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?

Cause north and south is a feeling, not a geographical location

Surely all those living in the middle 3rd of a country should feel like Midlanders? Including those who live in Sheffield.

I tend to view Sheffield as an honorary Midlander city

Never say that in Yorkshire!

@BikeRunSki I’m over the hill from you to the north.

Sheffield is in the midlands now, is it? That’s an interesting idea.

I do hope that people on this thread aren't considering Scotland as 'The North'.

I think most Mnetters are clever enough to know the difference between The North and North of the Wall.

I think most Mnetters are clever enough to know the difference between The North and North of the Wall

Goodness, yes. There's absolutely no White Walkers in my area.

• Draw a line from Chester to Lincoln to mablethorpe. Everything above the line is northern, including half the peak district. *

That's about right. Derby is definitely Midlands; the Snake Pass is Northern.

No such thing as White Walkers. It's just people from Scotland and they're mostly lovely.

"I don't walk along canal toll paths, or cycle along the 5 mile prom between Morecambe and Heysham (a truly ugly village)."

@PotatoAndButterPie agreed. Nearly threw up when OH took these pics. Utter shithole

You'll be telling me there's no such thing as dragons next.

Heysham is without doubt the quaintest village (complete with ancient stone graves, interesting old carvings in the church etc) to also have a ferry port tucked away plus a couple of nuclear power stations.

Of course there are dragons Errol. I've known you long enough to know you exist.

Just no White Walkers. They are people from Scotland, aka Scots.🥌

According to roadmaps, it's 210 miles to the South Coast of England from Sheffield, and about 170 to the Scottish border - that makes it fairly middling doesn't it

That's a very sensible approach to where the North is - but isn't the North more about counties.

Do you think people living in Sheffield would say they are Northern?

Well Manchester is only very slightly further north than Sheffield and Manchester would definitely be considered in The North.

Does Sheffield align itself more with Newcastle, Liverpool, Hull, Leeds and Manchester, or Nottingham, Leicester and Birmingham?

Agree that the Midlands, and many other places do get forgotten in any discussion about 'north vs south'.

Hi,

I'm originally from hampshire, lived in London for 4 years and now live in manchester... I can safely say the myths of the north/south divide are just that - myths!!

There are nice areas and not nice areas. I live in a beautiful 3 bed apartment in South Manchester and it's lovely here.

If you are looking at latitude, then the North 'definition' becomes more interesting

When does the “graass” become the “grass?” Is it around Birmingham? Does your accent determine if you’re a “Northener?”

I think it becomes the grass in the midlands.

surely Northern England is from Leeds up

Try telling a manc they aren't Northern.....

I'd have said northern is above the Mersey on the west coast, though I suppose Chester and the Wirral might sneak in. It's less defined on the other side. I'm inclined to think the line should bow downwards a bit to include the more rugged parts of the Peak District.

Northerm is a state of mind.

I’ll accept Liverpool but dubious about Manchester/Salford. Parts are Northern but entirely ? I’m not confident.

People from places like Stoke see themselves as “Northern” though, don’t they? Anywhere north of Birmingham really or where people identify as having a “northern accent.”

I always thought the Birmingham accent is a very distinct one, but north of Birmingham I can’t really tell the difference in the accents (with the obvious exceptions of Liverpool and Newcastle / Sunderland) until you get to the part if Yorkshire where they say “t’” rather than “the.” I remember hearing that accent before I could speak English that well and it sounded like a different language almost because it didn’t flow in the same way. I thought it was something like Norwegian or Danish.

I’d say it’s more cultural, than geographical, the north/south divide. It can differ. Cities like Nottingham are very central but their history makes its working class roots more kin with Manchester and Leeds than say, St Albany or Milton Keynes

Weirdly growing up in Manchester my whole life and now living just north of there, the city I’ve always found really similar to it and got the same vibes from is Bristol ! Completely opposite end of the country but a sort of arty, hard working, ‘for the people’ vibe. I know there are links to the slave trade in Bristol and with the history of the mills in Manchester, maybe it’s connected. I don’t know.

@hablar see what you mean there - I grew up in an inner suburb of Manchester and not everyone has the ‘aright ahh kid!’ Type accent. North of stoke into Cheshire and even north wales, warrington, Manchester suburbs and out into Salford and up into Bury and Bolton you can most definitely just have a genetically soft northern accent. There are definitely dialects and variations and some people have VERY strong accents from the particular area they’re from but there is a sort of over riding generic North-western accent that I think has developed in recent generations. I’m trying to think of an example - maybe Michelle Ackerley from the BBC, or AJ Pritchard?

Does anyone know please - What is the area where they would say, “Up t’ road” and is this a different area to where they don’t use “the” at all because sometimes you can hear people say things like “I’m going on bus to shop.” Is one Lancashire and one Yorkshire?

People in the North don't always speak with a stereotypical Northern accent.

I live in the North and know few people who miss out 'the' when they speak.