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 never lived north of the Thames, but imo some of the most wonderful bits of England are in the north.

Vibrant cities with loads of culture like Liverpool and Manchester, incredible countryside (4 national parks, 5 if the Peak district counts as the north, I'm never sure ), wonderful beaches (Northmberland has some of the most beautiful beaches anywhere imo), great market towns, lovely historic cities (Durham, Ripon), historic houses and castles by the dozen, excellent universities, lovely people and cheap houses, at elast compared to the south.

What's not to like? Possibly the weather, but nowhere in the UK is guaranteed to have good weather.

Thatcher

Wheresthesanitygone

I live in an expensive seaside town in Suffolk where £2million houses get snapped up in days. Pub prices here are roughly two thirds of those you describe.

I adore Yorkshire and it’s locals, Suffolk is lovely too.

I live in a scruffy ex pit village in S Yorks. I love it. Friendly as anything. Quite rural, I can be in open countryside within half a mile. Sitting in my lounge I can see for miles over open countryside. 2 minutes out the door I have access to shops, doctors, restaurants, etc etc. 5 minutes in the car and I'm on the M1 with easy access to anywhere in the countryside.

I'll visit anywhere and banter with anyone but wouldn't move away from here for anyone.

I Was in London at a party in the mid 80s and was told that I couldn't possibly be from Yorkshire because they could understand me. This was during the miners strike. Some of the miners accents, when interviewed on TV were so broad I struggled to understand them. Anyone basing a view of the area on locals interviewed on TV is understandably going to have a strange view of us. Some southern reporters do seem to like to find people who reinforce their stereotypes and prejudices to interview

Because people are silly.

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 have a friend who comes from near Thirsk in Yorkshire. She maintains that Sheffield only counts as the North because it is lucky enough to be in God's Own County, and that really it should be in the Midlands.

This may have something to do with my uncertainty as to whether the Peak District is North or Midlands, because part of it is so close to Sheffield.

I find these conversations so funny. I have lived in 'the North'. I now live in the SW and no-one ever talks about us

Let's keep it that way, I enjoyed living in Carlisle, paying sensible prices and driving on uncongested roads. Don't tell those in the south the best kept secret!

Human beings are hilarious. You’re born on the same teeny island, some up the top end & others down the bottom end & it becomes a rivalry about who has the better end & who are better people 😂

@Camphillgirl, how much is a pint of beer up your way? It's nudging a fiver here, and I'm close to the south coast, not even in London.

People who don't understand London don't like it, same goes for "the North" which really is pretty generic! It's a boring argument that's pointless having as everyone is of course, loyal to their home!

No it isnt!
With the internet, everywhere is the same now. People arent backward because they have fewer nightclubs or theatres per 100,000 people.

Im irish and lived in london for 14 years and never thought that. Some people want to take their identity from where they live though.

I moved from Manchester to Sussex 20 years ago. I would never move back. I love it down here. It's sunnier, so much warmer, my kids childhood is not drenched by the endless Manc rain. Schools are better where I am than where I was brought up.

My theory is accents. I have a northern accent which sounds rough down here compared to everyone else who I think has a posh accent, everyone has very long a's. Though it's not posh really it's just how everyone speaks in the deepest south east.

The North is undesirable to me as I am never moving back as it's just so lovely in Sussex, but I wouldn't say it's backwards.

I imagine the people who characterise “The North” as some sort of working class wasteland are the same sort of witless people who would characterise “The South” as some sort of soulless pretentious shithole

Anyone who thinks the North of England is all working class needs to visit Chester or Harrrogate.
Harrogate,

I'm roaring at the concept of there being no fruit or veg. DH and I are vegan and manage to get our 10 a day in quite nicely.

It's too stop other people coming so we can keep the amazing north to ourselves

South for me is Edinburgh. Weather is hit oop North but more space

Lakielady

It’s £4 a pint good beer though

You know nothing John Snow.

The weather is aprt of it! I moved back to Newcastle a few years a go after several years in London. The weather this summer is really getting me down. Probably especially because of covid and I'm still being careful so feel stuck indoors.

I don't know.

I don't know why London is always talked about as unfriendly. Lived here nearly 20 years and rarely find that.

Am from the East Midlands/Sheffield area and don't find it (or anywhere else in 'The North') appreciably less or more friendly than the Smoke, TBH.

People just have preconceptions/chips on their shoulder, IMO.

I imagine it's because like with all sweeping generalisations, there are people that live up to it and that's enough to fuel the stereotype. I'm from the south and my partner's family are from a farming background in rural Yorkshire, and I have certainly met a good number of people who very much fit the backwards description. I've also found there's so much local pride they personally promote the idea of them being "different". I wouldn't assume all Northerners are like that by any stretch but stereotypes are a negative byproduct of people's actual experiences leading to assumptions, in the same way that a lot of Northerners seem to think all southerners are poncy and metropolitan.

It's just the weather - TODAY (right this second)

London 19

Newcastle 13

Aberdeen 12

It's a HUGE difference

Glasgow 16 and sunny

Yeah but Glasgow's perfect