North vs South is an age-old debate, and as much as we get on most of the time, there’s nothing like a survey to put the cat amongst the pigeons. Now, Mindshare UK and WPP Media have published the findings from its ‘Shaping the Nation‘ study for 2025, and it reveals that a majority of Brits want Manchester to be the English capital, if it wasn’t London.
Mindshare UK surveyed 10,000 people to “fully unpack the untapped potential Geo offers, to further enrich our understanding of people, their behaviours and motivations”. And here in Manchester, we’re pretty passionate about our roots and what they mean going forward.
When asked about a new English capital city, while a quarter (25%) think that it should stay as London, Manchester comes in second at 18%, rising to 23% for under 35s, who would choose it over London. The buzz surrounding one of the North West’s biggest cities has been growing over the years and Manchester is definitely moving forward as a Northern powerhouse.
For those living in Manchester, the top reasons for living in the city are the transport links (37%) and local amenities (28%), they are also 1.8x more likely than average to say good employment opportunities, second only to London. With big global businesses and corporations opening offices in Greater Manchester, the expectation that you must be in London to get ahead no longer rings true in this survey.
There has always been an energy to the city’s cultural scene that shows no signs of slowing down, with residents being 2.1x more likely than average to put arts and music at the heart of the city. With 61% agreeing that their local area and community are resilient and ambitious, Manchester is cementing itself as a strong challenger to lead city.
The survey also found that 20% of residents in the North West region say they live there because it’s where they grew up, showing a fondness for the specific brand of ‘home’ the North West provides. The North West is also perceived to be future-facing, with 45% of residents saying that the past purpose of their local area is becoming increasingly irrelevant – think mining, factories and mills, markets and farmland – with Manchester being a prime example of how a previous industrial heavyweight can be transformed for the future.
The Mindshare UK ‘Shaping the Nation’ report makes for interesting reading, so if you want to see more, find it here.
