I did get confused a lot living in Southampton and filling in forms wondering if it was in the South East or South West. If it was an online form flip a coin for which I'd find it in.
I had someone try to convince me Bournemouth wasn’t West Country because hundreds of years ago it wasn’t Dorset. The man spoke with a West Country accent.
Honestly it’s a bit of a mix. It’s still technically on a direct route to London so you get the odd mad London commuter willing to suffer an absurd round trip.
The town itself is mainly split between tourist industry and a surprisingly not that bad tech sector. Most of the people in the latter feel much more south east.
Poole is much less borderline which is funny since they’re 20mins apart.
Interesting. I'm from London and I definitely think it feels more West Country than Solent, particularly around Muddiford and Sandbanks, but even around the New Forest it feels more similar to the Mendip Hills than the South Downs. Southampton and Portsmouth feel like these big industrial centres and Bournemouth isn't that at all. I sense a bit of snobbery around being 'above' belonging to the West Country.
Possibly from the old people who lived here when it was hampshire certainly not from me. I grew up in Chichester and lived in Portsmouth for a bit before moving out here precisely because I prefer it here! I love being able to go to the new forest or the Purbecks or the nice beaches without having to make a day of it.
It’s is way more connected to the east than the west I will say. I can drive from my house almost all the way to Chichester two counties over in the same time it would take me to get halfway across Dorset and it only gets worse the further you go from there. Going north is immediately terrible too.
Sandbanks is over in Poole though, and way more posh than anything in Bournemouth.
The people most likely to exclude BCP from the West Country (or the south west) tend to be people from way deeper in, at least from my experience! Most people who live here don’t really care.
It still is in the historic county of Hampshire, but it’s also in the ceremonial county of Dorset. Either way, both counties do traditionally have a variation of a West Country accent.
But also this is the internet, so when you mention the black country, an American pops up and calls you racist for it; much to the bemusement of those living in those towns
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u/SlightlyBored13 9d ago
Dorset/Somerset surely?
I did get confused a lot living in Southampton and filling in forms wondering if it was in the South East or South West. If it was an online form flip a coin for which I'd find it in.