Northern stereotypes still remain

Sep 3 2007 by Kevin Rowan for The Journal

IT’S a while since I’ve bumped into a tab-smoking, cloth-capped, whippet-toting Andy Capp that somehow manages to prevail as a legend of the North East in some of the ‘thinking zones’ in the South East.

We should be in no doubt that these characters do exist in the region, especially around some of the clubs in the old mining areas – just as the ‘pie and mash, jellied eel eaters’ exist in parts of old London town.

Neither offers any sense of what London or the North-East is really like, but while the Eliza Dolittle scenario has not managed to harm the prosperity of the capital city, the Andy Capp image has maybe harmed us here.

Evidence that there is a lack of understanding of what it’s like ‘up north’ is clear from the results of the excellent ‘Passionate People, Passionate Places’ campaign.

The marketing initiative in itself has helped to change people’s views of the North-East and this is leading to increasing numbers of people choosing to visit here.

Those who do visit find that the region has a lot to offer and first-time visitors show clear intentions to return. Tourist satisfaction figures in the North-East are high as it’s not, in fact, the urban wilderness some people seem to think it is.

Economically the make up of the region is changing too, slowly but surely. The ‘Strategy for Success’ is contributing steadily to enabling growth at the high end of the labour market, with the region’s universities plugged into economic development, and contributing to some of the most exciting scientific developments in Europe.

Within the urban centres, professional business services – legal, accounting and surveying – are among the fastest growing sectors. You don’t see many of those individuals among the pigeon lofts.

This isn’t the whole of the North East, of course, as we do still have relatively high numbers of workers on or close to minimum wages. The growth in retail, tourism and hospitality that accompanies the higher level economic regeneration also means that the lower wage economy has grown too and these occupations are important to the region also, providing opportunities with a lower skill range, for those seeking to re-enter the labour market, to the student population and to those not seeking great career options.

The fact is, the North East is a great place to be, with a dynamic and energetic socio-economic environment.

Kevin Rowan is regional secretary of Northern TUC.