The struggles of being from Yorkshire but living in London

London is one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the world, and you can find people from all walks of life. This means thousands of people are trying to adapt to the ‘London life’ every day, all around you, but I’d hypothesise that those of us from Yorkshire find it harder than most. 

Let me tell you why.

You don’t find many people from Yorkshire

In a sea of Londoners, it’s rare to come across a fellow Yorkshire (wo)man at UCL. But when you do, you feel that instant connection; you begin to discuss in detail how fantastic Yorkshire is, but then you realise you’ve both spent shit afternoons at Whitby wishing you were on the south coast… Regardless, you both agree Betty’s is great. 

Betty’s Yorkshire and proud

Not many people have heard of places in Yorkshire

Most people know where Yorkshire is (debatable), but hardly anyone knows where you’re actually from. You say you’re from the closest city, when in actual fact you’re probably an hour’s drive from there. However, it doesn’t really make much difference because Yorkshire is just some distant northern region to most people. Let’s be honest, most people agree that Nottingham is the north. Northerners all know this is completely wrong.

People think you have a strong Yorkshire accent when you really don’t

You pronounce grass like grAHss so you’re ultimately classed as having a broad accent. Half of my first term was spent repeating myself to one of my now closest friends because she couldn’t work out what I was saying. I don’t have a strong Yorkshire accent – fellow Yorkshire people can validate this.

London changes your expectations

London is probably the only place that has a café that literally just sells cereal. Its pop-up cafés are infamous and you can always rely on Benito’s hat to provide you with a decent burrito. But when you leave London, you realise you took all of that for granted as you remember that there’s not even a porridge café in Yorkshire. Things get worse when you realise the closest Waitrose is nearly 50 miles away – where are you going to get your free coffee? You don’t dare try to look for an alternative because you know you’ll get lost because Citymapper doesn’t work here.

Pretentious porridge café at its finest

You realise London is a rude place

When you come back home, you become surprised when people say ‘thank you’ as you open a door for them. And then you become surprised at how you find that. You begin to question whether in fact you have turned into the ‘rude Londoner’. You know your walking pace out matches any local, but you like to think that you still contain those twee certain Yorkshire values.

You notice that London’s air quality is appalling

As soon as you leave London and get off the train, your lungs feel instantly relieved and you feel as if you’ve re-gained the two years you lost in the city back onto your life.  You look around and notice how green it is, whilst suddenly realising  you haven’t seen sheep in probably three months because the only wildlife in London are the sassy pigeons with BMIs over 30.

There is a surplus of sheep in Yorkshire 

When you’re back in Yorkshire, you miss London

London is a city like no other. You miss its vibrancy and noise, even its transport system. You know that if you weren’t back in your flat at 3am, you’d be able to get home okay and relatively cheaply. You’re not so sure about that if you’re in Yorkshire.

But when you’re back in London, you miss Yorkshire

All the buildings and concrete getbit boring after a while: Primrose Hill actually isn’t that impressive and London’s skyline is awash with cranes.  And even though you’ve lived there for nearly two years, you come to realise that you have never seen a decent sunset in the city. You also re-notice that London is so expensive and you become appalled at how you’ve accepted paying a ridiculous amount of rent.

You’ll never find a sunset like this in London

It’s then that you realise you have a complicated relationship with London and Yorkshire. You wish the best bits of Yorkshire and London would co-exist in one strange utopian. You know this will never happen. So, in the meantime, you drink some Yorkshire tea and try to accept it.