What London could learn from the North's great renaissance

As even young high-fliers struggle in the capital, it’s time for radical change

- Rory Sutherland

In 1989 I took my first ever trip to Manchester from London. My first impression of Manchester back then was that it was absolutely crap. I may have been missing something, but as far as I could see there was nowhere to eat.

When I later visited Newcastle, I did manage to locate a bap, only to be told off for not calling it a “stottie”. Then, a few months later still, I was in Sheffield with a group of colleagues, where we found ourselves on the point of missing the last train back to The Smoke. Thinking we might need to spend a night in a hotel, we asked our client, “Where’s the best place to stay in Sheffield?” He thought for a second, then replied, “Leeds.”

Nowadays, however, when I travel to Newcastle, Manchester or Sheffield I frequently experience what would have been unthinkable back then: Northern envy. Their cars are better, the interesting bars and restaurants are packed and the people are better looking and better dressed. A far greater part of economic life seems to be dedicated to the healthy practice of having a really good time, before climbing into a taxi with some agreeably chatty people wearing surprisingly few clothes — and paying a fiver for the trip. The North is now many things, but it’s not grim.

To understand why this is so, you simply need to study the three greatest economists that no one’s ever heard of — Bernard de Mandeville, Thorstein Veblen and Henry George — before adding a smattering of Gary Stevenson off YouTube. It might also help to read Eliza Filby’s fascinating book, Inheritocracy.

But to save you doing that, I’ll sum up London’s problem relative to the North in five words: The Rent Is Too High.

The price of a pint