Ever since I moved here, I’ve heard that people get more openly friendly the further north you go. I was wondering, however, if this divide is mostly just attributed to the fact that people automatically think of London when they think of the south. Would you really be less likely to have a conversation with a stranger in a smaller town in the south than you would be in one of the bigger northern cities like Manchester? And would Scotland be even more outwardly friendly than northern England?
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Anywhere inside the m25😁😁
Pretty tough having a polite conversation with anybody on Reddit tbh.
Small villages and towns tend to be more friendly in this way. I’ve lived all over the country and have always found this to be the primary factor.
I don’t even think the stereotype of London being unfriendly is true.
I spend a lot of time in London and strike up conversation with people on a regular basis, it’s no more or less friendly than say Edinburgh.
Glasgow and Dundee are generally friendlier than Edinburgh though.
In terms of small towns and villages most people will have a natter about the weather in pretty much every part of the world let alone the U.K.
In my experience the busier and more densely populated the area, the less chance of someone stopping for a chat with a stranger
You can have a pleasant and friendly conversation anywhere in the UK. As long as they have time.
I was born and raised in the north of England. I spent several years working in London. People up north are definitely friendlier.
One day I was up north (visiting family) and waiting for a bus. An old lady also at the bus stop started to talk to me about the weather (I think it started to snow), I was so surprised that a stranger was randomly talking to me that it took me around 10 seconds to respond.
You can still strike up a conversation in London etc but it’s definitely easier up north.
Dog walkers seem to be willing to chat to anyone else with a dog. Regardless of location. My 45 minute walk takes nearly 90 minutes I’d its nice weather thanks to walkers
I’d say Glasgow. I’ve had the best conversations with passing strangers in Glasgow. (Have lived in many parts of England and Scotland.)
A Londoner on the way to work. A Londoner after a few beers after work.
As a general rule, the larger the place, the less friendly people will be with strangers. For obvious reasons really. If you were friendly with everyone in London you’d go mad. If you live in a tiny town in the middle of nowhere you’ll probably meet a stranger very rarely so you’ll actually be very interested in talking to them.
Also, large cities you waste a lot of time travelling per day so you tend to be more busy, so you have less time to be friendly with people. In a small town that won’t happen as much.
These are generalizations to answer your question of course, it doesn’t mean that everyone in a large city will be unfriendly and everyone in a small city friendly.
I’ve travelled a lot, and lived in a lot of different cities, and from my experience Liverpool was the friendliest to strangers. In many of the northern cities I was spoken to by strangers, but every time I went to Liverpool I could expect several friendly conversations with strangers each day, whether I wanted to speak or not. The worst was in buses there, I’d spend the majority of my bus rides trapped into a conversation with a stranger when I’d rather take a nap.
Squad chat on hell let loose
In my experience, if I go into a pub in the North (Rochdale/whitworth etc) it is actually busy, and I can have a conversation with a stranger within 5 minutes. If I go to a pub in the South (kent), then it will have only 3 regulars in there and a couple of coked up young ones who all give you the side eye.
Most likely- nightclub girls toilets.
Disclaimer: only applies if you’re a woman.
I was in Glasgow a few years ago, on a night out with some friends. I was stood outside the pub having a smoke, watching the fourth loud argument turn into a fight that I had seen that evening, I turned the man next me and suggested “Glasgow’s a bit of an aggressive city, isn’t it?” …his response… “NO IT FUCKEN ISNAE!”. That was me told! 🤣
From London travelling North it gets friendlier.Once you hit Scotland it resets with getting called an English prick and fck off back over the boarder 😁
True story.
> And would Scotland be even more outwardly friendly than northern England?
Glasgow and Dundee are the friendliest cities in the UK I’ve found, followed by Liverpool and Newcastle. Edinburgh can be hit and miss, but overall is pretty friendly I think. Same with Manchester. Aberdeen is miserable though it should be sent down to the very south.
Most: Any pub
Least: Train station urinals
Most: Newcastle
Least: London
Most: Glasgow, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle
Least: London, Bath, Southampton, York
I live in Brighton (lived there for years) and I love how friendly we are.
