You’d never get five pound rounds down there

A top university professor has sparked widespread debate after claiming that people from Sheffield are actually southerners.

Mark Tewdwr-Jones, chair of town planning at Newcastle University, has drawn a new map claiming that Manchester, Sheffield and Leeds are all in the south of the country.

He says that Sheffield is part of London's "sphere of influence", and therefore can't be in the north.

Ignoring all the evidence, including the relative geographical positioning of Sheffield, cheap drinks, and the fact that people actually smile at each other in the street and on public transport, the professor said:

“There are several ways you could define a northern region – but perhaps the most pertinent question is where does London end?”

“My map is a northern area defined as ‘not London,’ where London’s sphere of influence extends over most of the country – determined by two-hour commuting patterns which is becoming the norm.”

On BBC Radio 4 Today, he said that the map was drawn up as a "provocation" intended to start discussions about the north-south divide.

Recent days have seen a strong backlash, and Tewdwr-Jones appears to have deactivated the @profmarktj Twitter account.

Go on, tell someone from Sheffield that they’re Southern. I DARE YOU. https://t.co/D4MV4lnf98 — Nefyn (@nefyn92) June 22, 2018

Leeds and Sheffield, those famous southern cities https://t.co/wsTWjYHafF — Richard John (@RichardJohn) June 22, 2018

While the map has certainly caused the conversations it was intended to, it's fair to say that Sheffield is not, and never will be, a southern city. You'd never get five pound rounds in the South, only five pound pints.

Photo credit: Twitter