North / South divide - your view

Roar87 said:
Everyone loves us when we go on holiday, we constantly get told how down to Earth we are compared to people from down South. With that said I have plenty of friends from down South who I get on with great. The North just lacks the investment, it's sad really. Maybe if the Government was located outside London or rotated around a bit they'd see the difference in infrastructure. The train I get to Leeds which is the Sheffield-Leeds train is older than I am, and I'm nearly 30.
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Other countries manage to separate their financial and political centres, and tend to have a better spread of wealth and a better transport system due to the need to get around. Not the UK every road just heads to London. Even heading North on the M11 you get signs for London. There's practically no proper cross country transport at all.
 
englishpremier said:
It's that type of London that I find the worst. Dirty streets, lemmings that walk out in front of cars constantly. Worse traffic than the likes of Westminster, and London. A lot of ex-LEA looking slums, and a lot more dodgy characters.
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Same. People don't go to london to see a dingy version of what they could see elsewhere. When I worked in central London the only redeeming feature was that I walked bast buckingham palace/westminster to and from work, and that I could pop to the thames, or covent garden/oxford street whenever I wanted.

englishpremier said:
Other countries manage to separate their financial and political centres, and tend to have a better spread of wealth and a better transport system due to the need to get around. Not the UK every road just heads to London. Even heading North on the M11 you get signs for London. There's practically no proper cross country transport at all.
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That's in part because of their history. Places like Italy and Germany were separate states up until relatively recently so each capital city had far more power and wealth was more equally distributed. Other places like Australia and Brazil purposely built cities for their capitals, and places like the US were such big countries they ended up with cities either side of the country that were effectively their own states drawing in their own trade and sharing little.

The UK just wasn't like that. The closest we get is Scotland and England, and it shows - Edinburgh is a wealthy, independent city just as London is. Most of the rest of the large cities were essentially built during the industrial revolution and grew because of a manufacturing, which didn't last.
 
I`m from the north east of England, a somewhat deprived area of the country. In my eyes there is most definitely a north south divide. I can understand a lot of wealth from the financial industry being generated there (London), it is after all the capital, however. I feel that the money should be distributed accordingly to make certain areas of the country more wealthy and be able to improve the infrastructure and the pull of big business wanting to invest in these areas.

Have been to London too many times to count and have had a great laugh in some lovely areas but there are areas within London much worse than where I live, IMHO.
I've always found whilst working with Londoners to be nice, down to earth people. Collectively, they are a pain in the arse, stuck up, arrogant and self centred on most things including money. I once took my family to London, a project trip for my 5 year old son. Not one person held the door open, gave me directions and once my accent became clear gave me the dirtiest look I have ever had.

I saw an elderly woman fall whilst trying to get on a bus, everybody stood over her to get on the bus and not one person helped. I did and called for an ambulance.
We choose where we live, even though I am on a very good wage I would definitely not move to London. The distribution of wealth is never going to happen and more areas of the country are going to be run down once we leave the EU. The financial industry has too much say where the majority of the money is spend, and to me that does seem "Down South" :D
 
redrabbit29 said:
I live in Reading but on Friday I went up to Warrington to collect a (nearly) new car.

It was strange as the whole place seemed deserted. At one point i was in the town centre and on a cross roads. There was NO cars or people on any of the four roads I could see.

I felt like I was in one of those disaster movies.

It was about 1130pm on a Friday btw
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Try driving around here at 8am or 5pm over 45mins to do a 2-3mile journey. Bumper to bumper on pretty much every road across the town.
 
People need to begin to act more radically regarding transport. It just isn't feasible for every single person to be sat in one single diesel chugging car each.

What gets me are the people who drive just 5 minutes into town to work. Cycle or get the bus. Car pool at least.
 
I moved north from Essex to Manchester (via abroad) and have no intention of heading back.

I've not been to many cities i suppose but Manchester and Liverpool are very nice. I live in a nice part of Man, got a dirty great house for not much, have the city and the mountains equidistant. Trams, concerts, nights out, international airport (especially with links to SFO and NY this April!).

The prices are about to go up though.
 
DampCat said:
I moved north from Essex to Manchester (via abroad) and have no intention of heading back.

I've not been to many cities i suppose but Manchester and Liverpool are very nice. I live in a nice part of Man, got a dirty great house for not much, have the city and the mountains equidistant. Trams, concerts, nights out, international airport (especially with links to SFO and NY this April!).

The prices are about to go up though.
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But you do have to deal with the Northern people ;)
 
DampCat said:
I moved north from Essex to Manchester (via abroad) and have no intention of heading back.

I've not been to many cities i suppose but Manchester and Liverpool are very nice. I live in a nice part of Man, got a dirty great house for not much, have the city and the mountains equidistant. Trams, concerts, nights out, international airport (especially with links to SFO and NY this April!).

The prices are about to go up though.
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Where abouts matey?
 
London sucks
Manchester sucks
Liverpools sucks
Bradford triangle of doom sucks

We are left with the Midlands, East Anglia and the NE.

Everywhere is a dump with scumbags everywhere.
 
I'm half tempted to relocate up North tbh, the cost of housing is so comical it's surely worth it. The problem is the South excluding London is getting massive cost of living creep, but wages are stagnant. At least in London if I pay 50% more for housing my wage matches it. My rent in Bristol doubled in 5 years, wages certainly didn't.

From what I can tell wages oop north are marginally lower, but cost of living is substantially lower.
 
SPG said:
London sucks
Manchester sucks
Liverpools sucks
Bradford triangle of doom sucks

We are left with the Midlands, East Anglia and the NE.

Everywhere is a dump with scumbags everywhere.
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You left out us lovely people over in the South West :(
 
Since this thread is alive again my thoughts: though I am a johnny foreigner ;)


Pros:
  • I don't like London but if you're that way inclined it is a cool and exciting city - it really is
  • Jobs pay well.
  • Good transport
  • Lots and lots of choice for everything (food, shopping, social aspect, culture etc...)
  • Diversity and lots of varied cultures which makes it exciting and varied
  • You can pretty much do anything you want there in terms of hobbies
  • Lots of opportunities
  • Things happen quickly - you don't have to wait for things
  • Lots of high quality products (including food, shops etc...)

Cons:
  • expensive (especially homes)
  • polluted
  • lacking greenery
  • people are somewhat more aggressive
  • bad spots with high crime
  • busy / impatient people
  • crowded
  • it's not the countryside
  • if you like owning a car it's rubbish
  • cycling is dangerous
  • It's just too big and busy

My experience is that people in the countryside, regardless of north or south, are far friendlier, but as much as a stereotype as it is, people up north are generally friendlier even in the bigger cities. Though despite my cons, London does surprise you sometimes as you get salt of the earth types which really quite nice.
 
I hate cities, but love that I can get a 30(ish) minute train into London. I hate that it costs a kidney to do so.

The green belt is going to be wrecked up over the next 10-15 years by the sounds of it though :(
 
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