# When did the North cease to be 'cool'?



## Hollis (Jul 14, 2005)

When I was a kid everyone wanted to live up north because it was grim and cool.. Clearly this is no longer the case.  When did this transition happen?

I'd say circa mid-90s?


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## Flavour (Jul 14, 2005)




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## Isambard (Jul 14, 2005)

First thought that sprang to mind was that it was when Harvey Nick's openened in Leeds.

I was a student in Newcastle 1989-1993 and perhaps just caught the end of the "old" north. Even parts of Gateshead are posh now!


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## Orang Utan (Jul 14, 2005)

It's still cool. Apparently Leeds is the London of the North. Or the new black. Or is it taupe? Or summat.


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## Iam (Jul 14, 2005)

1995.


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## anfield (Jul 14, 2005)




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## nosos (Jul 14, 2005)

Genius ^^^^ 

(and the north is still cool, Hollis, you cunt  )


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## butchersapron (Jul 14, 2005)

So why do you all leave?


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## bfg (Jul 14, 2005)

We don't. 

Northerners that head south tend to, at some stage in their lives, either return north or get the fuck out of the south cos its fulfilled its purpose for them. 

Southerners that move north tend to stay and curse themselves for not shifting north earlier.


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## butchersapron (Jul 14, 2005)

No they don't, They stay and pay tax down here. The only superstar who stayed in the north was Mark E. Smith.


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## bfg (Jul 14, 2005)

Hollis said:
			
		

> When I was a kid everyone wanted to live up north because it was grim and cool.. Clearly this is no longer the case.



I take it 'everyone' means 'everyone you knew at that particular time of your life when you were, of course, living somewhere in the south-east'.

And how clearly is this not the case? You don't seem to quote much evidence to back this up, do you


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## bfg (Jul 14, 2005)

butchersapron said:
			
		

> No they don't, They stay and pay tax down here. The only superstar who stayed in the north was Mark E. Smith.



I was taking everybody into account, 'superstar' or 'non-superstar'. You'll need to define 'superstar'. If Mark E Smith falls into that category, so do many others of equal fame + fortune, who live up north


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## CyberRose (Jul 15, 2005)

It was definately when Oasis's third album came out (or when Pulp released whatever album came after Different Class - that had a song about being poor and cool, the next one had a song about helping old people up stairs, nuff said really)


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## butchersapron (Jul 15, 2005)

bfg said:
			
		

> I was taking everybody into account, 'superstar' or 'non-superstar'. You'll need to define 'superstar'. If Mark E Smith falls into that category, so do many others of equal fame + fortune, who live up north


 What was Ian Macgregor?


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## bfg (Jul 15, 2005)

Irrelevant to this thread, I'd say


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## Isambard (Jul 15, 2005)

butchersapron said:
			
		

> So why do you all leave?



Work.

I'd still be living in Newcastle (well actually I prefrered Gateshead    ) but there was nothing doing.


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## stereotypical (Jul 15, 2005)

The North is cool.

Go to Liverpool, Newscastle or Manchester and this will become obvious


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## MightyAphrodite (Jul 15, 2005)

when the hacienda closed?


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## Orang Utan (Jul 15, 2005)

I left the North in 1994, so I suppose that's when it ceased to be cool.
I'm never going back.


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## Belushi (Jul 15, 2005)

The North was cool among people who'd never been there for about five minutes thanks to the Happy Mondays.


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## Iam (Jul 15, 2005)

Orang Utan said:
			
		

> I'm never going back.



"I can't go back to Salford, the cops have got me marked,"


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## Orang Utan (Jul 15, 2005)

Iam said:
			
		

> "I can't go back to Salford, the cops have got me marked,"



 
The real reason is because I was bored bored bored by the scene in Leeds and I have no friends out there. And I was fed up with intransigent attitudes and casual violence.


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## Pieface (Jul 15, 2005)

Orang Utan said:
			
		

> It's still cool. Apparently Leeds is the London of the North. Or the new black. Or is it taupe? Or summat.



Yes.

And Newcastle is the Brighton of the North   

Erm...


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## Iam (Jul 15, 2005)

Presumably, Salford is still the armpit...?


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## Throbbing Angel (Jul 15, 2005)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchester

still cool
we've got blue plaques, Tony Wilson still walking his dog by the canal, balconies, admittedley they shoulda turned the Hacienda into a museum instead of fucking apartments but hey - that's progress innit ???


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## Throbbing Angel (Jul 15, 2005)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/manchester/4681447.stm

reresumably, Salford is still the armpit...?


