To question whether northerners are actually poorer than southerners ?

[Naegriafowlia]

As we know a lot of northerners seem to think all southerners are living like the Russian Romanov family pre murder and funds from the south should be directed up north because they are apparently so much poorer than us.

But is this even true? If you can buy a family home up there for 100k or less and the same size home costs 300-400k on average in the south. You already have a lot more disposable income. I know they say they get paid less, but Tesco (for example) pays the same every where and has branches everywhere. I know they also say there’s no good jobs there but where there’s people there’s schools and hospitals so you want us to believe there’s no teachers and doctors?

I know someone will say “move there then” personally I won’t be moving anywhere anytime soon as I started my family young (first born a few months after GCSEs) and my kids are all really settled in school and with friends.
Based on what I’ve heard from northerners they are more welcoming to people from countries on the other side of the planet than they are their fellow countrymen from 100 miles to the south.

I don't think hospital services are equally distributed and school funding certainly isn't. Rural schools get roughly £500 per child less than urban schools plus smaller numbers results in lower staffing numbers. The alternative is 4yos spending an hour on the bus to school.

I live in a county with no district general hospital. It means that actually yes, you travel 50 miles for an x-ray. The Hospitals in the surrounding areas are very general. If you want specialist treatment you need to travel a couple of hours further to see a specialist. That makes far fewer job opportunities in many many areas.
Arguably these are rural Vs urban issues.

But I speak as someone who lived in the south for less that a year. I'm used to friendly neighbourhoods, not ones where if you smile at someone in the street they move away because you're seen as a threat. Couldn't wait to move back to hills and friendly people.

I agree OP!

A single 40 year old on minimum wage up north might live alone in a 2 bedroom house with a garden, albeit a bit run down and with an old car.

Older adults sharing houses, including sharing a bathroom, with multiple strangers, would be considered third world living in most areas of the country, but in London it’s quite the norm for low earners even in their 40s and above.

Same with walking/bussing home half an hour from the supermarket carrying heavy bags instead of driving.

But again, your more expensive house will be worth that much more. You leave more for your children or sell up as part of your retirement plans. Win win. I have lived in my house for 17 years, not deprived where I am but within a town which is statistically top/bottom of everything.....it's worth about £50k more than I bought it for. How much has your property in creased in value in that time? You keep saying there are deprived areas in the south but fail to recognise that there are also long term advantages.

I think there's also the perception that other people have it better.
I remember at my dd's charity a chap got up and ranted about the NHS and how ridiculous it was that he had to travel 15 miles to Preston Royal as his nearest specialist and half an hour to drive.He told us how we were all smugly ignoring the issues of lack of specialists up north...

Now our nearest specialist was over 30 miles away and as I didn't drive it took me 3 trains, 2 buses and between 2.5 and 3 hours to get there. Even when I did drive it's typically over an hour. I was not unusual in this distance because it is very specialist.

And BTW saying "hello" to people isn't really a northern exclusive thing. Round our estate people always say " hello". You wouldn't in the town because there's too many people obviously, but in the villages, it's as much if a thing as up north.
Although I'd also say the last northern village I lived in if someone said " hello" it was both unusual and more likely than not because they either thought they could get some gossip out of you or because they wanted to moan about the weather/your garden/noisy dogs/something else which they didn't like.

Nothing you’ve said has made me question the word. It was a while ago when I found out where i lived for years was considered one of the 10% most deprived places and it really not being a bad place made me think it was bullshit. I still live nearby and I lived there for years it’s not a massive place so sorry I’m not going to share in case this becomes outing.

I rent.

I do know people who took out mortgages and then shit happened and they couldn’t afford to keep their home. So not always a guarantee of a happy retirement anyway

As a teacher, I think I would have a better standard of living (afford more) up north.

But, that's not my home. I'm happy here.

Fair enough.
Part of me admires your confidence in rejecting official data and research into deprivation in favour of your limited experience and opinion.

Cheapest 3 bed is £350k

Yep if you want to live up north it’s bloody cheap!

Cold mind.

Really ?
We had a ridiculously hot summer
Its october now and i still have my fan on most days....

I’m from the north and have lived in the south. I did encounter loads of snobbery from people who thought I’d be thick, we all wore string vests and flat caps and had outside toilets and no central heating. They soon learned they were talking bollocks!

We bought a very small house there for three times what we sold our much bigger house in the north for. The cost of living there was astronomical compared to the north. The upside was our tiny house increased in value massively meaning when we had to move again we could upsize significantly. When we moved back north we were able to buy a very nice property with a small mortgage and lots of equity in it. Salaries were definitely higher down there too even for working in retail type
jobs.

I do believe there is a north south divide especially when it comes to things like improving our main roads/hospitals/public transport/town centres etc. but I’d far rather be back in the north, it’s a much nicer place to
live 🥰

He's your husband so it would be.

Eh? I’m a woman and we established we don’t live in the same place.

It’s a good guess but it’s not right.

been made redundant is not something that only happens in the north/south, is it?

I’m not sure where I said it was?

Anyway I rent, as does half the country so living in an expensive part of the country dosent mean you have a more expensive asset anyway. That’s all my point was