English Personalities?

People in the south of England tend to be stuffy, especially in London and the bits around it.
Once you get to the North, Yorkshire (The best bit), people are rude and curt but very nice.

We don't produce diplomats but we tend to welcome people in general and happily chat to strangers on the bus.

Thanks Fred for your informative information.

Yes I've noticed that too. 
In Wales I could pop a bus or train and can easily chat with strangers and they welcome this interaction. 
Not found this to be the same here in England; their not interested in having any conversation;  their Stuffy!

In the south, generally true.
Not so in God's own Yorkshire.

Aussie Dreamer wrote:

Thanks Fred for your informative information.

Yes I've noticed that too. 
In Wales I could pop a bus or train and can easily chat with strangers and they welcome this interaction. 
Not found this to be the same here in England; their not interested in having any conversation;  their Stuffy!

You can also find some snobbish areas in Wales and can be really hard to break into the local circle. But like in most places you will find that everywhere.

So are you saying the locals in Southampton will be similar in personality to the locals here in Reading Fred?

Aussie Dreamer

I have lived in Southampton, and it is nice, some areas are more friendly than others. I lived in Portswood, which has a high number of students, and the local pubs were full of them. I guess not so attractive to the older generation.

From your previous posts, I guess you have your heart set on Southampton. I would take a holiday and maybe go down there and rent an AirBnb property to really get the feel of the place.

1st overnight trip to Southampton ended with a distracted with a 2 night detour to the Isle of White instead. 
However, a return trip 12 months later in December - Southampton opened my eyes to being considered to be called our future home.   It's been foremost in my mind ever since this trip.  So much so; once a resident I look forward to launching a business ASAP within The Solent City residence.   My only concern was living amongst friendly residents and hopefully Southampton offers a Community Spirit.

I always found the north of England just like a league of gentlemen​.
I am from the southwest, we like everyone and are friendly to everyone, except strangers. We don't like strangers or the Welsh and so on.

lukereg wrote:

We don't like strangers or the Welsh and so on.

That explains

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTgA_ZqWCA4

and

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnl3N1RQedE

So here's a questions to those of you familiar with living in Southampton:

We are interested in apartment living with water-views with a Central location.   However, hubby's hobby is Craft Beer Brewing.  Which requires the use of a small Gas Burner - so if it's OK to use a Gas BBQ it's OK.   

So my question to you is: is there a Artisans Warehouse type of establishment in Southampton or somewhere which we could rent fir hubby to continue to enjoy creating brews for us to enjoy.  He'd only require use of this space for 1-2 days every quarter or so. 
3-4 batches of brew are created yearly.  This supplies us and friends! 

Otherwise, we'd need to acquire a Semi, Terrace or Detached property which won't provide us with the water-views or Central location we prefer! 

Alternatively; we'd need to think outside the box for a creative alternative?

Hi 😊

I'm English and I'd say this completely depends on where abouts in England you go.

I was born on the east coast in a rural area and people are quite friendly in small towns and villages.

I moved to Cambridge for University and due to the high student turn around and general busier pace of life I was really surprised at how many people never spoke or weren't really interested in forming long term friendships. Those that I did become friends with were from similar rural backgrounds to me. We later moved outside of Cambridge to Hertfordshire and found the people to be much more similar to us!

So from my experience I would say for a better community feel and with friendly neighbours who like to talk and build a friendship I would stick to more town/rural areas and further from cities (especially major university cities).

We're not all unsociable (I promise! 😋) Xx

Thanks Annie for a informative view. 
Sadly I'm / we're not Rural / Country folks.  Even Reading, England's proving too quiet for us.  We are City folks.  Sydney & Washington DC & Winchester, va, USA. 
All friendly

I figure if the folks prove they ain't friendly in Southhampton; I'll at least have the boats to watch from the Pier. 
How can those living by the water not be upbeat and happy residents?

Hi Annie

of course not! however now I understand why the weather is such a theme of conversation.. today we had 25 C and now it is cooler (I got a fleece) hehehe

The first couple of years it was a steep learning curve.. I know now I cannot be all Latinamerican and hug everybody. hehehe

I guess like in any country, it depends on the person

I teach english as a second language and I do culture shock also.. people don't know about the hidden rules of society and then we are perceived as rude.. now I know I have to say bye bye, bye 3 times and that is nice in England.. In America one bye is enough...

so learning the culture really helps.. and my best friend is from Oxford now.

