Is it friendlier Up North?

People are people wherever they live .

Why do some people insist on keeping this North / South divide going ?
What about all of us in the middle ? How would you label us ?

I want to agree with Aveline. It doesn't matter where you live, it is you that makes it friendly or not.

Except, I am remembering a friend, the sort of person who could find enough people to have a party with in an uninhabited desert. She went to live in Hull and was profoundly unhappy there as she found it almost impossible to make friends as she kept being rejected because she was a southerner - she wasn't, she was Irish, but her previous job had been in the south. She died prematurely 5 years after she moved there. She could not afford to move away from Hull. I am sure her death was hastened by her loneliness. I have not believed in northerners being friendly ever since.

Most definitely.I live in Surrey, when I visit my son up north it’s a totally different atmosphere.

M0nica

I want to agree with Aveline. It doesn't matter where you live, it is you that makes it friendly or not.

Except, I am remembering a friend, the sort of person who could find enough people to have a party with in an uninhabited desert. She went to live in Hull and was profoundly unhappy there as she found it almost impossible to make friends as she kept being rejected because she was a southerner - she wasn't, she was Irish, but her previous job had been in the south. She died prematurely 5 years after she moved there. She could not afford to move away from Hull. I am sure her death was hastened by her loneliness. I have not believed in northerners being friendly ever since.

I think it is both, Monica. And my Scottish friends all say Edinburgh is like the South- different to rest of Scotland, atmospherewise, and a bit too posh to be friendly to outsiders.

When I lived in London and Surrey, and went for walks, I'd always say hello to those I met, and they looked at me as though I was mad! Whereas when I discovered the Peak District and other parts of the Midlands, people smiled and responded. It felt nice.

I live in Oxfordshire and when I am out raking leaves at the front of the house, everyone who passes greets me, or I greet them, even though I know few of them personally. Our CH repair man saw me out and came over to enquire about the health of DH who had major heart surgery 18 months ago.

As I said, I am broadly in agreement with Aveline, that you make your own friendship, but as I said a very sociable friend, essentially died, ground down by the unfriendliness of Northerners.

I'm very sorry your friend ended up in an unfriendly community M0nica. However, 'The North' is a vast area!

If my Northern DILs family are anything to go by my answer would be no! I’m sure they’re an exception!

I know it's silly really to geographically divide people. No distinction should be made.
I have lived in North and South and found friendliness everwhere.
One of the happiest times was 2 years spent in Birmingham.

Hmmm..... I must admit I started out as per norm. With my DS outlaws- but HER high handed look down me nose attitude (really weird as she was born and raised in Ellesmere!?!?) Really rubbed me up! Plus her constant attempts to completely control everyone (ex head teacher syndrome....) Just infuriated everyone! Apart from that , I married a London boy in 1976 put up with his snobby cold fish ways until 1995 then broke free! The hilarious Irony is I'M the one privately educated and top grammar school etc etc money in fam! But I have NO superiority complex 😂😂 I do call a spade a shovel....... And luv a good laugh which is rare as hen's teeth( or rocking horse sh*t) south of stoke!

Some of the outright bigotry displayed on these threads!

Probably friendlier up North. But you can never generalize as it always depends who you're talking to.

I find that people in towns are more friendly than people in cities, at least in seems that way. Down South we have visited places that were extremely friendly (and extremely unfriendly)

Some people in cities are extremely cliquey (village mentality!) and do not want to serve people who are not from "their area". I would not think any small businesses can afford to be. If people support me I will support them right back, but if not then I will spend my money where I am appreciated or where there is value for money.

I'm laughing at the idea of Edinburgh being 'posh'. Like most cities, it does have 'posh' areas, but then there are also areas which are at the polar opposite end of the spectrum. I've never really been anywhere I could class as 'unfriendly' - if you're friendly and chatty to people, they tend to be the same in return, wherever you go. I don't think you can really generalise about any particular part of the country.