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## Roadkill (Jul 15, 2005)

Hull never was cool and still isn't.  That's one reason why I like it: it's an unpretentious sort of place.


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## Iam (Jul 15, 2005)

Throbbing Angel said:
			
		

> http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/manchester/4681447.stm
> 
> reresumably, Salford is still the armpit...?



Fair play. Perhaps I'll wait til 2025 to see the results, though. Course, if you live in Worsley, it's probably not so armpitty...

Anyone remember a series of photographs of Salford taken in about 1991-92 that went onto postcards n stuff? They were all in b&w, taken in very, very forgiving light and were of tower blocks and playgrounds and the like (around Adelphi Street/Trinity area, I believe). They were quite lovely.


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## anfield (Jul 15, 2005)

butchersapron said:
			
		

> So why do you all leave?



*Stayed up North:* 





*Fucked off down south:* 





If this is the kind of trash that's leaving then good riddance.


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## Herbert Read (Aug 8, 2005)

Hollis said:
			
		

> When I was a kid everyone wanted to live up north because it was grim and cool.. Clearly this is no longer the case.  When did this transition happen?
> 
> I'd say circa mid-90s?



have you been to bradford   its well north and cool!


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## dessiato (Aug 8, 2005)

As much as I hate to admit this, there is something attractive about the North.

I hate the north (too cold and limited culture) but am strangley drawn to it. Maybe it's because I was born there.

Why move south? Because it has everything you could want and more: art galleries, theatres, easy access to airports, restaurants, multi-culturalism, excitement, access to europe etc, etc


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## Herbert Read (Aug 8, 2005)

dessiato said:
			
		

> As much as I hate to admit this, there is something attractive about the North.
> 
> I hate the north (too cold and limited culture) but am strangley drawn to it. Maybe it's because I was born there.
> 
> Why move south? Because it has everything you could want and more: art galleries, theatres, easy access to airports, restaurants, multi-culturalism, excitement, access to europe etc, etc



middle class culture is pathetic.  

multi cultarilism have you been to bradford, dewsbury and leeds


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## dessiato (Aug 8, 2005)

Herbert Read said:
			
		

> middle class culture is pathetic.
> 
> multi cultarilism have you been to bradford, dewsbury and leeds



not for many years


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## Roadkill (Aug 8, 2005)

dessiato said:
			
		

> As much as I hate to admit this, there is something attractive about the North.



I don't think there's anything wrong with finding the north attractive.  The rural north has some of the finest scenery in the country, and most of the cities are diverse and striking places with interesting pasts, although a lot of them do still suffer from the after-effects of war, decline in basic industries and consequent social problems.  Some of them are still great places to live though.

The north is invariably cheaper to live in than the south, most of its cities have got the amenities you describe, and it doesn't have the endless parade of faceless, cloned dormitory towns for London that plague the southeast!

I'm from dahn sarf by birth, but I feel more at home in the north.


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## Alf Klein (Aug 8, 2005)

Throbbing Angel said:
			
		

> http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/manchester/4681447.stm
> 
> reresumably, Salford is still the armpit...?


They havn't made a very good start.


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## oryx (Aug 8, 2005)

I like the way people refer to "the North" as if it was one big homogeneous block of smoking chimneys & rain, with the odd moor thrown in for good measure! 

Maybe there should be a thread about "the South" to take in Penzance, Oxford, Luton and maybe London.   

I'd say the North has been cool since the Liverpool & Manchester scenes in the late '70s/early '80s (Joy Division, Teardrops Explodes, Wah, the Bunnymen etc.) & still is!


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## Herbert Read (Aug 8, 2005)

dessiato said:
			
		

> not for many years



lucky git


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## WasGeri (Aug 8, 2005)

I like the north and I've considered moving up there -  but I'm scared that if I don't like it, or I feel homesick, I won't be able to afford to move back down south.


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## HarrisonSlade (Aug 8, 2005)

oryx said:
			
		

> I like the way people refer to "the North" as if it was one big homogeneous block of smoking chimneys & rain, with the odd moor thrown in for good measure!


Nah, that's not the North at all. The North is a bunch of Germanic Industrial Estates selling Printing for Employment Centres, and Council Estates where old women are beaten up for their pensions. It is Terraced houses full of high tech equipment paid for by their fiddling the Social Security, and squeezing as much money as they can from the 5 to 6 million hard working people in London.


