on Warwickshire or Leicestershire. Does the north in general offer a worse quality of life than the Midlands? I know its cheaper up north but is it much worse up there?

And likewise it isn't possible to criticise the North, as this thread so amply proves. The difference is Londoners are supposed to smile and suck it up

You’re missing the point. Again. I’m beginning to think it isn’t accidental.....

I think the actual as truth of the matter is that everywhere is both shit and good.

If you've got money you can find somewhere you love if you've got a joke in your piss pot then everywhere within your grasp will be shite.
The only real difference is you get more for your money in the north compared to London.

I live a blissful life on less than £1000 a month in my small northern town. Rent is £400 for my 3 bed semi. It's not in the best area but the worst area here is nothing compared to the worst of the Midlands of London. No one gets shot here, or stabbed, you get called names and that's about it... Drive by insults.
I couldn't hit this standard in London, I'd be in a sink estate with little to no hope of a good life for my daughter.

So just find the best you can get for what money you have available. Make the best of it, balance it as best you can.

Then when you realise your swapped 280hours a month of your life to live in a run down flat in Hammersmith, move to Yorkshire. 😝

Marie - You can criticise London as much as you like. Some of it will be true, some of it won’t be. But as you say, you don’t live here and it sounds like you never have or intend to, so what difference does it make? It’s horses on the courses. You’re just making a statement about yourself. Wouldn’t it be boring if everyone wanted to live in the same place?

Some of it will be true, some of it won’t be

It will all be true because it is my feelings, that’s my whole point.

You’re just making a statement about yourself

Quite - I made that point earlier!

I've lived in London and the north. It's slightly less ridiculous to make generalisations about London than the north, simply by virtue of their relative size.

London is amazing and I loved it while I lived there (in my twenties), but I'd hate to live there now. The air pollution alone would put me off tbh. When you look at the statistics about the health consequences of living in London or a large city (north or south), it's pretty scary tbh. Plus I'm especially glad not to live in a city during the pandemic.

A lot of this north/south debate seems to actually be more of a city vs rural/semi-rural debate tbh, and personally I come firmly down on the side of rural. I wouldn't ever live in a city again, I don't think.

And likewise it isn't possible to criticise the North, as this thread so amply prove

You can criticise parts of the North - and for certain things. The North is a massive place though - so criticising "The North" is a strange thing to do. Parts of it has their faults - but I am sure what can be criticised in some parts of the North is untrue in other parts.

London - is just that bit smaller - and again, has lots of diversity. So things that are true for some parts are untrue in other parts.

People talk about houses being cheaper "up North" - of course they are, in some parts. But we have expensive cities and expensive part s of cities - and we have our fair share of unaffordable places for many people.

We have our share of poverty. But does parts of London.

Public transport can be difficult - especially in some parts. In other parts, it's pretty good. Not like TFL - and I hope we see some investment in infrastructure.

We have many good and outstanding schools. We also have many poorer schools - and have had a lack of investment in them.

So yes - there is lots to discuss. The North is as varied a place there is - lots of beautiful parts, culture, scenery and relatively affordable housing (for some) - coupled with real poverty, violence, lack of opportunity and massive social issues.

You’re missing the point. Again. I’m beginning to think it isn’t accidental.....

No, I understand what you are saying but it's been said so many times already including by me in my very first post on the thread. It's just the baseline and it doesn't need to be repeated every few posts like it's the only thing to be said. I was trying to have a more interesting conversation beyond trite platitudes and also trying to highlight the double standards in this thread (and generally in the North/South threads) about who gets to criticise who.

bout who gets to criticise who

It does seem strange to try to criticise 'an entire geographical region of the UK'.

I can certainly criticise London for certain things - and that seems much easier as it's a city. Albeit a big one.

And Londoners would be free to defend the criticism.

Just read on another thread that you can get some AMAZING houses for £300K around Sheffield and co. You dont even get a 2-bed flat where I live! (and it is not London)

I could make some compromises if there were a job for me. They might talk with a funny accent, but that`s OK, I would blend in

It does seem strange to try to criticise 'an entire geographical region of the UK'.

Given that people in other countries can make accurate observations about English culture, is it really so odd that would also apply to regions?

London is a city of 10 million people. Wealth and poverty will often stand stsrkly side by side. There will be as many experiences of London as there are people.. I’ve lived in Bethnal Green, Brixton, Clapham, Chelsea and where we are now and even I don’t feel qualified to comment on “London” because there will be as many experiences of living here as there are people. Where does London even finish - I’m not sure. Is life in Croydon comparable to Knightsbridge? Could Teddington be compared to Hoxton? I do think some people come here for weekends, queue for a few galleries etc and go on the tube to Covent Garden or somewhere and think that’s it, “ooh it’s so busy...”

