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?

Stuart Maconie has lots of books on the North!

Pies and Prejudice!

Ah thanks Bobbin that's the one!

Doc Martens - he does - seems to be his speciality!

StealthPolarBear - the irony really is that Hebden Bridge now likely has a VERY different demographic from what one would think of a stereotypical northern town

Actually the geographic centre of Britain is Dunsop Bridge which is in Lancashire now. The Duchy of Lancaster ie The Queen owns 20000 acres around there and if you go you will understand why. NW England has the most Ferrari's outside of London and Cheshire is traditionally the richest county. But please stay down south. We want to keep it all to ourselves.

the irony really is that Hebden Bridge now likely has a VERY different demographic from what one would think of a stereotypical northern town

I'd take a guess it's home to more Buddhists than the rest.

I had a walk near the middle of Britain last week, massive social distancing available at the 'castle' there ... bet some of you know exactly where I mean.

We’ve only just got VHS in some parts of the north, you’d have to convert your entire movie collection.

I think of book, cook etc. rhyming with fluke as a Lancashire thing.

Lots of t’ round these parts. “To the” kind of becomes “tut” as in “I’m off tut shops”.

What I mean is, you can tell areas where people have harder lives, lower incomes and poorer diets / alcohol dependencies because you can see it etched in their faces and in their general demeanour. It’s not a popular thing to say obviously, but can see the difference when you compare the average person from an affluent part of London or the SE, to northern cities. It hits you as soon as you get off the train and can be quite a shock.

You have some viable points here, but you invalidate them by making the sweeping generalisation that this is how 'northern cities' are. Certain places in the north are impoverished, others aren't. Plus I'm not convinced basing a straw poll on the people you see in railway stations is all that representative of anything.

However, I'm glad you acknowledged that in some places the jobs are thinner on the ground and people's lives are harder. It's been that way for decades now ever since a certain prime minister decided to rip the heart out of entire communities in the north by removing their livelihoods overnight. It takes generations to recover from that sort of blow. Some areas are still in convalescence. And before anyone says 'can't we keep politics out of this', politics become relevant the minute people start making observations about varying standards of living between different parts of the country. As the years pass it's likely that some people literally do not know what Margaret Thatcher and her cronies did to the north in the eighties but are still happy to spout nonsense about how it's grim oop north. And that offends me.

It does amuse me how these threads fill up with Northerners claiming how warm and friendly Northers are thenintheir next breath insulting the cities and people of the south.

Are you really unable to grasp that some of us might be doing that because we have negative personal experiences of the south and have genuinely found many northerners to be friendlier than many southerners?

Ironically I saw more fights in my last weekend visit to Newcastle than in almost twenty years in London!

Oh well, that settles it then. You saw fights on a weekend trip, so the north is clearly populated entirely by brawly fighters. You're saying there's zero violence in whatever parts of country you are familiar with? Come on. Violence is everywhere, sadly.

Joking aside, the problem in the north east is that there is often only 1-3 employers doing the same or similar thing that you could move to (unless you work in the public sector). So, if you want to move job you often have to contemplate a 100-200 mile move. And a lot of employers know that.

What gets my back up is that people think that there are only poor, crappy areas in the north. Having lived ooop north, South London, North London and Essex, I can tell you that there are just as many dumps in the south as there are in the north. There are places that I just wouldn't go to in London. In fact there are only a small handful of nice places in our capital that I would go to.

In my experience the best combo is to go work in the SE and make some money, benefit from an appreciating property asset then sell up and take your money oooop north and buy a nice house and pocket the rest of the cash.

I dont know whether northerners are more friendly than southernerners. Outspoken, yes. But I dont know if that equates to friendliness. I know a lot (including family) and they are a mixed bunch.

I live in the south west and I do agree on the whole people here are much more aloof and reserved, but i also think a bit more honest and genuine when you get to know them.

Dont have much experience of people from south east, bar my BIL who is the loveliest friendliest guy you could ever meet. I don't think he has fallen out with anyone in his life!

NW England has the most Ferrari's outside of London

Is that so? It does look like an appallingly unequal area - very much the poor working class shoved out of sight in crappy estates and the richer middle claaasses. I've seen a surprising number of lived-in castles and stately homes too. The Midlands just doesn't have such a huge duality, there's more of a spectrum.

