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 blame Elizabeth Gaskell.

x2boys

The difference for me is the lack of drizzle. Or those days that look like nice sunny days but you still need a cardigan.

Growing up in the north I remember very few days when it became really hot and dry whereas I expect several weeks of sunshine with no rain or dampness each year down south.

Boris Johnson is London personified

Boris Johnson is pomp and privilege personified, something that is not exclusive to one city.

Iwalkinmyclothing

It could have been Jack the Ripper and these people would have been wanting to know his business.

Dp barely recognised these people. They were strangers asking questions.

Well how could they be strangers if they recognised him and were interested in what he'd been up to? It's so sad that they were being friendly and it wasn't appreciated, I love living in the North for it's friendliness.
It's great to know your neighbours and have the time of day to look out for each other.

I'm Southern born and bred but love the North, especially the North Pennines and North Yorkshire area, and would happily live there. Friendly people, fresh air, beautiful scenery, and seems a bit like stepping back in time.

Devlesko because these people were people who weren’t friends of his parents and weren’t his friends, just people who knew him through gossip.

I found when I lived there people who you hadn’t talked to ever knew all about you.

To Dp these people were strangers.

The arguments about the weather differences are laughable. We live on a relatively small island and at most it’s a couple of degrees different. It’s not as if we are comparing Alaska with Texas.

One thing I have noticed about the North, especially Manchester, is that the people are very straight talking and the women can be very bitchy and gossipy. Which is probably just as bad as London area women being look you up and down judgemental, smug and competitive.

I have to say I agree with @lemonaid it may be the small village thing rather than north south but when I'm in my hometown there's a lot of gossiping/ bitching. Men and women. Makes me feel quite uncomfortable.

@Literallynoidea

I hardly think this thread is row worthy! It's pretty low in terms of controversy.

I wonder if people who say Boris is London personified etc have ever actually been to London? It's so diverse, and made up of many communities, most of whom are not 'rich' and Boris-like, it's such an odd view. I do really like a lot of places up North, but live down South to be close to family.

I get you like living in London @Oliversmumsarmy but you can ,nt write off the whole of the North based on your experience of living in one place in the North , there will be pl aces all over the UK where everyone knows everyone else's Buissness but it's not a North versus South thing it's a large city versus small village thing ,as for the weather it really depends where you live in the North ,I'm surrounded by the penines and we are shielded from most of the worst of the weather

House prices are not necessarily cheaper. Cheshire is beautiful and some parts of it are super expensive/

@Oliversmumsarmy

x2boys not a generalisation as I lived it.

Doesn’t really matter that it was a big city. People still have neighbours.

Dp last year went up for the first time in 20 years to help sort through his mother’s flat.

He came back quite shocked at how many people remembered him and were knocking on the door and wanting a chat and to know everything he had been up to.
He just wanted to get on with sorting things out. He didn’t want it known that the flat was empty and these people were never his friends in the first place

His mother lived there and he hadn’t been up for 20 years?! Nice! It’s a pain in the arse journey but it’s only a matter of a few hours inconvenience!

Yes all of the women in Mancheter are bitchy and gossipy ,what a ridiculous generalisation 🙄almost as bad as previous poster thinking all we eat is suet puddings and chips ,and none of us have heard of fresh fruit and veg.

@mollypuss1

The arguments about the weather differences are laughable. We live on a relatively small island and at most it’s a couple of degrees different. It’s not as if we are comparing Alaska with Texas.

What argument? I find the weather up north miserable,grey, rainy and I never felt warm. I really feel the cold due to a health condition. You may not 🤷‍♂️

@InstantMango try coming in summer then. It was 32 degrees here a couple of weeks ago. My DH even burnt the top of his head

Regarding the weather - I moved from Devon to Yorkshire. I've experienced much better weather in Yorkshire. It rained so much in Devon. I remember every summer looking at the weather map and seeing the rest of the country having sunny days and us in Devon having rain! Apparently the winters are milder in Devon but I lived there for years and didn't notice that either. I have many memories on walking up an icy hill to work! So I've been in Yorkshire 8 years and it's much drier than Devon. I haven't noticed it being colder - temperatures usually similar to southern areas, sometimes about 2 degrees cooler,sometimes actually warmer! Of course it's gets colder as you go further north but in Yorkshire you don't notice a big difference. Just checked the forecast out if curiosity. In Yorkshire where I am tomorrow it's 20 degrees, where I used to live in the south east it's 18 degrees, in Exeter it's 21 degrees so very similar temperatures in Yorkshire and the south.

I think we all had that weather molly
I'm happy down here where it's nicer weather all year round.
Joking aside the grey, drizzle, damp really affected my MH.

Because a fair majority of the population seem to hate anyone who's "not like us". Be it immigrants, different faiths, different skin colour, different gender, different secual orientation etc. This extends to disliking those from other towns, cities, the countries even within the UK and also the other end of the country regardless if where they live.

Yes and after listening to the weather for next week the difference between the a North and South is two or three degrees at most as I said earlier in my town it's 17 degrees today and 19 degrees in London ,that's not a huge difference neither is it grey or drizzly

And it works both ways with the weather ,I remember watching the forecast a few summer's ago and they were on about the terrible summer weather ( London of course) the sun was cracking the flags in the Northwest but we barely got a mention🤔

I'm from the south , right at the bottom. North is beautiful but the weather is even worse than down here. Quite simply like most people I like sunny hot places, the UK is generally cold and wet but it is undeniably worse the further north you go. Sort the weather out and you would solve the problem.
Just to be really clear the weather isn't great down here either but it is slightly better so I will not be going up north to live.

Well, I have lived in the north west and I’m sorry, the weather most definitely is noticeably wetter and colder, compared to London. When it comes to rainfall, it’s not always a north / south issue because Cornwall is a lot wetter than the SE too, as is Wales. It’s not just the temperatures though, quite often it’s the wind. It definitely feels and looks drier in London and into East Anglia way, compared to other areas. I’ve been to the Lake District many, many times and it’s NEVER been sunny - even last summer when it was 36 in the Midlands and the SE, it was 19 there and incessant sheets of rain for the entire week. and you could tell that wasn’t an unusual week, just by looking at the place..

You wouldn’t argue that the south of France doesn’t have a different climate to Normandy or other areas of northern France surely? So why would the U.K. be different?

If somebody from Manchester was being told, “the weather on the north coast if Scotland is completely the same and you won’t notice the difference,” well, that wouldn’t be true, would it? It’s the same difference.