‘I think when you’re in the north London feels like this distant dystopian place.’
As a northerner living in London I’ve had to adjust to life here. It’s the little things you notice like not seeing people thank the bus driver or going out and not bumping into everyone you’ve ever known. I’ve gone from living in a very close knit town where everyone knows everyone’s business to a place I know noone. However, after being here for over a year I think I’ve got to know the divide a bit better but it’s always something that’s intrigued me and continues to shock me from time to time. It’s as if London is less of a destination for students now, could it be to do with the extortionate prices? Or is there another reason, a strong cultural divide that leaves people craving that northern life.
In terms of nightlife, London is bigged up, it’s put on a pedestal but is it really all that? Moya Lothian-Mclean at Novara media said ‘London, we’re constantly told, is a 24/7 city. This is a bold-faced lie. Over the last 30 years, nightlife in Britain’s capital has been increasingly eroded. Even before the hammer blow of the pandemic, venues were closing at a rapid lick.’
It seems this is the case, when going home I witnessed places being open till 4am again, I was dragged from bar to bar at ungodly hours. In London I find I’m too often getting kicked out of venues at 2am which would be seen as criminal in the north. Moya Lothian-Mclean wrote that ’Councils have gotten even more stringent with late licences, and buzzy areas that have been subject to gentrification and residential developments now find themselves under siege from a new generation of nightlife-specific NIMBYs.’ which explains why we are all getting into our beds a little earlier than the northerners.
As Well as this London as a night out in general does offer more complications, you can’t exactly wander from pub to pub knowing you will eventually be ending up at the same club. The spontaneity almost disappears, you have to plan where you’re going, find out how many tube stops away you are from the next destination. But most importantly you mustn’t forget to arrange how you’re getting home or you will be left contemplating taking four night buses home.
To get to grips with the cultural divide I spoke to Daisy who is from Batley, just outside of Leeds. She moved to London for university at the same time I did so I wanted to see how it compares to her hometown. When asking what words came to mind when thinking of the north she said ‘warmth’ and more ‘down to earth’ whereas with London it was ‘a new part of my life’ and ‘completely different’. She expressed ‘I think when you’re in the north London feels like this distant dystopian place’ which is why she believes more northerners are opting to stay out of London and stay loyal to the cities up there.
When it came to cultural significance I asked if Daisy thought there was a big one, she told me ‘I think it’s evident in the reaction I get when I tell people from home or school that I’m in London. It’s like this crazy thing to people’. She stated that not only this but ‘London is not called London’ up north ‘everyone calls it the big smoke’ she says this is ‘probably because of the fact it is so dystopian – it’s like this fantasy land’.
There’s a stereotype that northerners tend to overdress when going out at the weekend, in 2022 there was a viral tiktok going round of a woman asking ‘why do northerners dress up to go to the pub?’ It caused some controversy online but was there some truth behind it? Daisy strongly believes theres truth to it for many reasons. Telling me that ‘people from the north live and die for the weekend’ the week is filled with manual labouring jobs and weekly pay meaning there’s more emphasis on that Friday night. ‘Why would they not get dressed up? You’re gonna see everyone you know, gonna see your cousins, your aunties and uncles, your little brothers friends, your ex, your new guy, all your friends from school because nobody leaves.’
Overall, the north is a very different place, it offers a different perspective on life. It’s cheap and cheerful and tends to offer a sense of community. It’s not that London can’t offer these things but it takes a little digging to find. In Daisys words London ‘kills the culture of going out’. Which may be why more people are sticking to their northern roots.
Ruby Fletcher