Why is The North seen as backward and undesirable?

[Sibsmum]

Can't understand why The North, seems to get looked down on , except when someone wants a holiday home somewhere pretty, or a big house for cheaper prices.
There are Universities, theatres, good schools, roads that aren't clogged all the time( and some that are...)spectacular scenery... So why is there still a perception that somehow The North is 'less' everything than the South?

because of the weather.

It's dreadful down South, it's worst up North.

Plus like most places in the word, the country revolves around the capital city. In England, London happens to be in the South.

It's only a perception from some people who live in the south of England I assume.

I live in Scotland, I think some people are surprised we have wifi

Why have you started this thread?

Just fancy a row?

It's just colder and too far away from London for my liking. I certainly don't see it as "backward".

Because of northerners

They put it out there to keep southerners away

It’s a ploy by northerners to stop southerners moving there.

It's just colder and too far away from London

Thank fuck

It's not, by the people who live there. Or by those of us even further north than The North, in the great frozen expanse which is called Scotland.

Most of us are smart enough to realise that "the North" is not one massive lump where everything is the same.

It's like writing off "the south" because you once had an afternoon in Brighton and didn't like it.

Because some people in the South are so bound to the rat race, so bound up in the "sacrifices" they make to get their overpriced house, that they need to justify/set themselves against others to feel like they've achieved something.

They judge whole areas which they've only read about or driven through, pointlessly offering their opinion that "I wouldn't live there" just to make themselves feel better that phew, they dodged that bullet.

Forgetting the fact that whole swathes of the North are arguably the jewels of England let alone the UK, that the people are the best you could find, the scenery is stunning, there is industry and innovation if you look for it, there is a thriving arts scene, good schooling, affluence in places, etc etc..

NB This is from someone who was raised in Surrey, lived rest of my life in zone 2/3 in London, then came back and bought in Surrey.

The same way that the south is seen as poncey, pretentious and over priced?

@lockdownparty you have wifi? 🤯🤯

I count my blessings every day that we are "too far from London". Then I get back down't pit where I belong.

For reference "The North" is not a place, there are many regions within that and lots of varying cities and towns. What some people class as The North is actually The South to many of us, it seems there are plenty of people in London who forget that there is more to England than one city and that the United Kingdom has three other countries besides England (who also have their own capital cities).

The thing that makes me laugh is that it's only a couple of hours up or down the road! How different do they genuinely believe it is going to be such a small distance away.

I also think it's funny when people say they want to move somewhere because the house prices are cheaper. Failing to actually consider whether there are actually any jobs in the area or what income levels are. Houses are cheap where I live. Unmployment levels are high, and most jobs in the area are low skilled and low wages. The area is going to be losing a quarter of the workforce from one of the biggest employers shortly. 35% of kids in my DC school receive free school meals (there is no blanket free school meals for everyone in Wales). But yeah, the house prices are cheap.

I have several southern friends who although do appreciate the north they definitely think that London is the centre of the universe and no where else quite compares. I agree to an extent. But that isn’t a reason to not like the north.

The same friends raise their eyebrows at me when they realise that our mortgage on our bigger house is almost paid off whereas they still owe hundred of thousands on a tiny box

Because if people who lived in London admitted how nice it was up here they'd have to accept what fools they are staying in their £1M 1 bed flats in an area with bad knife crime.

I prefer to smile benevolently when family members realise my kitchen is bigger than their entire flat and that yes, we can get parmesan/quinoa/spelt in the shops. Oh, and yes we do get local organic milk delivered and nobody steals it and have a French patisserie in walking distance from the house. And it cost us less to see theatre productions and we see them before they go to London.

Living in the North, the only thing I can think of it as being undesirable is the lack of many employers in the same industry. DH and I work for separate companies that don't really have competitors in their field. My previous company had 3 or 4 competitors in its field. Employers get complacent because there's little chance of employees changing jobs if they're not satisfied because that could require moving to another part of the country. If we worked in or around London there'd be loads of employers we could move to.

Too many Leave voters

Too many Leave voters

My Mum is like this even though she is originally from a less than salubrious area of London. Somehow 'Northerners' are a different species. I think this comes from pre-Thatcher and even pre-WW2 times when the north was industrial. She has never understood why I love the north so much!

I come from the Middle (so not North or South but have lived in both) and feel I get the best of everything really. Commuting distance to London, Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham and Edinburgh at a push; but without their crime levels / unemployment / drug crimes / racism.

I've got family in Yorkshire, born & bred. They are nicer about where I live "down south" than they are about the "wrong" bits of Yorkshire and the whole of Lancashire!

I like the North - there's a few spots I'm not keen on but overall it's clean, friendly, comparatively quiet and cheap. What really keeps me away (other than being a confirmed southerner) is smuggy mcsmug professional northerners, especially the Yorkshire ones. If you deploy them on purpose to put us off- they're working !

In my experience many of my former London colleagues were quite sniffy about the North - where apparently I live even though I'm actually in the East Midlands. I was renowned for reminding them that North is NOT anything above the M25.... I've now got a job nearer to home where I don't have to listen to the nonsense!

I think it’s only pretty narrow-minded, ignorant people who refer to ‘ The North’ as an area and think that people are ‘backward’ or ‘undesirable’.
I can’t imagine people who make such sweeping judgements are the kind of people I would want to be around and therefore they can quite happily stay in their superior southern bubble.
Thankfully, I’m aware that not all areas ‘down south’ are the same and not all southerners are pretentious twats.

@JaniceWebster

because of the weather.

It's dreadful down South, it's worst up North.

Plus like most places in the word, the country revolves around the capital city. In England, London happens to be in the South.

I don't agree with any of this. I moved from Yorkshire to London and I haven't noticed much of a difference in the weather, apart from maybe a degree or two warmer on some days. Maybe if you're moving from Newcastle Also well no I can't think of any other country that is so focused on its capital city, and the UK never used to be like this until fairly recently. There was no such thing as a north/south divide in the UK before the late 20th Century

Going to generalise here, I am a Northerner before anyone starts.
The South is more affluent than the North. Affluence usually means better education and is seen as being more sophisticated. The North is has traditionally been associated with certain industries which were deemed more working class e.g mining, mills, ship building.
The South also has London which is the political, cultural and financial capital of the country.
I was part of the exodus from the North to the South during the 80's for employment, lived there for 8 years, I moved back as soon as I could.