I'm in the North West and I disagree with Loose Women - but I usually do - mad women. People seem to be friendly to each other but the sound of my accent (which I don't think I have) they close off.

Yiayia4

Most definitely.I live in Surrey, when I visit my son up north it’s a totally different atmosphere.

My sister moved from the northwest to Surrey, and said it came as a shock to her that people didn't chat to each other and comment on each other's outfits in clothes shop changing rooms like she'd been used to! 😁

I'm in the Midlands and find people will invariably smile and say good morning if I say it first.
Sometimes I set myself a challenge if I see a particularly grumpy looking soul, getting a surprised smile out of them more often than not 😊

I was in Glasgow looking lost and several people offered me directions.
I don't believe that would happen in Edinburgh because they are so used to tourists whereas there is still in Glasgow or any other Scottish city that sense of ownership and pride.
Likewise in London, at least the centre, nobody would speak to you incase you thought they were crazy

I can back that saying up. I originally come from the North East and moved to the midlands 34 years ago. Definitely not the most friendly of areas even after all those years. I have tried my best with lots of people and they are just plain old unfriendly. Northern people are the best!

I moved from the black country in the West Midlands to the north west never met such warm friendly people. Neighbours who actually care if they don't see me for a few days. And the health care here is second to non. My brother and sister in law moved to North East say the same thing.

Sorry to disagree with Grammaretto but I was so disappointed in Glasgow. No chat while waiting in bus queues or in shops.
Meanwhile, in London, I received very helpful advice when I was unsure where to go. A nice man saw me looking at my map and helpfully turned it the right way up. We were just discussing where I was going when a lollypop lady said she was going that way and offered me a lift. They were both such transparently nice people that I abandoned my native caution and accepted the lift and arrived safely at my accomodation.
Southerners are great! Northerners are great too. Just people. Mostly kind. We only tend to hear bad news about others as that's what sells. Apparently.

You said it yourselfAveline If you are friendly you get it back.If you behave as if you're superior you're on a loser in Weegieland .Maybe you could have spoken to folk at the bus stop,you'd have got somebody's life story

BigBertha1

I'm in the North West and I disagree with Loose Women - but I usually do - mad women. People seem to be friendly to each other but the sound of my accent (which I don't think I have) they close off.

I'm sorry you got that treatment Big Berthal1.
I got it in our village because they did not realise I was really from an area nearby, I had acquired a different accent. They talked in their own dialect in front of me and one day I couldn't help but laugh, they realised I had understood every word they said and then I answered them in dialect.
Now I just shout "Huw do," the local greeting like they do

Devon, Hampshire, (New Forest end) Liverpool, Cumbria Lancashire - all seem friendly enough. Never lived in London so I wouldn’t know.

That was just my experience Aveline.
I stay at my DS in Cambridge and that isn't as friendly IMO as here in Scotland.
We greet everyone with a hello each time we go for a walk. and sometimes we stand chatting for ages

My uncle who was from and lived in Southern Ireland, used to say hello to everyone he passed when walking here in Birmingham. He couldn't understand why people didn't do it automatically like they did where he lived.

I think with people in the South, it just takes them a bit longer to suss you out. We lived in an Essex village at the end of the tube line for three years when DH was stationed in London, and none of the local people spoke to me for ages - partly because I had a northern accent (with the rough edges knocked off!) and partly because I was part of a small military community and as such we were treated worse than the travellers that passed through the area regularly. After about eighteen months I got a part time job with a local firm and people started to thaw, added to which I got to know a few parents through school activities and junior sports quite well. Two weeks before we left for our next posting a lady I worked with asked me if I fancied coming to a WI meeting! That was acceptance, but too late😁. You have to work at these things.

Aveline all our replies are based on personal experience, which essentially means a relatively small area.

My friend was unfortunate enough to move to Hull, so my experience is based on her stay there. She had previously lived in another part of Yorkshire when she was young, in work, and well paid and been happy, which was why she returned north, but as an older woman, on her own and not well off it was a different story.