I live in a village in the south east and people talk to each other. I can’t walk the dog without at least two or three stops for a chat with someone and same if I go to the shops. There’s always people having a natter.
newcastle 99% of people will chat and youll have a friendly conversation/interation.
London they seem like they cant be arsed with anyone.
Question to those who do: how do you even strike a conversation with strangers? How do you approach people? Is it incidental because you see or need something or have a set of topics you want to chat when you’re bored?
Grew up in a small town in the south. Now live in a northern city. My verdict: people are generally friendlier in the north, regardless of settlement size.
Most: outside my flat, small Yorkshire town. My downstairs neighbour Dave will talk to anyone as he sits in his door chain smoking. Knows fucking everybody. People stop in their cars to talk to him even. Doesn’t matter who it is, he will talk to you about anything.
Least: anywhere with contested car parking. People get heated about perceived kerb ownership. Doesn’t matter if you’re somewhere rough or somewhere snobby. You park in their spot and you’re gonna hear about it.
Come to Glasgow. You can talk with anyone. Manchester too. Liverpool I dare say.
Try it.
Home counties are complete shit show though. Oxfordshire, Hampshire, Cambridgeshire. That kind of ilk. FFS, people look at you as if you’ve two heads, if you try to engage.
I just blag it anyway.
Probably, I live in Central Scotland and have friendly conversations with strangers fairly frequently. Just half an hour ago I was speaking to a family who wanted directions which is common. Lots of old people who don’t have or can’t use the app to track buses ask for help etc. Sometimes you’ll just be hanging around waiting at the same time as someone else and they’ll have a conversation with you. It’s not all about being northern tho. For example I’ve found these conversations happen more often in my area rather than Edinburgh amd Glasgow tends to be more friendly too
Most probably the North of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
To look at this another way. I hate it when strangers try to talk to me. I moved to London, it’s bliss.
Least likely: urinals
Most likely: a rugby match
They are more superficially friendly further north. If you want to pass the time of day that’s fine. They’re more judgy too, which is a drawback.
I live in the Southwest. Bristol people duck their heads and look away rather than talk to you. Which is fine because there are loads of friendly incomers.
In a queue somewhere that isn’t moving.
Liverpool is very friendly and such a delight to chat to a taxi driver than the usual silence 👍
Glasgow although due to the passive aggressive nature of the locals you might not realise it at such. Everyone here wants to either tell you their life story hear yours. Whether that is in the pub or at a bus stop.
I’ve had friendly conversations with strangers in London (more so once I’ve gotten out of the centre). Less than in the north but I think people over exaggerate how unfriendly south is.
I’ve lived all across the UK and from the places I remember
Scots Borders
Everyone is very cold and insular there.
Fine when you get them talking, but when I moved there when I was 17, both me and my mum got super depressed because we found it impossible to socialise. My stepdad is from the region originally so he fared a bit better.
Newcastle for most, and also likelihood of having the strangest interactions
London and the general south bar a few exceptions for least. My experience with Kent residents seem to speak to you as if you’ve just murdered their first born 10 minutes before, but admittedly most of my experience of Kent has been Chatham so
It’s basically true that the further north you go, the more people will just chat to strangers. I’m in Manchester, which is a big, busy city, but if you’re waiting at a tram stop (for example) it would be pretty rude not to at least give another person there waiting a cursory “hiya” or similar. It’s far from uncommon that you’ll end up having a chat with them. Scotland is very similar. That reaches as far down as the West Midlands in my experience… further South than that, it gets less and less likely that a stranger would even acknowledge someone, let alone chat to them… the epicentre of that ‘circle of ignorance’ is definitely London.
As a northerner, there’s nothing more fun than chatting away on a Tube to a stranger… 100% knowing that that’s absolutely not the etiquette… and seeing their ever rising horror at *having to* interact with a stranger 🤣
With that said, a lot of people even in London are actually quite happy to have a friendly chat… they’re probably just very conscious that it’s not the done thing to *initiate* a conversation, but if someone else starts it, plenty people are perfectly happy to join in. It just takes a gobby northerner who doesn’t care about London etiquette to break the ice, that’s all 🤷♂️
Yoker, if yer naw fae there then you’ve git nae business being there.