what's it like for an English person living in Scotland?

[KookyNotOoky]

Have been pondering moving north of the border.... I was wondering what it would be like living there as an English person? I've only ever been on holidays up there - mostly just some good-humoured ribbing, however I've read from some English people that this can get very wearing after a while and can sometimes have an unpleasant edge to it.

You didn't state facts. You gave opinions.

And you bumped a six month old thread to have a wee pop.

Speaking as a child of immigrants, I think if a person moves to a different country (which Scotland is), then it's incumbent on the immigrant to seek to integrate with the native culture and treat it with repect. Learn as much as possible. Be prepared for some prejudice but the vast majority of people will be welcoming, especially when they see that you are making a real effort to integrate.

if you do this you'll be fine. If you go there full of criticism of their Government and their way of doing things, then don't be surprised if you don't get a warm welcome.

no issues for me, although I have heard that certain old ladies in the village didn’t take to me because I was English. Never noticed it myself!

Re English in Scotland:

1. Don't dis Holyrood. Want to close it? Close Westminster.

1. Respect that some of us can trace families to before your Norman Invasion: a 350+ Union is chickenfeed to 1000 years.

1. Understand that the UK National Anthem is not universally appreciated. I never stand nor sing it.

Civic nationalism at its best 🙄

I voted agin Indy but Yes/Yes in the Devo Ref of which I am a huge fan.

BREXIT was a huge mistake incl. in how the views of tbe smaller UK Nations were ignored.

Not a member of ABE though!

How was the move and settling in Scotland?

Went fine. Was a bit squeaky bum time paying two mortgages for three months whilst the English sale completed but it was always budgeted for.

Funnily enough me (English) transplanted a lot easier than DH (Scottish but had lived in England for 40 years). I think that though is because I've always been more of a nomad.

Now we are settled neither of us would move back. There is not a single thing I can think of that was better down south.

I pay a bit more in tax (About £100 a month) but that is offset by the council tax being the same as I was paying down south but no water bill which was nearly £100 a month (we don't conserve usage) and no prescription charges.

Don't have kids so no skin in the education game.

Blair is lovely and is small but perfectly formed and ideal location.

Come May 2026 hopefully the SNP and their hairbrained poorly thought out schemes will be history and you’ll be fine . Independence if it ever comes is many many years away . I live in the North East which is heavily oil based and used to people from all over the world so very tolerant and welcoming to incomers . It’s drier on the Eastern side although not as beautiful as the West .
Warmer up near Morayshire , they seem to have their own eco climate up there. Perthshire is a good spot if you need easy access to the south and or good airports for holiday access

I don't live there but have friends in Edinburgh so spend a lot of time there. I love Edinburgh. Great vibe, fresh air, lots to do (events and sightseeing) and just the look of the place, some parts put me in mind of medieval. I like Glasgow too although prefer Edinburgh. I've never had any issues up there but even if I did, there are crappy people to be found everywhere you go so, I wouldnt deem it unique to Scotland.

Morayshire's not bad though our MP is the odious Douglas Ross (Tory nut job). (Should be gone soon).

Could do with the A96 improvements continuing though eg the long awaited dualling Inverness to Aberdeen - though compared to pre Devolution days that road is incomparable to what we had in the 70s.

You'd think Douglas Ross's parents would've thought carefully when naming their son , but no they come up with Dross .🤣

Apologies for being very late in communicating- I’m new to this site.
id like to reassure you that everyone is welcome in Scotland.
I’m in South West Scotland & in many of the rural villages you’d be hard pressed to find anyone Scottish 😀! But we don’t mind at all. Lots of folk from “down South” have visited on holiday, fallen in love with the unspoiled countryside, fresh air, dark skies - wonderful for star gazing & aurora borealis - gone home - sold up & relocated.
good luck in your Scottish adventures