I think the weather makes a difference but otherwise north v south is overly simplistic. Lots of key workers on national pay scales will probably have a far nicer lifestyle further up north given lower housing costs.

There are some pockets of deprivation in the north east where outcomes are poor and just look different from areas in the south.

I do think the weather makes a huge difference to the ambience of a place. Just as most people living in Manchester probably would not fancy the weather in the Outer Hebrides, this is exactly the kind of comparison that goes through the mind of someone in London when they think about life in the Manchester / Liverpool / Yorkshire region and beyond. More rain = enough said. The Midlsnds is not really a massive difference, but there is a noticeable difference once you hit somewhere like Hull in the east or Cheshire it the west. But it’s not specific to the North, it’s the main thing that probably puts people off moving to Wales. Even the Welsh borders such as Gloucestershire and Shropshire just feel and look so much more wet. The landscape is kind of a darker, heavier green somehow. More rain just means you’re indoors more, more sedentary and more miserable overall. This is a massive factor in quality of life and to be perfectly honest, I think it’s why most people don’t give a hoot that they could get a bigger house by moving out if the south east. It’s not just the damp either, it’s the light. London is far north enough and there enough grey sky here without subjecting yourself to any extra.

@zefi I don't think everyone's as invested in the weather as you are.

London and the SE don't get significantly (enough) less rain for it to matter to most of us.
It's not like the difference between say, Australia and the UK.

Just as most people living in Manchester probably would not fancy the weather in the Outer Hebrides

We went to the Outer Hebrides last April/May, it was absolutely gorgeous. The colour of shallow sea over white shell sand in the sunshine knocks the spots off the Caribbean, and at a more civilised temperature.

Being able to get to Scotland quicker is yet another advantage of living in the north rather than the south of England.

Don't bother we still shit in buckets and launch it onto the street

I am from Newcastle. A recent trip reminded me of my experiences over the years.

I stand corrected.

No, I am not saying either of those things. But don't let me stop you cracking on with the strawmen if it helps you get something out.

No straw men here. If you're not trying to claim the north is more violent than the south, then to me it seems pointless to make the observation about seeing more fights on your last weekend in Newcastle than during your time in London. It's such a random and anecdotal example that it proves exactly nothing.

Hinge, I agree that nearly made me laugh. it is not as if we are picking Saudi or Iceland. I suppose some people may be out in the fields every day but I don't think a bit more rain is a big issue.

I suspect where I live in London we have many more stabbings sadly than Newcastle does where I am from.

I remember the post recently, lots of people recommended Lancashire and the OP seemed quite keen. I stopped watching the thread but I'm guessing people came on and started putting her off somehow. I'm next door to Lancashire there are loads of lovely places up here

I think it is natural selection in action.

Sunderland is full of Pound Shops and mobility scooter sales outlets, where the greatest career aspiration is to have your disability confirmed by a doctor in order to enjoy a life of leisure. Anyone with any sense in Sunderland escapes north of the Tyne to Newcastle.

Newcastle is full of fighting Geordies with chips on their shoulders and a failing economy. If you do not fancy the soma of drinking yourself silly in the Bigg Market, anyone with an IQ in triple digits in Newcastle gets the train to London.

I think the women see it more than the men.

Of course it leaves behind the ‘bungled and botched’, so becoming almost a self fulfilling prophecy.

It is all here:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crap_Towns

but can see the difference when you compare the average person from an affluent part of London or the SE, to northern cities
You clearly haven't been to London.
As confirmed by the ONS figures on Covid deaths and deprivation, London is full of poverty and deprivation. The top ten deprived areas in the UK with the highest numbers of Covid deaths were all London boroughs.
Air pollution is bad in London too. Including in the affluent parts. And the weather? Many find the hot summers in London hellish.

Like I said upthread. There's nice (and not so nice) places to live across the UK. North and South.

I suspect OP is a northerner who wanted to perpetuate the myth of 'snooty' southerners.
Even if they are an (ignorant) southerner, they don't represent everybody else in the south anymore than hopefully people like Pedallleur, who's telling southerners they're not welcome to move up north, represents all northerners.