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## montevideo (Aug 8, 2005)

HarrisonSlade said:
			
		

> Nah, that's not the North at all. The North is a bunch of Germanic Industrial Estates selling Printing for Employment Centres, and Council Estates where old women are beaten up for their pensions. It is Terraced houses full of high tech equipment paid for by their fiddling the Social Security, and squeezing as much money as they can from the 5 to 6 million hard working people in London.



as it should be. Not only that we come down to your london & steal all your jobs & your women & your housing, sign on, wear flares & take drugs & dance like fuck & talk shite & drink beer & we're still a hundred times cooler than you'll ever be.


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## bfg (Aug 8, 2005)

dessiato said:
			
		

> Why move south? Because it has everything you could want and more: art galleries, theatres, easy access to airports, restaurants, multi-culturalism, excitement, access to europe etc, etc



Nope. London has this, the pox of clone towns that surround the place haven't. London also has a level of poverty and deprivation that is clear to see everytime you visitit, but many of its natives who take their chips on their shoulders to northern forums to bitch about somehwere theyknowlittle about (see the HarrisonSlade post above for the perfect example of this above), prefer to conveniently overlook as they wax lyrical about aplace that is,admittedly, vibrant and exciting, but also a complete fucking shithole. 

Someone recently posted about how great London is when you're on 50K and above per year - 99% of thelocals don't really care whats on exhibition at the Tate, or who's opened up a new poncy restaurant somewhere, they're too busy making ends meet to pay for their overpriced extortionate housing. Can't remember who it was, maybe the Stalinist Welsh guy, but I thought immediately of his comments when I saw this thread reappear. 

To be honest every one of the major northern cities can offer everything that you quote you could possibly want. Andall,depending on thedirection you enter themfrom, can be vibrant melting pots orcomplete shitholes. Thats what I love about them. And you can get gravy on yer chips as well.

I',m a bit suspicious here. Theres been a few daily-telegraph inspired 'lets stereotype the north in a vain effort to delude ourselves that we live somewhere superior' posts lately. Have things got that boring on the London forum or something?


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## Donna Ferentes (Aug 8, 2005)

When I left.


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## Donna Ferentes (Aug 8, 2005)

bfg said:
			
		

> To be honest every one of the major northern cities can offer everything that you quote you could possibly want.


This isn't quite true. I agree with many of your observations but there really isn't anything like the range of interesting things to do, _especially_ things cultural, that there is in London. Mind you it's a bit easier to get out into the countryside....


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## HarrisonSlade (Aug 8, 2005)

montevideo said:
			
		

> as it should be. Not only that we come down to your london & steal all your jobs & your women & your housing, sign on, wear flares & take drugs & dance like fuck & talk shite & drink beer & we're still a hundred times cooler than you'll ever be.


You think it's cool to beat up old ladies for their pensions?


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## montevideo (Aug 8, 2005)

HarrisonSlade said:
			
		

> You think it's cool to beat up old ladies for their pensions?



& that's a peculiarity of just the north?


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## sovietpop (Aug 9, 2005)

montevideo said:
			
		

> as it should be. Not only that we come down to your london & steal all your jobs & your women & your housing, sign on, wear flares & take drugs & dance like fuck & talk shite & drink beer & we're still a hundred times cooler than you'll ever be.



Nevermind the old ladies Harrison. Monty, you think its cool to wear flares?


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## Orang Utan (Aug 9, 2005)

Donna Ferentes said:
			
		

> When I left.



I tuned into University Challenge last night in the vain hope you that you'd be on it cos a ltean of chess buffs were on it (they lost to the V&A).


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## montevideo (Aug 9, 2005)

sovietpop said:
			
		

> Nevermind the old ladies Harrison. Monty, you think its cool to wear flares?



oh aye, it was in the 90's. 

Which i remember, vaquely.


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## soulman (Aug 9, 2005)




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## Donna Ferentes (Aug 9, 2005)

Orang Utan said:
			
		

> I tuned into University Challenge last night in the vain hope you that you'd be on it cos a team of chess buffs were on it (they lost to the V&A).


I would have done better on my own than they did together.

Mind you, they're not really chessplayers (as opposed to chess professionals) now anyway. Bil Hartston hasn't played a competitive game in about twenty years, Byron Jacobs doesn't play much now and Malcolm Pein doesn't either. John Cox plays quite a lot but he's not as good as the others, in fact he's the only one I could hope to give a decent game.


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## Spion (Aug 9, 2005)

Donna Ferentes said:
			
		

> This isn't quite true. I agree with many of your observations but there really isn't anything like the range of interesting things to do, _especially_ things cultural, that there is in London. Mind you it's a bit easier to get out into the countryside....



