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.

@FatOaf

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.

Pisses me odd when people don't know the difference. There's a service station, the jokes been ruined.

@SleepingStandingUp

Depends where in the Midlands. In Leicestershire lots of people commute to London and youngsters often don't have midlands accents these days, my two sound distinctly Home Counties as do their friends (state school), changes a lot by the time you drive the 30 miles to Derby, quite a different feel and accents.

The greggs pie chart has the north south line going through Loughborough which fits ... tongue in cheek but I think quite accurate!

@SleepingStandingUp

My local chippy has cheese and gravy (SW) also sells posh stuff like crispy squid and seafood curry though. Think having lots of holiday makers they have what the customers want. Personally I think it's weird, tartare is the correct sauce or Mayo if just chips!

So many people saying the North is anywhere past Birmingham. Are you really saying that Birmingham is in the South then? So many West Midlanders won't be happy with that idea 😕😅

No @sluj - we are saying that Birmingham is the Midlands, anywhere PAST Birmingham is the North!

Above the red line is north

@MagicSummer

No *@sluj* - we are saying that Birmingham is the Midlands, anywhere PAST Birmingham is the North!

Most people don't seem to be allowing for the three geographical areas and are strictly North or South though.

Potters bar 😂😂 amazing.

Well I was born and brought up in the central belt of Scotland so probably as a child would have thought anything north of perth but as I have moved all over the place including south England I feel my more balanced and informed view would now be in the UK as a whole; anything north of derby/nottingham is north.

@MagicSummer

No *@sluj* - we are saying that Birmingham is the Midlands, anywhere PAST Birmingham is the North!

Agreed

Late to the thread, but anything above Watford (originally from Kent)

FatOaf I agree, Watford Gap, which DH says is 'just' in Northamtonshire, is where a lot of southerners think the north begins.

Giggorata Watford is not the gateway to the north it is Watford Gap, 70 miles up the M1 from Watford. I grew up in Watford and in those days it was only just outside Greater London.

Yes, I’m in the far south and Watford Gap sounds right to me. Love how the map above shows all of Scotland but leaves out bits of England to make the North look bigger.

Seriously though, if it’s above the Midlands then it’s North, if it’s below the Midlands it’s South, if it’s west of the Borders it’s Wales.

[quote minniemomo]@SleepingStandingUp

My local chippy has cheese and gravy (SW) also sells posh stuff like crispy squid and seafood curry though. Think having lots of holiday makers they have what the customers want. Personally I think it's weird, tartare is the correct sauce or Mayo if just chips![/quote]
O wouldn't have cheese and gravy with fish, for that it's Chinese curry sauce. But chips, then cheese then gravy on its own is heavenly

When drawing a line across England (other countries of the UK are available!) I would draw the line below Crewe and Skegness as they are North but above Newark as that seems like Midlands to me. That line puts Chesterfield in the North which also felt right to me, but I'm a Southerner so I await correction and/or ridicule.

Anything North of the midlands. Always find it weird when Scots say that Northern England doesn't count... because it means the North of England, not Britain. You have the North (of England) and then it's Scotland...

@Sixsillysausagessizzlinginapan

Above the red line is north

I don't think anyone in Yorkshire or Manchester would agree with this. We're hardly southerners are we

It would be a whole lot easier to define the Midlands then the rest would fall into place 🤣

North is past the Watford Gap!

@sluj

It would be a whole lot easier to define the Midlands then the rest would fall into place 🤣

West Midlands - the West Midlands county, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, Worcestershire, Herefordshire and Shropshire. East Midlands - Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Lincolnshire. South Midlands - Northamptonshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire.

It depends if you're referring to the north of England or the north of Britain - there is a difference!

Iceland

@CorianderBee

Anything North of the midlands. Always find it weird when Scots say that Northern England doesn't count... because it means the North of England, not Britain. You have the North (of England) and then it's Scotland...

It means the north of England to you as your English. It means the north of Scotland to me as I'm Scottish.

Above the Thames