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?

I've only been 'looked down' on once. That was in an airport in Toronto and we were talking to a couple in their 50s/60s in the queue for our flight. We were in our mid 20s. They lived in the surrounding areas of London and we live in the North East. So we got talking and they had been to visit their daughter in Toronto after only being able to see their new granddaughter over FaceTime. We had just spent 10 days there on holiday.
The women then piped up out of the blue, (knowing nothing about us other than we'd been in holiday) and said it's a shame and she feels sorry for us (baring in mind me and my husband have steady jobs in the NHS, happily married and have a mortgage) living in the North as there's no opportunities and you are just stuck there!
Erm.... we've managed to make it to Canada for holiday 🤣
I just smiled and nodded and said well it's nice to be near family rather than relying on longhaul flights and FaceTimes!
I don't think that most people are like this! If they are I haven't met them!

It will only give them more options ,if someone can afford to buy the houses though ,.

Exactly, there won't be many 20 something or even 30 something Londoners thanking their lucky stars that house prices have soared out of their reach in the last couple of decades.

@moj1to or you could call them “professional southerners” to match with your “professional northerners” term rather than grouping the north into one big area yet separating the south into counties.

I’m confused why MN has so many threads started by Londoners asking for advice on moving north for better value for money housing if ‘Londoners ‘ are thanking their lucky stars they live in London.

It’s the sweeping generalisations here that are the problems, the idea that ‘Londoners’ have one collective mind, that ‘Northerners’ have a chip on their shoulder etc. They don’t. Every area is diverse including the people who live in it .

x2 - yes that’s very true and it’s very hard for young people who were born in London to get on the property ladder here without help.

I was making the point that very few people in the wealthier parts of London were born there. They have come from other parts of the UK through work, or from other countries. For instance, we were at a dinner party last night and a couple we’ve known for years suddenly started speaking Welsh. But we never knew they were Welsh because they left their early 20s. I’m not British, nor is DH. Nobody ever asks. The hosts were Italianate Canadian and another woman was telling me she’s originally from the Isle of Man. But you would never know unless someone tells you. I’m just saying, most Londoners do know what it’s like to live in other regions because so many were born elsewhere.

Whilst loads of Londoners may have come from the North ,sometimes it appears on here that they don't seem to realise that their little backward Northern town that they left in the 80,s has moved on a,lot in the last 30 years or so ,certainly in my town in the Northwest ,we have 24 hr supermarkets , good transport links , I can pretty much order any type of food that my heart desires etc etc

I don’t think “the North” is one area at all, Molly. I was using the terminology of the OP. And replying to the pp talking about an OTT person from Essex.

Of course people find it difficult with the cost of living in London so may move out, not necessarily “North,” just elsewhere. Some people may go overseas. But that’s not because other places are “better” necessarily. It’s just economics. Also, I don’t understand this, “ the north has the best countryside.” This is subjective and it’s very obvious that there is beautiful countryside all over the UK, as in any other country.

@moj1to You said you call them ‘professional Northerners’ , if you don’t think of the North as one big area then maybe you need to stop doing this, especially as, by your own admission, you don’t call their southern counterparts ‘professional southerners’. It’s pretty offensive either way but you should at least be consistent.

We love the north it's the place to be! You need some education by the Lancashire Hotpots! The north is brilliant!!!

Ok “professional southerners” then. Relax...

As a northerner I'm quite happy that others think that, so
they can stay down south!

If there wasn’t prejudice from BOTH sides this wouldn’t even be a conversation. I begrudge the insinuation that it’s always the southerners being judgemental! The northern people are as bad if not worse!

@moj1to

Ok “professional southerners” then. Relax...

I’m pretty relaxed, just sitting here eating a panini and drinking some craft gin

South is better for weather

North is better for chips with bits/scraps

“We love the north it's the place to be”

That’s great, bit you’re not allowed to refer to it as “the north.” Molly is offended

Parts of The North are horrendous, but for those who think that The South is fantastic I suggest you read the thread about Weston 'Super' Mare

There are loads of pockets of complete grimness in the south. Kent, the so-called "garden of England", is mostly very lovely, but it also has Sheppey and the Medway towns. As a pp said, some of the Sussex coastal towns are very deprived (although Hastings is on the brink of becoming cool and heading for gentrification imo - if I had a spare £150k lying around I'd buy a BTL in Hastings), and there's something about Crawley that gives me the shivers: all roundabouts, housing estates and retail parks (although it does have a great library, so well done West Sussex County Council).

Friends who used to live in Somerset make jokes about Bridgewater being run down and a place where you're considered a snob if you change out of your pyjamas to go to the supermarket. Devon friends are rude about Plymouth and a friend's brother who lives on the Bucks/Oxon border is adamant that no-one would go to Milton Keynes if it wasn't for John Lewis.

Imo a lot of these regional and local prejudices against places and areas are a form of snobbery. Although Milton Keynes gives me the heebies, same as Crawley does. I wonder if it might be the roundabouts?

@moj1to

“We love the north it's the place to be”

That’s great, bit you’re not allowed to refer to it as “the north.” Molly is offended

Errrr no I’m not. I think you misunderstood my point but you crack on with your sweeping judgements.

For me I prefer being the South for the weather but also love London for the anonymity

Grew up in the North and found that I couldn’t walk down the street without it being the subject of someone’s conversation. I found the “everyone knows everyone” type of thing quite oppressive.

It's just ignorance.

I know someone who thinks that London property prices are the 'normal' ones and property everywhere else is very very cheap.

She has a bit of a skewed view of the world

It's certainly not like that in my part of the Northwest it's very multi cultural and on the edge of a large town ,I imagine if you live in a small village regardless of whether it's in the North or South it might feel like everyone knows everyone ,so many sweeping generalisation,s

There's a lot of that on here, if someone mentions buying a house for under half a million, there's endless comments of the 'where on earth can you get an entire house for £50/100/200k' variety.

Grew up in the North and found that I couldn’t walk down the street without it being the subject of someone’s conversation. I found the “everyone knows everyone” type of thing quite oppressive

But that could only happen in really small places, wherever they are. That wouldn't happen in northern cities or the surrounding towns and suburbs.

North is better for chips with bits/scraps

We call that "batter" as in "chips please with batter, and can I have them left open?"

Chippy tea is a go for tonight

I mean if I base my view of London on watching Eastenders ,I might think that London is full of people who know all their neighbours buissness and are related to all their neighbours and all drink in one pub etc and all work in one square ,which would of course be a ridiculous assumption,t he North like the South is large and varied and we have big cities where no one knows their neighbours ,but in small villages such as where my parents live ,people do know their neighbours.

I am from a small village in the north, very north. I now live in the SE. when I'm visiting family I really notice the open casual racism and small mindedness (homophobia, sexism, etc) it's hard not to challenge these things without being called a poncy southerner or whatever.

There also is a lot of unemployment, lack of cultural diversity and understanding and even food choices etc. All of the local pubs for example serve no veggie options, and everything is beige - but I don't mind that ! but its very different from where I live in the south.

I'm sure that's not representative of the whole of the north - it is a small insular village. There must be similar places in the SE.

@Oliversmumsarmy

For me I prefer being the South for the weather but also love London for the anonymity

Grew up in the North and found that I couldn’t walk down the street without it being the subject of someone’s conversation. I found the “everyone knows everyone” type of thing quite oppressive.

I live up North and I certainly don't know everyone. Nor does anyone else. Not everyone up north lives in small villages... That's the only place I can imagine this happening in