Last post true plenty move here once visited for few years l in SW Scotland.
Few holiday homes then retire here , most are considered locals after short while even with a holiday home.
Not many move away put it that way.
The pace of life is part of the draw, along with the fairer social policies of the SNP, its very surprising what you gain over staying in England esp poorer people who gain EXTRA anti poverty £26.40 week per child payments , free bus travel ALL under 22s.
It makes for a far more equal ,more content society and you be made most welcome

We had horrible English neighbours that we stopped speaking to but it was because they were horrible, nothing to do with being English.
An English friend got the "You English people coming up here taking our jobs" shit - at a funeral of all places.
One of our teachers referred to English people moving to the area as White Settlers 🙄

I didn’t like to comment on another thread on the main site where the OP asked if her kids would lose their English accent after moving to Glasgow. Our accents were beaten out of us within a week when we moved here (I was 8).

It's pretty rare to suffer any negativity in my view, if people make a point to be friendly and maybe get involved but not take over quick then it will be fine and be accepted pretty quick.
Scottish are more sociable and friendly as a rule than English people tend to be l suppose different cultures to a point especially South East England.
Even the Northern English say Southern folk different.

@ThatBrickMember it wasn't really a case of being friendly or getting involved. This man didn't know anything about the people he verbally abused - he was just going by their accents.

Depends how narrow the circles you move in are.

I lived in Edinburgh for most of my adult life and as a young women got called an English bitch many times, usually from men whose advances I turned down. Also knew an English man who was followed to the toilets and beaten up for being English. At work, had Scottish members of the public complain openly about having to speak to me as I was English and try to insist they speak to someone who was Scottish instead.

The anti-Englishness is endemic - have heard people complain about a English person pick them up on bad driving (going wrong way down a one way street) because 'this is my country'. Heard comments like ' you are the only English person I have ever liked'. Had a Scottish colleague who was given shit for marrying an English person, he was called a traitor. Been told to ' go home then' if I complain about anything at all in Scotland.. A friend who proudly proclaimed she would never marry an Englishman.

Stay in narrow circles and you can avoid it, move out of those and its really pervasive. I loved Edinburgh but never felt like it was my home. I think because it was so clear so many Scots would never accept it as my home. I was always ' 'other'. Other English people I knew said the same.

A lot of ant-english sentiment is tied with independence supporters. Unionist Scots would condemn the anti- english shit I got subjected to. But not one independence supporting Scots friend ever did. Not once. Not in over two decades. They would just stay silent or smile.

It's pretty rare to suffer any negativity in my view, if people make a point to be friendly and maybe get involved but not take over quick then it will be fine and be accepted pretty quick

Yeah sure, blame the victim of the racist bollocks for the racism they experience. 🙄Fucking hell @ThatBrickMember

The period running up to the independence vote was awful. I was worried about people hearing my accent. Lots of anti-English sentiment. For many (most?) ‘yes’ people, they merged pro-independence with anti-Englishness. Otherwise, I’ve never had any problems, but i work with very few Scottish people. My sister and my husband experienced a lot of harassment at their work.

@theferry oh yes I definitely kept my mouth shut after getting a earful because of my English accent!

@ThatBrickMember This is completely dependent on the area sadly. Some communities in my experience are very welcoming others not so much. Sadly it is a bit endemic and like other posters if you dare say you don't agree with something in Scotland then the response is usually you can go back to England!

I do worry a bit about DS's when they start school as they sound very English despite being born and living in Scotland because DH and I are English. My only hope is the head teacher from primary doesn't move as she's English and was very clear none of it would be tolerated!

@Scottishskifun my DDs both had English accents when they started school. It changed pretty quickly and now they have very clear Scottish accents. They were never picked on for this, although the school was fairly diverse so had quite a few differnt accents there.

I think if you live in a middle class part of Edinburgh you get very little hassle for an English accent. In other parts of Scotland anti-English bigotry is sadly much more common, usually from people who have never travelled more than 50 miles from their house and just believe that all English are bad as they have been brought up to think like that.