What are people from Barnsley like?

I have just been reading through the responses to the post - HELP - I have lived in London since 1986 - most of my family still live in the Wombwell area where I lived until I was 18 - I am always getting asked by people in London what people in Barnsley are like - I think I will direct them to this post - reading through the responses from people confirmed what I already knew - people from Barnsley are the salt of the earth - reliable, honest, helpful people who will do what is right to help someone in need - massive respect to everyone who replied to that post and best wishes to the poster for the future -

 

Thankfully most people everywhere are decent & will help people in need.
I think there is a truth that the further North you go people are friendlier.
I travel up to Northumberland a lot in my work & have to say the towns & villages up there probably have the friendliest people of anywhere I go.
If you go in a pub or just to a shop people instinctively will say hello.

London is definitely a different sort of place. Not a place I've ever wanted to settle myself, but within many areas there are strong communities,
many of which are under threat by the lack of affordable housing & a lot of issues of lack of trust in the black community, leading to violence.
I've a few mates who have settled in the likes of Hammersmith & South Norwood, who have made their lives there.

I always stick up for my home town, but there has been a lot of xenophobia in recent years, which the media hasn't been slow to pick up on.
The Brexit stuff certainly hasn't helped very much. Unfortunately the town is suffering from the dreadful decisions made by Governments, both Labour & Tory from the 80's onwards, which means we have poor levels of education, which cause this mindset.

 

I agree with the above but my Manc missus wouldn't!

 

Would agree with more or less all of that JP - London is ok but you will not get people walking past you on the street saying good morning to you and if you said good morning to someone on the street in London they would think you were odd - I remember when I took my first wife, who was from London back to Elsecar where my family moved to from Wombwell - she went for a newspaper and came back as white as a ghost, saying that two people she had never met before said hello and good morning to her! - She ended up growing to love Barnsley and the people though as do my children

 

Cnuts.

 

They try to maintain a facade of being hobest, salt-of-the-Earth types, but there are loads of scroungers, smackheads, ne'er do wells and other assorted miscreants. Not a place I'd recommend.

 

I do like hobs and have never pretended not to, hobnobs on the other hand yer can keep em.

 

I can't think of a single place I've lived or even been to that doesn't contain a few people of the sort you describe. But the vast majority of folk everywhere are genuine, friendly and kind, even though a lot of people are a bit thick.

 

Are you writing a new tourist brochure for BFC perchance?

 

Yes, that is the bit about London that would get me down. To be honest if I lived in Leeds City centre very few people would make eye contact.
Living in Headingley though it's pretty rare I don't take the 10 minute walk to the shops / pub, without seeing 3-4 people I'll say hello to, which is why I prefer it. There are very few "locals" that were born here though, it is a total melting pot, but people largely get on great. There is crime, but most of that is from other suburbs of Leeds, your smack heads from Halton Moor & Belle Isle looking for rich pickings.

 

Skryptic I really do think you are being so unfair with your opinion. Barnsley is just like any other town / city.
Good and bad people. But for me the good of Barnsley far excede the bad. On my visits I have been warmly received and have felt welcome.
Dundee is much the same. Good and bad folk. But if you look for trouble you will find it.

 

To quote Obi Wan Kenobi:

"Barnsley Bus Station! Never has there been a more wretched hive of scum and villainy".

 

I was asked the same question by a colleague from work. I told him he'd hate it.

He's from London - he's certainly an acquired taste lets say - full on Tory - public school boy - outspoken - married some French countess - believes poor people were born to be poor and there is a natural order with him at the top. - but on the plus side he's as funny as hell - even though he's probably not trying to be.

I told him he'd get his head kicked in within about 15 minutes if he ever stepped foot in Barnsley. So whilst there's a side to people from Barnsley which is all embracing and all friendly - and one of the reasons I still live here - there's also a darker side which is fundamentally intolerant. maybe it's intolerance of intolerance - but it's there and it's to be wary of.

 

Even in Headingley it took me a while to adjust to not saying hello to everyone, if only because of the sheer amount of people you walk past in a 10 minute walk. I just smiled at everyone I walked past in Kirkstall Morrisons and out of about 30 people, 1 person smiled back. I do enjoy that you get a mixture of everyone here though, apparently 75% of the population in Headingley, Burley, Hyde Park and Woodhouse changes every year (can't remember where I heard that from but I saw it on a housing thing a few years back).

 

Since the Days of Thatcher , Barnsley Area has been in decline..Big time. It's a ghost town compared to the good old days ..like many Northern Towns.

 

There is a high turnover in all but Headingley. Headingley has very few student lets these days. Too expensive and there are lots of new Halls in Woodhouse and Burley. I've been involved with music and some charities round here for 20 years, so I suppose I'm fairly well known. Just walked to the Oak for a pint and met 3 folks en route. Barnsley has historically had very little inward migration. I think that has increased a lot as it has become a commuter town for Leeds and Sheffield, as houses are way cheaper. Most of my football mates don't work in Barnsley.

 

I think there is an element of that wherever you go though - if you go somewhere and look for trouble you will find it - I have a lot of friends in London who are incredibly posh and speak like Prince Charles and they are really nice people - some people speak incredibly posh and are arseholes - I

LOL - Will forward this to my London mates asap - liking the Be-Bop-Deluxe avatar btw - one of my all time favourite bands - even followed Bill Nelson's individual stuff and Red Noise - quality singer/songwriter and one of the best guitar players around imo

 

You're not wrong - look at the increase in the numbers of miserable old feckers just since 2005!

 

When people talk about living in London there is a massive difference between Hampstead, Richmond, Islington, Wimbledon and Croydon, Norwood, Hammersmith, etc

The latter places probably have more community spirit, but more violence.