I'd say the range of things to do in London is huge, but is also very very limited. I got really sick of London cos all there was to do was to go to galleries or to restaurants or pubs and talk with a load of people who only ever did that - ie talk and go to galleries and restaurants. I got sick of not being able to do things when I wanted or where I wanted because you couldn't move around the place very easily (I lived at Borough, so it was straight into a traffic jam every time you got the car out). So, anything city based apart from 'going out' was a pain in the arse and if you wanted to get to the countryside it was a weekend or nothing to make it worth the effort of getting past the M25.

Now, I live in Bradford, have lots of friends and a few good pubs within walking distance, can get places on uncongested roads, can see the countryside from my window while living in the town and am 35 miles from a national park.

So, the north is still cool, IMO


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## Donna Ferentes (Aug 9, 2005)

Aren't you just saying that it's easier to get out into the country if you're not in London? Which point I already made?


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## Spion (Aug 9, 2005)

Donna Ferentes said:
			
		

> Aren't you just saying that it's easier to get out into the country if you're not in London? Which point I already made?



No, I'm not *just* saying that. I also made the point about being able to move around much more easily. I was amazed for months upon moving here how I just seemed to do so much in one day. In London if i wanted something from a shop, say on Tott Ct Rd, it was a half day taken out going to get it. Here, if I want something from an equivalent shop - a Maplins for EG - I decide I want to go and am there and back in 40 mins if I want. Just an EG, but one of those little things that I'd rather not waste the amount of time on as I would in London.


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## gaijingirl (Aug 9, 2005)

Orang Utan said:
			
		

> I tuned into University Challenge last night in the vain hope you that you'd be on it cos a ltean of chess buffs were on it (they lost to the V&A).



HAHA.. I watched that too.... bf was SO excited as he's a chess maniac and knew quite a few of the players on University Challenge.. in fact he used to work for one of them... usually we have a little contest to see who gets the most right.. but he called up all his chess friends to tell them to tune in instead...


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## gaijingirl (Aug 9, 2005)

Spion said:
			
		

> No, I'm not *just* saying that. I also made the point about being able to move around much more easily. I was amazed for months upon moving here how I just seemed to do so much in one day. In London if i wanted something from a shop, say on Tott Ct Rd, it was a half day taken out going to get it. Here, if I want something from an equivalent shop - a Maplins for EG - I decide I want to go and am there and back in 40 mins if I want. Just an EG, but one of those little things that I'd rather not waste the amount of time on as I would in London.



I think that point only really stands if you're talking about car travel.  London's public transport is actually pretty good.  I can be on Tott Ct Road and back within an hour easily and I'm in Brixton.  I don't know how it was taking you half a day from Borough...


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## Orang Utan (Aug 9, 2005)

Spion said:
			
		

> No, I'm not *just* saying that. I also made the point about being able to move around much more easily. I was amazed for months upon moving here how I just seemed to do so much in one day. In London if i wanted something from a shop, say on Tott Ct Rd, it was a half day taken out going to get it.


What a load of bull - I went to Oxford Street to get a CD the other day and was back within the hour. If you lived in Borough, it would only take 20 minutes or so to get to TCR.


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## Orang Utan (Aug 9, 2005)

The reason I've stayed in London is there's fuck all nightlife in Leeds compared to London (though Leeds has somewhat improved in recent years)


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## Spion (Aug 9, 2005)

gaijingirl said:
			
		

> I think that point only really stands if you're talking about car travel.  London's public transport is actually pretty good.  I can be on Tott Ct Road and back within an hour easily and I'm in Brixton.  I don't know how it was taking you half a day from Borough...


Yeah, 

it was a bit of an exaggeration on reflection, hehe. But Brixton-TCR and back in an hour's probably an exaggeration the other way and not accounting for stress, crowds etc. But when you come to have to do a lot of things in a lot of places, where I am now wins hands down for ease and lack of stress.


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## gaijingirl (Aug 9, 2005)

Spion said:
			
		

> I got really sick of London cos all there was to do was to go to galleries or to restaurants or pubs and talk with a load of people who only ever did that - ie talk and go to galleries and restaurants.



I have to say, this doesn't ring true to me either.  In the last few months I've been to a triathlon, pub quizzes, a knitters' film screening at my local cinema, a free festival in my local park, various free gigs, a circus, done an overnight powerwalk marathon with 14,000 people - and that's just the things that haven't been organised purely with friends - such as BBQs/parties etc.  Sure, I've been to a few festivals and I've been to the museum during that time too, but that's certainly not all..


