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?

Gravy on chips is heaven! Definitely not with fish though. If I were having pie, pudding or sausages I would have gravy.

I'm a northerner living in the south west. Chippy with gravy and mushy peas is available everywhere even though most locals here seem to have chips with cheese.

My current favourite is chips dipped in curry sauce.

A full English breakfast needs brown sauce. Ketchup is the work of the devil although my teens have ketchup on their ketchup 🤢

@SleepingStandingUp

Do people really have fish, chips and gravy? only the weird. Chinese curry sauce on anything battered Gravy on pie or sausage OR plain chips.

Chippies here don't do butties or cheese, but agree homemade chip butty is amazing. Or chips in a cheese butty.

We do have orange chips though

Orange chips ! I know where you live

@InstantMangoit it does narrow it down rather 😂😂

Yep, palm trees in Cornwall, never seen those in the Lake District.

..... we get palm trees in Scotland btw

Have just googled Orange chips ,are they as nice as they sound?

There is a takeaway next to where DM works that does orange chips (Northumberland).

@x2boys

Have just googled Orange chips ,are they as nice as they sound?

Yes

Has anyone mentioned the Yorkshire fish cake yet?

Or a Lancs mushy pea fritter?

As a born and bred Northerner, tbh there are plenty of places I’d consider a bit backward and undesirable. The difference is that I realise that this isn’t representative of the entirety of the North. It’s just lazy stereotyping to apply it to whole regions or even cities.

I’d also rather live just about anywhere than one of those bullshit commuter towns that purely exist to house people who can’t afford to live in London, with far less culture or history than most of the North.

Brown sauce

@mollypuss1 we had something called
'Chop' brown sauce instead of HP

I love the north, the differences between the north and where I live in the SE are very few. Everyone is very nice, people regularly say hello, there's ample countryside, good food etc. There's good and bad everywhere and I wouldn't move to the north for a big cheap house in a less than desirable area any more than I'd want to do it down here.

@MrDarcysMa Chop sauce is lovvvvvvely

Can you still get chop sauce? I don't remember seeing it for ages?

We just get supermarket own version from wherever we are when we need it, but we both prefer brown sauce. Probably use a bottle of brown sauce in about a month, but take years to get through a bottle of ketchup as I only have it on fish and chips. I didn't realise people had it on things like bacon sandwiches.

Honestly people, can we not keep using these blanket terms of 'the north' and 'the south' as though each area is one big homogenous land mass? I think that's half of what's wrong with these threads, too much sweeping generalisation.

Indian restaurants and curries are definitely better in the North, one of the best curries I ever had was in Doncaster, although one of the worst was at a cheap, no frills place in Blackpool.

I literally can’t eat fish and chips without gravy 😂
I’m a Yorkshire to NE girl, so swapped my tatie scallop teacakes for a parmo...both foods of the gods!

@Lemonmaid

Get yourself to Bradford. You’ll be spoilt for choice .

Parmos are popular in Australia too. I always thought it was the Italian influence there but maybe it’s an import from NE England.

@Lemonmaid

Indian restaurants and curries are definitely better in the North, one of the best curries I ever had was in Doncaster, although one of the worst was at a cheap, no frills place in Blackpool.

I think you mean in the Midlands for curry. Try Birmingham

Bradford is officially the curry capital of England. There are more curry houses per capita in Bradford than any other city.

I live in tut North but id much rather live in the south. The weather is much better, there is more space and its closer to Europe. Large parts of tut North are grim,grey over developed, the weather is crap. Places like Manchester,well its always bloody raining.. South is definitely better taking all things into account.

@Arnoldthecat

I live in tut North but id much rather live in the south. The weather is much better, there is more space and its closer to Europe. Large parts of tut North are grim,grey over developed, the weather is crap. Places like Manchester,well its always bloody raining.. South is definitely better taking all things into account.

Glad we're not over dramatising. The "south" is hardly one open green space field with sunshine and bunnies

To my DH who's from a southern European country he really can't see much difference between the North and south of England. He's lived in both - they have the same feel to him, same weather (which seems too often cold and rainy to him), same food, same culture. I think it's only us Brits who see such huge differences between the North and South of England.