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.

Anything above Oxford / Milton Keynes / Bristol in my head (I know this is wrong).

Anything above Luton 😹

I was watching the election results one year - John Snow said ' the next result is the north east ' - I was surprised as we were usually later here in Aberdeenshire, of course it wasn't Abrdeen, it wasn't even Geordieland- it was blooming Humberside

@TolkiensFallow

Watford and above

Do you mean the Watford Gap? Watford is just outside of London?

I grew up in the South East then moved to London as a young adult then to the Midlands in my early forties. I find the Midlands is half Nort h half south. Anything higher in the country definitely north no question.

My Dad's a Glaswegian so to me North is Scotland.

He would always say "going up the road" or "going North" and it meant going to Scotland.

My friends from Newcastle and she disagrees and says she's Northern haha.

@lolitalola no I mean Watford! I live on the south coast and literally anything north of London is The North to us 😂

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

Bedfordshire is a problem isn't it? (And not just because Luton is a hideous dump.) Doesn't fit into any of these definitions.

Anywhere north of Staffordshire, which is where the Midlands end. Cheshire is definitely in the North, they get Granada news.

Anything north of the Watford Gap

Scotch corner is the cut off really to most of us up here so North Yorkshire and up.

Manchester and Liverpool are not the north.

@Willyoujustbequiet

Scotch corner is the cut off really to most of us up here so North Yorkshire and up.

Manchester and Liverpool are not the north.

Thankyou!

I’m a Londoner so really anything north of the Watford Gap.

Had a boyfriend from Nottingham who I considered Northern, but our “proper Northern” friends from further up north (ie Yorkshire, Liverpool, Manchester etc) thought he was pretty much Southern. He definitely had far more in common with them than me though (gravy on his chops, “bath/path” not “barth/parth” etc).

Bottom line is it's quite condescending to lump everyone north of Watford together. Possibly causes some animosity - perhaps we should just talk about counties or regions. Being Scottish talking about the North (as I pointed out previously ) is confusing - is it north of Watford, or Humberside, the Midlands, Newcastle area?
Is Liverpool the north? So what's Cumbria?

@SteveArnottsCodeine

I’m a Londoner so really anything north of the Watford Gap.

Had a boyfriend from Nottingham who I considered Northern, but our “proper Northern” friends from further up north (ie Yorkshire, Liverpool, Manchester etc) thought he was pretty much Southern. He definitely had far more in common with them than me though (gravy on his chops, “bath/path” not “barth/parth” etc).

Chops or chips?

All of pp's trying to be so clever joking about Luton or North of Watford gap. Honestly you just come across as smug and stupid. How embarrassing for you that you don't understand the geography of your own country.

@Neonprint

All of pp's trying to be so clever joking about Luton or North of Watford gap. Honestly you just come across as smug and stupid. How embarrassing for you that you don't understand the geography of your own country.

How smug of you to think you know better than others on here.

I'm on the south coast, so everywhere is oop north for me, but generally I would say Manchester upwards, though my Geordie family would say that was south still.

Scots people often refer to "down South" meaning the whole of England.
Surely it's neither smug or stupid but simply a matter of perspective.
The op asked for personal opinions not a definitive answer from professional geographers.

Anything above the M25

How smug of you to think you know better than others on here.

If she’s saying neither Watford Gap nor Luton are the ‘beginning of the North’, she DOES know better than quite a few others on here.

@StillCoughingandLaughing

How smug of you to think you know better than others on here.

If she’s saying neither Watford Gap nor Luton are the ‘beginning of the North’, she DOES know better than quite a few others on here.

People have different views on what they consider the North depending on where they live,

There's a difference between what's north of you and what's The North. Same for South of you, in the middle, to the east or west Vs The South etc

It's one thing say
Manchester is south of me and saying Manchester is in Southern England / the Midlands or
Birmingham is north of me Vs Birmingham is in Northern England.

One is subjective, one is wrong.

@SleepingStandingUp

There's a difference between what's north of you and what's The North. Same for South of you, in the middle, to the east or west Vs The South etc

It's one thing say
Manchester is south of me and saying Manchester is in Southern England / the Midlands or
Birmingham is north of me Vs Birmingham is in Northern England.

One is subjective, one is wrong.

The OP asked for a subjective view....

Derbyshire Dales is midlands. Derbyshire Peaks is north. Weird but true