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## Spion (Aug 9, 2005)

Orang Utan said:
			
		

> The reason I've stayed in London is there's fuck all nightlife in Leeds compared to London (though Leeds has somewhat improved in recent years)



Yeah, if you wanna just go out, London's good. For most other things it sucks tho


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## Orang Utan (Aug 9, 2005)

Anyway, what's wrong with talk, galleries, clubs, restaurants and pubs?


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## Orang Utan (Aug 9, 2005)

Spion said:
			
		

> Yeah, if you wanna just go out, London's good. For most other things it sucks tho



Like what?


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## Chorlton (Aug 9, 2005)

Orang Utan said:
			
		

> Like what?



surfing


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## Roadkill (Aug 9, 2005)

Spion said:
			
		

> Yeah, if you wanna just go out, London's good. For most other things it sucks tho



Why try and turn this into a 'London v the North' thing?

They're just different.  London's got its advantages - size, diversity - just as everywhere else has.  Even Bradford.


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## gaijingirl (Aug 9, 2005)

Spion said:
			
		

> Yeah,
> 
> it was a bit of an exaggeration on reflection, hehe. But Brixton-TCR and back in an hour's probably an exaggeration the other way and not accounting for stress, crowds etc. But when you come to have to do a lot of things in a lot of places, where I am now wins hands down for ease and lack of stress.



It's absolutely not an exaggeration.  It takes me about 20 mins to cycle to TCR and it's not especially stressful.  Although tbh... I very very rarely have cause to go to TCR as there are plenty of places closer where I can shop.  

I don't usually feel like I have to go to lots of places to do lots of things as most everything I need is on my doorstep.  The only think I can think of that calls for me to regularly go to the centre of town is yarn for knitting - and my job!! 

It seems that you drive, and if you like driving it can seem less stressful than public transport as it is a much more solitary experience.  (also _one_ of the reasons I prefer cycling to taking the tube).  As a driver, your situation may win hands-down in terms of ease and lack of stress.

My life got a whole lot less stressful in London when I got rid of my car...


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## Orang Utan (Aug 9, 2005)

Chorlton said:
			
		

> surfing



I surf every day


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## Spion (Aug 9, 2005)

gaijingirl said:
			
		

> I have to say, this doesn't ring true to me either.  In the last few months I've been to a triathlon, pub quizzes, a knitters' film screening at my local cinema, a free festival in my local park, various free gigs, a circus, done an overnight powerwalk marathon with 14,000 people - and that's just the things that haven't been organised purely with friends - such as BBQs/parties etc.  Sure, I've been to a few festivals and I've been to the museum during that time too, but that's certainly not all..



Fair enough - I was relating my experience. That's your experience. They're bound not to be the same. When i was in London I did stuff like kayaking at Shadwell, rock climbed indoors at Green Lanes. I can do all the things you mention up here - but, for eg, I can be in the countryside in 10 minutes or a national park in 45. 

It's up to you. But my experience is that my life is fuller since moving out of London. IMO, it is just too much concrete too far away from the countryside to have the fullest range of things that I want to do.


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## Spion (Aug 9, 2005)

Orang Utan said:
			
		

> Anyway, what's wrong with talk, galleries, clubs, restaurants and pubs?



They're fine but there's more to life than that


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## Orang Utan (Aug 9, 2005)

Spion said:
			
		

> They're fine but there's more to life than that


No there isn't!


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## Chorlton (Aug 9, 2005)

Orang Utan said:
			
		

> I surf every day



shit!


errrrr  cumbrian wrestling - rubbish down in london so it is...


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## Orang Utan (Aug 9, 2005)

Spion said:
			
		

> They're fine but there's more to life than that


Like what?


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## Chorlton (Aug 9, 2005)

Orang Utan said:
			
		

> like what?




hills, lakes, fells, moors, and mountains.... y'know -  proper places....


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## gaijingirl (Aug 9, 2005)

Spion said:
			
		

> Fair enough - I was relating my experience. That's your experience. They're bound not to be the same. When i was in London I did stuff like kayaking at Shadwell, rock climbed indoors at Green Lanes. I can do all the things you mention up here - but, for eg, I can be in the countryside in 10 minutes or a national park in 45.
> 
> It's up to you. But my experience is that my life is fuller since moving out of London. IMO, it is just too much concrete too far away from the countryside to have the fullest range of things that I want to do.