Given that people in other countries can make accurate observations about English culture, is it really so odd that would also apply to regions?

What exactly do you mean by 'English culture'? I'm pretty sure this can only be be certain specifics which apply only to subsets of the population, not anything really general.

What exactly do you mean by 'English culture'? I'm pretty sure this can only be be certain specifics which apply only to subsets of the population, not anything really general

Assuming you grew up in and have always lived in England, ask your friends from other cultures, I bet you'll be surprised by things they've picked up as English or British that you just thought of as What People Are Like. For example, one of my friends is very interesting comparing the style of education in her country to mine. Not practical stuff like school structures or curriculum (though of course those differ) but the ways of thinking that are promoted, which aspects of presenting an argument are considered primary, that sort of thing. Very interesting.

Isnt that true of any culture though @ErrolTheDragon?

No the north doesn’t offer a ‘worse quality of life’ than the midlands or south.
I speak as someone who has lived in all three.
There are definitely preconceived ideas that ‘it’s grim up north’ which have their roots in the industrialisation of the north and the fact that it’s cheaper (in general) to buy property in the north.
The north is obviously a huge geographical area which includes some extremely deprived areas as well as some extremely affluent areas. Parts of Cheshire remain some of the most expensive places in the U.K.

Likewise, parts of the Midlands and the south have areas of both extreme poverty and affluence. It’s ridiculous to suggest otherwise.
Having lived in the south, I will say that in my opinion there are more ‘softer’ areas than in the north. I’m struggling to explain what I mean by that - just that maybe the cost of living is higher more frequently, the weather is gentler and the people are more reserved?!
OP - in direct answer to your original question, my personal experience is no it doesn’t. I currently live in the north and have a very comfortable life in a lovely home, semi-rural, beautiful countryside, large garden, good schools, lots of facilities and only half an hour to a big city.
If my house was transplanted to say Kent, Wiltshire, Oxfordshire or even parts of the midlands you could double or even treble our mortgage. Based on that I’m staying put!

I haven't always lived in the U.K. ...

Some of the differences between nations are in a sense imposed at a national level. Educational norms, how the justice system works. I'm not at all sure that translates to a regional level.

And as porcupine says, 'isn't that true of any culture' ... quite so... same goes for generalisations about regions.

Some of the differences between nations are in a sense imposed at a national level. Educational norms, how the justice system works. I'm not at all sure that translates to a regional level.

Yes, that's why I specifically excluded nationally defined stuff like the curriculum. It's the implicit cultural norms that interest me.

Are you saying you didn't notice any cultural differences between the UK and the other country you lived in beyond the national institutions?

Are you saying you didn't notice any cultural differences between the UK and the other country you lived in beyond the national institutions?

I'm not sure there was anything much which would be generally applicable rather than a stereotype observed in some but not others, which is the point.

Not to get political on top of everything else but I do think a lot of people in London ended up feeling quite alienated following the Brexit vote and then even more so when so many people voted Conservative for the first time, just to “get Brexit done” because they just wondered who and where are all these people and what are they thinking? Meanwhile, the reverse was happening around here - they people who would normally vote Conservative, ie bankers etc, felt unable to vote for them, precisely because they didn’t want to get Brexit done. So you get boroughs such as Wandsworth, where an average Victorian 4-bed semi would be upwards of £3m, which have turned Labour or Richmond going LD, while places like Sunderland, turn blue. So people do feel like they’re living on a kind of island within a wider nation that’s going in a different direction and they can’t really relate because the general sentiment seems so different.

Ok houses for 300,000 ish not far from me All in areas you’d not mind sending your kid to the shop at night in if you know what I mean. Naice people live there (there are naice people up north).

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-76830715.html

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-69531315.html

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-70215639.html

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-87940916.html

Brexit wasn't anything like a north-south divide, so I'm not sure why people keep alluding to it on this thread. Wasn't the only MP UKIP ever had in Clacton (I suppose jaywick would be part of that constituency...)

Correct. It was convenient for a lot of people to present Brexit as the vote of the excluded, morally righteous north though, on all sides of the divide. The fact that the northern cities were mainly Remain seemed to go unnoticed, as did the Leave vote from some of the well heeled southern shires.

I think if you have a decent wedge of cash and a good job, you can live very well in the North. However the trade off is that the weather is often utterly crap. When I spend time in the South, the weather seems to be much better and noticeably warmer.

Brexit wasn’t north south it was a middle/working class divide if anything

Ukip and tommy Robinson always do well in Essex and Kent and stuff

SchadenfreudePersonified, rusty rita with her bingo arms is not a fav of mine but DH loves her!

I didn't like her at first - not for years, then one day we were driving home from our hols (I forget where) and it was a long trip, and then suddenly there she was with her arms open to welcome us .. . I have adored her ever since, and whenever I see her think "We're home!"