Where does the South end and the North begin? The public have spoken and the lines have been drawn

• It’s an age-old question - where does the South end and the North begin?
• Where you’d draw the imaginary line probably depends on whereabouts you live
• But does politics, history, natural geography have the answer, or is it just a state of mind?
• We asked people for their thoughts, and there were some interesting answers

Some Londoners get a nosebleed anywhere north of the M25, while if you’re Scottish you may consider the South to begin when you cross Hadrian’s Wall.

Exactly where the South ends and the North begins is an age old question, and there’s not really an official answer.

But that’s never stopped people debating the subject of where to draw the imaginary line on a map, especially if you’re going for a straight North/South divide, with no space for the Midlands.

Watford Gap or Scotch Corner?

When we asked people for their thoughts, they agreed there certainly was a North/South divide, if only due to the huge difference in the cost of living.

Opinions on where the North begins ranged from the Watford Gap or Birmingham to Scotch Corner, near Richmond, in North Yorkshire, with Peterborough, Stoke and Derby among the other popular suggestions.

Where the cut-off comes today seems to be mostly based on our experiences travelling by road, up the M1 or A1(M) motorway, with places most famous for their service stations often the spots where people feel they’re crossing the imaginary divide.

Historically, people pointed out, it would have been natural features which formed the divide.

One person suggested that anything north of the River Trent, running through Nottingham, could be considered the North, while another claimed the Mersey was the starting point.

Looking at political boundaries, the North West of England stretches as far down as Stockport and the Wirral, while the North East starts a bit higher, though many people would consider Yorkshire and the Humber to be the true North.

Is the North a state of mind?

Several people suggested we’re looking at it all wrong by trying to draw lines on a map, because ‘the North is not a place, it’s a state of mind’.

Taking that theory even further, one person joked that the North starts and ends wherever Sean Bean is at the time.

Although the Game of Thrones actor was born and raised in Sheffield, he now lives in Somerset, which most people would agree is pretty far south to be drawing the line.

One person suggested on Reddit that while politically anything above Staffordshire, Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire or Lincolnshire can be considered the North, the cultural cut-off point is the Peak District.

What does history tell us?

Taking a historical viewpoint, another commenter claimed the Shire Brook in Sheffield divides the North and South, as this was the border between Northumberland and Mercia before England was unified, and later formed the boundary between Yorkshire and Derbyshire.

Or should we be drawing the line based on accents, as one person suggested, and say the North starts where they ‘stop pronouncing bath like barth’? The only problem with this approach is that many people in the South West pronounce Bath with a short ‘a’.

Wherever the line falls, people living up north generally consider there is a big gap when it comes to investment, as the wait continues for the long-promised ‘levelling up’.

And it may be a stereotype but there’s certainly a feeling among northerners that people are friendlier there than down south.

As one person put it: “People in London are always angry. They don’t have time for anything, and the Tube is just a hot sauna, especially in the summer. But in Leeds everyone is so nice and so welcoming.”

Where do you think the South ends and the North begins, and do you think there’s a big divide?

Whatever your thoughts, there’s certainly a divide when it comes to the cost of living, especially when it comes to renting.