I think that in reality, if you look for it - make your own entertainment - your (one's) life can be full wherever you are.  I lived for 4 years in the most rural place imaginable.  However, it had great mountains and sea and I did a lot of outdoor sports (as well as the usual drinking and eating type stuff).  Personally I am happy in either city or countryside - but I do think that it is fair to say that in terms of having it all laid on for you.. the choice in London - purely because of the size and diversity of the place - is unrivalled (in the UK) - I'm not claiming that this makes it better or worse than anywhere else, because - as you intimate - it depends what you like.


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## Spion (Aug 9, 2005)

Roadkill said:
			
		

> Why try and turn this into a 'London v the North' thing?
> 
> They're just different.  London's got its advantages - size, diversity - just as everywhere else has.  Even Bradford.



I'm not. I related my experience of moving out of London after 13 years and going to live in Bradford. I told what I have experienced as the advantages over living down there. I don't know why that's a 'north v south thing'. London can be ace, but I'm glad I don't live there now.


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## Orang Utan (Aug 9, 2005)

Chorlton said:
			
		

> hills, lakes, fells, moors, and mountains.... y'know -  proper places....



You can see those on the telly.




Alright, I admit you don't get those in London - but I'd rather have the bustle as a base and the country as a place to visit, rather than vice versa


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## Spion (Aug 9, 2005)

gaijingirl said:
			
		

> but I do think that it is fair to say that in terms of having it all laid on for you.. the choice in London - purely because of the size and diversity of the place - is unrivalled (in the UK) .



i didn't find the choice that great because I couldn't move around it or in and out of it very easily. Oh, and besides the terrible traffic there's the lack of fresh air, the pollution, the foul water, the crowds


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## gaijingirl (Aug 9, 2005)

Spion said:
			
		

> i didn't find the choice that great because I couldn't move around it or in and out of it very easily. Oh, and besides the terrible traffic there's the lack of fresh air, the pollution, the foul water, the crowds



Well, I think with the "moving in or out of it very easily" point, we'd just be covering old ground.  It helps if you use public transport or human powered transport - then you'll find the terrible traffic ceases to be a problem.  The fact that you couldn't move around or out of the city was really down to your own methods of doing so.  If you will try to drive around London, you're going to get pissed off really quickly!  I also lived in Cardiff and given that I cycle at the same speed in both places, did not find it particularly more easy to get around than London.

The other points you mention - as you say - can be a problem for some - obviously we'd all like less pollution, but if we all moved to Bradford with our cars, I imagine you'd see higher pollution levels there.  It is precisely having such large volumes of people that afford us such a choice of things to do.  As I said before, it's all about what you like.  Some people can't handle (the crowds etc in) a big city and prefer somewhere smaller... but it still doesn't counter the fact that there is more choice in the former.


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## Chorlton (Aug 9, 2005)

Orang Utan said:
			
		

> Alright, I admit you don't get those in London - but I'd rather have the bustle as a base and the country as a place to visit, rather than vice versa




i was just bein silly really - i'm quite sure yer as happy in london as i am in manchester and to argue the superiority of one over the other is something that only terry christian could enjoy....


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## Spion (Aug 9, 2005)

gaijingirl said:
			
		

> The fact that you couldn't move around or out of the city was really down to your own methods of doing so.  If you will try to drive around London, you're going to get pissed off really quickly!


 how many bags of sand or 8x4 plasterboards can you get on your bike?




			
				gaijingirl said:
			
		

> It is precisely having such large volumes of people that afford us such a choice of things to do.  As I said before, it's all about what you like.  Some people can't handle (the crowds etc in) a big city and prefer somewhere smaller... but it still doesn't counter the fact that there is more choice in the former.



I don't agree. IMO, there is great choice in London in some things but it lacks a lot and some things are much more difficult and massively time-consuming. So, I'll leave it there. Enjoy yer city


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## gaijingirl (Aug 9, 2005)

Spion said:
			
		

> how many bags of sand or 8x4 plasterboards can you get on your bike?
> 
> Quite a few in my trailer
> 
> ...



Thanks I am. - I'm glad you enjoy yours.


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## jamestaylor (Aug 9, 2005)

Who needs London and 'The South' now that a Waitrose in being built in Manchester?   

http://www.manchesteronline.co.uk/men/business/s/168/168788_jobs_in_store_as_waitrose_moves_in.html


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## Roadkill (Aug 9, 2005)

jamestaylor said:
			
		

> Who needs London and the South now that a Waitrose in being built in Manchester?



Well well, Manchester's way behind Hull then - our new Waitrose opened last year!

