It’s Official - The North Is Smarter Than The South

It’s Official - The North Is Smarter Than The South

It’s Official - The North Is Smarter Than The South

It’s one of the age-old arguments that’s separated the land for hundreds of years. Who is really better: northerners or southerners?

At the ShortList office it’s an argument that divides us on a regular basis owing to the mixed heritage of the team and what we never really seem to agree on. [Ed. Note: We do, and the North is definitely best].

But it’s finally been laid to rest by a UK-wide survey conducted by the Jury’s Inn hotels that quizzed Britons on iconic landmarks, geography and other pieces of seemingly simple trivia.

Sure, coming out top of the table was Southampton, an undisputed southern neck of the woods but you can’t ignore the fact that the full top ten is definitely weighted towards the North (and yes, we're counting Belfast).


The Top Ten Smartest Cities In The UK


1. Southampton

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2. Bristol

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3. Leeds


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4. Nottingham

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5. Edinburgh 

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6. London

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7. Liverpool 

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8. Birmingham 

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9. Belfast

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10. Sheffield

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Images: Flickr Creative Commons, Visit England, Visit Yorkshire, Visit Liverpool, Bristol Tourist Board

Marc Chacksfield
Content Director

As Content Director of Shortlist, Marc likes nothing more than to compile endless lists of an evening by candlelight. He started out life as a movie writer for numerous (now defunct) magazines and soon found himself online - editing a gaggle of gadget sites, including TechRadar, Digital Camera World and Tom's Guide UK. At Shortlist you'll find him mostly writing about movies and tech, so no change there then.