I encourage everybody to make friends and ask LOTS of questions... that helps integrate in society..

have a good day

cheers from Weston-super-Mare

Patty

Throughout USA - didn't matter where we went; Americans gravitated towards us and always made us feel welcomed.  Although 3 of my friends who were Indian, Mexican and Asian weren't treated the same.  I didn't understand that as they were equally nice folks too! 

It was a 2 year learning curb for me to adjust to Americas quirky ways.  Yes everyone hugged which was very strange.  Now I find in UK no one does. 

I think Todays with people's paranoid attitude along with their addiction to the convenience of Social Media People have lost the art of human interaction invluding physical conversation. 
No longer do they seen to hang out at each other's homes; instead it's conversations through 1 of many Social media options or if they do agree to meet; it's mostly at a local Coffee Shop.

The North is very friendly.

Ladyflet. I've heard that the further North you go the friendlier they become.  I hear their equal to the Welsh in their niceness & friendliness.
So what I'm thinking is that I'll need to compromise friendliness for living South (Southampton) with better weather?   Thx again

Slightly better weather maybe, but my heart's with the north!! X

Oh I'd not enjoy living North.  Despite its lush green landscape and friendly people!!
This Aussie prefers mild Winters; Blue Sky's and Water in Summer to a Lush green landscape /chili climate!

Wales in the North is nothing like the South Aussie Dreamer. Some parts of mid-Wales can be funny too.

Aussie Dreamer wrote:

Ladyflet. I've heard that the further North you go the friendlier they become.  I hear their equal to the Welsh in their niceness & friendliness.

The best part of the UK is Yorkshire, a place where people scowl and frown with a heart of gold and, when they're unbelievably rude, they do it with real meaning and are probably being friendly.

Yorkshire is a place where people say what they mean and mean what they say; it's much easier that way so you know exactly where you are with everyone but it's a dead area for recruitment into the UK's diplomatic corps.

@Fred, they are lovely people if you can understand them....... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScELaXMCVis

Oh sorry; I was referring to Cardiff, Wales where we 1st enjoyed living for 12 months upon our arrival into UK - sadly no work for hubby so needed to relocate to where he found work in Reading, England. 

I feel I need to live where there's a large body of water.  Reading has the Thames River; that satisfies until I relocate to where there's a larger body of water; a community spirit and friendly residents.   

I reckon I'd soon get offended living where someone openly speaks their mind!  I've got a thin skin that can't identify between reality and a joke....   So I'd feel offended for sure.  I'll rule that location out.  Not Midlands for us either.   Southampton I'm thinking will fit us best.  Portsmouth has a busy boating harbor but with it being a Military Port it's way too Conservative place for us to live.  So Southhampton gets our preference.   It's a City that's in the middle of undergoing a regeneration project that'll be Fab:

Southampton's Revitalization / Rejuvenation Project
City Centre Master Plan_tcm63-365870.pdf
https://www.southampton.gov.uk/Images/C … 365870.pdf

Setting sail in Southampton. Opening October, 2017
http://www.investinsouthampton.co.uk/ne … :64-392933

On the waterfront: Southampton is fast becoming the city of the south | Property | Life & Style | Express.co.uk
http://www.express.co.uk/life-style/pro … how-to-buy

YouTube
Scroll down to view:
Invest in Southampton.  Turn volume up to hear!
http://www.investinsouthampton.co.uk/

They are all strange north of Gloucester and wear flat caps, own whippets and say things like ' eee bah gum ' and ' by 'eck as like' so really not my cup of tea. And then there are the people from Yorkshire.....

Best out of it in the south with the nice air and accents.

Plus the South (Southampton - Portsmouth) enjoyes gorgeous Water views with plenty of boating activity and Crusie Liners sailing past along with numerous Military vessels; Ferrys and even a hydrofoyle too . So if the local folks price as unfriendly as those here in Reading; I'll have all of that to keep me entertained.