Not that I'd ever shop there, mind.


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## Isambard (Aug 9, 2005)

Waitrose in HULL ?   
My mother complained bitterly to me the other week that they even have them in Devon now but none in Somerset.


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## Chorlton (Aug 9, 2005)

jamestaylor said:
			
		

> Who needs London and 'The South' now that a Waitrose in being built in Manchester?
> 
> http://www.manchesteronline.co.uk/men/business/s/168/168788_jobs_in_store_as_waitrose_moves_in.html




isn't there already one of them out congleton direction?


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## Roadkill (Aug 9, 2005)

Isambard said:
			
		

> Waitrose in HULL ?



Well it's in Willerby, which is technically not part of the city but in practice is very much a posh part of 'Greater Hull,' no matter how much its residents may try to pretend otherwise!


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## Orang Utan (Aug 9, 2005)

Anyway, London _is_ better than the North


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## gaijingirl (Aug 9, 2005)

Orang Utan said:
			
		

> Anyway, London _is_ better than the North



Well apart from Bradford of course, where one can take immense pleasure in driving bags of sand and bits of plasterboard around.


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## Orang Utan (Aug 9, 2005)

gaijingirl said:
			
		

> Well apart from Bradford of course, where one can take immense pleasure in driving bags of sand and bits of plasterboard around.


  
It's what they do when they're not breeding pigeons and whippets and when they've run out of 50ps for the meter for the telly


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## Spion (Aug 9, 2005)

gaijingirl said:
			
		

> Well apart from Bradford of course, where one can take immense pleasure in driving bags of sand and bits of plasterboard around.



Oh, to be in London town, where thick-thighed girls haul such materials round in their bicycle carts (while knitting and discussing post-modernism, or something)


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## gaijingirl (Aug 9, 2005)

Spion said:
			
		

> Oh, to be in London town, where thick-thighed girls haul such materials round in their bicycle carts (while knitting and discussing post-modernism, or something)



ooh... you beeeatch.... I must have touched a raw nerve..


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## Spion (Aug 9, 2005)

gaijingirl said:
			
		

> ooh... you beeeatch.... I must have touched a raw nerve..



Hehe, not at all . . . tho I think I may have done by inferring your musculature from your boasts of what you can do with your push-bike trailer. 

They say the lasses up here have good thighs because of the hills


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## gaijingirl (Aug 9, 2005)

Spion said:
			
		

> Hehe, not at all . . . tho I think I may have done by inferring your musculature from your boasts of what you can do with your push-bike trailer.
> 
> They say the lasses up here have good thighs because of the hills



Not at all - your inference was correct... I'm the first to admit to "thick thighs"... I've always tended to be a "big strong girl" and I'd rather they were muscley than just outright flab...   And it's perfectly true that I do transport all kinds of things in my trailer... bags of compost for example.. and also true that whilst I could have done so with far less physical effort in my car, I found it far too stressful and time consuming to drive around London.

Edited to add: anyway, enough about my thighs   wasn't this tread about when the North ceased to be "cool"...


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## Donna Ferentes (Aug 9, 2005)

Orang Utan said:
			
		

> It's what they do when they're not breeding pigeons and whippets and when they've run out of 50ps for the meter for the telly


Surely the money comes out of the meter rather than going in?


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## Spion (Aug 9, 2005)

gaijingirl said:
			
		

> Not at all - your inference was correct... I'm the first to admit to "thick thighs"... I've always tended to be a "big strong girl" and I'd rather they were muscley than just outright flab...   And it's perfectly true that I do transport all kinds of things in my trailer... bags of compost for example.. and also true that whilst I could have done so with far less physical effort in my car, I found it far too stressful and time consuming to drive around London.
> 
> Edited to add: anyway, enough about my thighs   wasn't this tread about when the North ceased to be "cool"...



Well I've always said, you can't beat a big strong girl.

They tend to hit you back.

 Peace


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## Belushi (Aug 9, 2005)

Orang Utan said:
			
		

> It's what they do when they're not breeding pigeons and whippets and when they've run out of 50ps for the meter for the telly



Thank fuck for that, I was telling someone recently that we used to have a telly that you put 50 pence pieces in and they blindly refused to believe me.
I'm glad I didnt imagine it!


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## gaijingirl (Aug 9, 2005)

Spion said:
			
		

> Well I've always said, you can't beat a big strong girl.
> 
> They tend to hit you back.
> 
> Peace



*smack*







(hits back)


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## Spion (Aug 9, 2005)

Donna Ferentes said:
			
		

> Surely the money comes out of the meter rather than going in?



