ShortList is supported by you, our amazing readers. When you click through the links on our site and make a purchase we may earn a commission. Learn more

Revealed: this is the UK city that hates London the most

Can't we all just be friends?

Revealed: this is the UK city that hates London the most

London isn’t known as the friendliest city in the world, but it’s not that bad, we promise. Probably because only about half of London is people actually from London, the rest are from every corner of the globe. 

The North vs. South divide has created debate for decades, and not without reason. The North are a bit more open when it comes to talking to strangers, as comedians have long pointed out;


Read more: Are you a Londoner? Then get more than 15/20 on this quiz


Yes, OK, The North has a Greggs every five metres, and for that, they may eternally take the crown, but London has everything! Greggs, and if you want any type of cuisine, day or night, the world is your (Deliveroo ordered) oyster. Plus, if Londoners were more friendly and spoke to everyone we see, we’d never get anything done.

Luckily for us, the good people at YouGov, who seemingly have nothing to do but create various turf wars throughout the country, have polled the UK about their opinions on London, and found that - in general - the further you get from it, the less you think of it. Shocker. 

Coming in at the top of the Hating London chart is pinnacle of Northern hardiness and birthplace of Ant and Dec, Newcastle. Presumably tension arises within any Geordie when they see people wearing coats in any sort of weather and deem them ‘soft’ so no wonder they think Londoners are up themselves. I’d challenge them to stay calm on the molten-lava-esque Central Line or when walking behind some dawdling tourists any day though. That’s true resilience. 

Scotland, also, apparently hates London almost as much as Newcastle, which probably makes sense given the whole Independence Referendum thing (“If you vote to stay we’ll give you loads of stuff”, “OK cool”, “Ah cheers for voting in but we’ve changed our minds now”, “You bastards”).

Meanwhile, South Yorkshire also hates London, despite West Yorkshire quite liking it and North Yorkshire really quite liking it. Maybe London wronged the people of Barnsley at some point, who knows.


Unsurprisingly, people in London and the surrounding areas had the best opinions of it. Possibly because they have to justify spending the GDP of a small country on rent and taking out a small business loan every time they have a big night out.

43% of people who were pro-London either live here now or have lived in London, however, 23% of Londoners responded negatively to the city. (Possibly those who have to commute on the Central Line)

A lot of resentment seems to come from the notion that London gets more than its fair share of public money, with 80% of anti-Londoners citing this as a reason for disliking it. 

Anti-London types were also more likely to be against multiculturalism, and dislike cities (which makes sense if they don’t live in one). So, each to their own, but Geordies, if you do want to visit us, please do come down, we don’t bite. 


Read more: We need you to decide where the North really starts


(Image: Getty)