To ask what you consider “The North”?

[Hairbrush123]

Just a post about being a Northerner/Southerner which made me think - what do you consider as “The North”? I’ve never had a solid answer for this and just wanted to know the general census on this.

There’s always that one person from the north east/Scotland who acts aghast at the thought of Sheffield/Manchester/Liverpool being described as the North.
The North and South is not just about geography, and with such a divide even still to this day it’s a bit embarrassing and dim witted to not acknowledge that.

'The South' is anything below Leeds to me.

Anything above the M4!

Depends where you’re from. My DF was a Londoner and anything north of Watford was “the North” to him. But if you live in the Channel Islands, Portsmouth is North😁

I'm in Nottinghamshire- definitely Midlands not Northern or Southern. Derbyshire would definitely consider themselves Northern and hardly anyone's mentioned it!

I moved from Greater London to the south coast and everything above London is North in my head and Scotland is its own thing. If I knew someone from Scotland I wouldn’t say they were from England so it doesn’t factor into my north/south England head map!

@MishMashMummy

I’m from the Scottish central belt, so for me anything above Perth is about right.

I’m always amazed at how far south ‘the north’ starts for most people. York, for example, is firmly in ‘the North’ to most English people but it’s only a little over half way up England! I’ve seen Sheffield and Manchester described as Northern cities too

That's because they are North 😕

Anywhere north of the tees river

Sheffield and anything north of Sheffield. I’d definitely say Liverpool and Manchester are northern. I think of Cheshire as being Southern....though I accept it’s probably more Midlands.

@RebeccaCloud9

I'm in Nottinghamshire- definitely Midlands not Northern or Southern. Derbyshire would definitely consider themselves Northern and hardly anyone's mentioned it!

But derby is further south than nottingham. Only just, but it is.

Derbyshire, not Derby.

@RebeccaCloud9

I'm in Nottinghamshire- definitely Midlands not Northern or Southern. Derbyshire would definitely consider themselves Northern and hardly anyone's mentioned it!

I live in Derbyshire and I do not consider myself northern! I'm right at the bottom though on the Nottinghamshire/Leicestershire border.

I appreciate you said Derbyshire not derby but derby is in Derbyshire. I’m sure there’s more of Derbyshire further south than derby. So what would the county be classified as.....? I’m not disagreeing because I can’t decide myself. 😁. I’d definitely say northern bits of the Peak District were “north”.....I’d say derby was Midlands. But if I was asked to classify the whole county I’d be unsure.

If we can't describe the north of England as northern because Scotland is more northerly, then surely we cannot describe Scotland as northern, as Iceland is right there.

Anything north of the M4!!! 🤣🤣🤣

Moscow and Copenhagen are as far north as Edinburgh, on 55 latitude, northern Scotland is on the same latitude as Hudson bay Canada which is frozen six months of the year and has polar bears I was born in the midlands and now live north of Glasgow on the southern edge of highland line which starts around loch lomond

@StillCoughingandLaughing

Derbyshire, not Derby.

I’m very close to the northern Derbyshire border, on the southern edge of greater Manchester and that’s definitely north!

My husband (from the south) says anywhere north of Watford!
However north in England is above sheffield or if counting as the UK - Inverness.

@CasperGutman

Anything above a line through Crewe, Chesterfield, Worksop and Grimsby.

To me that’s a very accurate assessment. Once you get to Manchester and Sheffield you’re properly sucked in. If I say North East though, I mean Newcastle/Middlesbrough/Durham. The North West however starts at Cheshire. This is definitely true as in Cheshire we have North West/Granada tv.

Tottenham Court Road upwards 🤣

But seriously, I've always considered anywhere beyond the Midlands to be "the North".
My last job involved extensive travel throughout the UK and always felt once I'd cleared the midlands I was kind of in the north. In fact motorway signage reinforces this view?!

Watford = borough in southern Hertfordshire, within the M25.
Watford Gap = low-lying area in northern Northamptonshire, approx 70 miles north of the M25 (about 25 miles south of Leicester).
"The" Watford Gap = hole in a north-south divide imagined by people with no understanding of the geography of England.

Originally from Brighton and used to "joke" the Watford Gap, realistically thought Midlands (ironic). Now in Manchester and would say Peak Districts and up.

Above Inverness.
I hate when the weather forecast talks about the north east and think they must be talking about Aberdeen buf it's actually Newcastle

North of Nottingham I would say,

@0blio

Definitely north of Aberdeen. Anywhere in England is 'down south'.

Same!