What with all this stereotyping it's a good job racism's not allowed these days or you and Orang (oh, and that twat HarrisonSlade) would be going like Bernard Manning by now


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## Orang Utan (Aug 9, 2005)

I'm a Northerner so I'm allowed to make jokes. Like Jews are


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## Spion (Aug 9, 2005)

Orang Utan said:
			
		

> I'm a Northerner so I'm allowed to make jokes.



You're hilarious, son


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## Herbert Read (Aug 9, 2005)

gaijingirl said:
			
		

> Well apart from Bradford of course, where one can take immense pleasure in driving bags of sand and bits of plasterboard around.



watch it i moved to bradford  

If i remeber you were thinking of getting into social work, well were like free masons so you better be nice to brdaford and me


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## gaijingirl (Aug 9, 2005)

Herbert Read said:
			
		

> watch it i moved to bradford
> 
> If i remeber you were thinking of getting into social work, well were like free masons so you better be nice to brdaford and me



I've applied for MAs and possibly a PGCE instead...   

Actually, I very much like Bradford.  I like its proximity to the moors and it's wealth of cheap curry houses...


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## Orang Utan (Aug 9, 2005)

Spion said:
			
		

> You're hilarious, son


You're living up to the stereotype of dour grim Northern bastard, not me!


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## Spion (Aug 9, 2005)

Orang Utan said:
			
		

> You're living up to the stereotype of dour grim Northern bastard, not me!



Well, you've got me there. I must be if I'm not collapsing with mirth at your sparkling and original humour.


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## Spion (Aug 9, 2005)

gaijingirl said:
			
		

> Actually, I very much like Bradford.  I like its proximity to the moors and it's wealth of cheap curry houses...



A lot of potential as a nice looking city, IMO. Red brick looks so dull in comparison to the sandstone stuff is made of here. And with it being set in a 'bowl' in the landscape there's lots of places you can get a good view across it.


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## chio (Sep 4, 2005)

Chorlton said:
			
		

> isn't there already one of them out congleton direction?



You're right, it's in Sandbach.

And it's shit compared to Booths in Knutsford.


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## HarrisonSlade (Sep 18, 2005)

Orang Utan said:
			
		

> It's still cool. Apparently leeds is the London of the north. Or the new black. Or is it taupe? Or summat.


If leeds is the London of the north then this Country is in trouble, and we in the South would do well to cut the north off sharpish. 

Leeds is Shit. Full of violence and very little else. Like newcastle and manchester has learned, it takes more than a few homos and coffee houses to make a City great. It takes a little help from the people who live there to make it livable. leeds has a big park next to one of the most violent places in the UK and a Cricket Ground no one really rates much anymore. To think of great places up north we can only rely on the lake district, york, whitby, richmond and liverpool (liverpool being the nearest to London with their fight to maintain their City when it's at it's worst.), none really famous for either it's homos or coffe houses.


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## chio (Sep 18, 2005)

It really hasn't been the same without you.


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## bfg (Sep 18, 2005)

HarrisonSlade said:
			
		

> If leeds is the London of the north then this Country is in trouble, and we in the South would do well to cut the north off sharpish.
> 
> Leeds is Shit. Full of violence and very little else. Like newcastle and manchester has learned, it takes more than a few homos and coffee houses to make a City great. It takes a little help from the people who live there to make it livable. leeds has a big park next to one of the most violent places in the UK and a Cricket Ground no one really rates much anymore. To think of great places up north we can only rely on the lake district, york, whitby, richmond and liverpool (liverpool being the nearest to London with their fight to maintain their City when it's at it's worst.), none really famous for either it's homos or coffe houses.




Still not learned to troll properly yet, have you?


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## FruitandNut (Sep 27, 2005)

anfield said:
			
		

> *Stayed up North:*
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Saw the back of her head in her Roller pulling out of a filling station in Romford some years back.


Having been a bit of a nomad - Catterick Camp - Singapore - Catterick Camp/Newcastle - Hong Kong - Newcastle - Germany - Catterick Camp - Bristol - Grimsby - Sheffield - I do prefer it up North, but most of the jobs are dahn sarf.    Actually as larger Southern cities go Bristol is not bad at all.

ps.  bfg - I was visiting my old stamping grounds around Richmond, Catterick and Swaledale just a couple of weeks ago.    As a lad I used to travel by steam train from the station at the bottom of the hill (was converted to a garden centre and is now being transformed to a steam train museum and line.


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