Southern Observations Made With the Heating Up

'North-South Divide' stories resurfaced in the news at the beginning of this year. Particularly in relation to housing costs.

Labour politicians were warned to stop talking about a‘North-South divide’ because it alienates southern labour voters. I’m a southerner who spent some time up North because that’s where one industry was booming.

‘You’re from London? So what are you doing up here?’

 …is the response I commonly heard after telling people up north from where I was born and bred. Ironically, what I was doing up north was looking for paid work. With the difference in housing costs, there may be a lot more Londoners moving there too. I say ‘ironically looking for work’, because over time hundreds of British people have traveled from the top of the country down to the capital, risking death from cold weather, disease and starvation for the chance to earn an honest salary. People going ‘on the tramp’ during the economic hardships of the 18^th century are well documented- a good example is written by the ‘Anonymous Navvy’- an agricultural labourer who was looking for work in the 1840s.

But I have traveled in the other direction. With the BBC moving to Salford, and the development of ‘MediaCityUK’, the media industry is booming in the North-West. Local news thrives too in all the smaller and prouder communities. I made the choice to study up north for many reasons. Our country is tiny compared to the likes of Mexico and Australia, and I think we should know our own countries well. The north of the country is a part of our industrial heritage- and I have family up there. The north is a place which has historically suffered, and that suffering seems to bring a strong local feeling to the place, and stronger local identity. It’s a colder, harsher climate, and there is resentment to places like London. London is traditionally where the money was, and increasingly it is, but it seems to be reaching a new phase, whereby it’s outdoing itself, and now industry is expanding elsewhere.

London is a place without a face. There are a lot of characters, but community there is harder to come by. It is a melting pot of differences, and this is great, but sometimes it’s hard to feel roots in London.

I think this is mostly because of the business and development there- the prices of rent which young people now have to pay. In March this year, the typical mortgage for first time buyers was estimated at over £84,000. Just under a quarter of Londoners rent privately (23%). This is with rising rent costs. My point is, the gentrification of London and growth of business in Manchester will surely push people out and into the second city, up north, where I’m writing from. This would not only benefit the North, but the country as a whole.

So what might northerners make of this situation? If my experience with some of my colleagues is anything to go by, they will feel unsettled by the influx of foreign Englanders. But I don’t think they should be. This is good for the local economy, good for refreshing the culture, and educating people from the south who may have been too London-centric (me). Since studying journalism there I have had to do a lot of ‘local’ news, and it’s been hard, partly because of preconceptions of Londoners. But local news should reflect a place- and if people are moving into a place, from the south, or an entirely different country, they should have a place in the local community too.  

FCUM football match

When I traveled in Germany and spoke to people all over the world they often seemed incredibly disappointed about their travels in England. They expected so much because they heard so much about our culture, but then found everything too expensive. They found the place too exclusive. I have to say that I would agree with these views, especially in London. If you don’t know where to go, the whole place feels like a tourist trap. The people are nowhere near as open and community minded as they can be overseas. England is a country which brought football and beer to the world. Now it exploits its own people by overselling both. Manchester is the heart of football, with two once great clubs- City and United- and these now price so many of their own fans out. Thank god for movements like FC United of Manchester. 

It seems, for the younger generation at least, England currently doesn't compare to some countries, like Germany for example. Germany’s a country where rent is cheap and housing easily available. Even the football is cheaper, and of course, so is the beer- as well as tasting better.

The point of this article is that gentrification and top-down development is a dangerous thing; it’s happening all over London, and the rest of the UK. It can destroy communities. But people migrating communities definitely does not- not if they bring with them a positive ethos and the right attitude.