The Big Smoke

As Time Out launches one of its regular North v South London issues, I have to admit I find this particular argument difficult to get excited about these days. I've lived on both sides of the river and found very little difference between the two. Most Londoners would now surely agree that geographically, economically and culturally it’s between east and west that the real divide lies.

However, if we are looking at north against south, one thing stands out: when it comes to blogging, the south wins hands down, and the south-east in particular.

Browse our links if you don’t believe me. Over in the Kentish corner of London we have Greenwich Phantom, Brockley Central, Transpontine, Deptford Dame, Blackheath Bugle and Charlton’s 853, while in Stockwell there’s the excellent Onion Bag Blog. There are dozens more such locally focussed blogs in this extraordinarily fertile area of London.

And North London? Well, Dave Hill has a great Hackney blog and there’s Walthamstow’s Bryn’s So-Called Life but that’s about it as far as I can make out.

Perhaps this is because the best bloggers north of the river (Diamond Geezer among others) don’t concentrate so specifically on their area. Or is it because south Londoners (who are all, one notes, located firmly east of the centre in all these cases) tend to be younger so are more in tune with technological developments. Do south Londoners have more pride and interest in their local area? Or is it because south Londoners feel they aren’t properly served by mainstream media so have to forge their own communication networks.

Any thoughts?

Update It's like a London blogging symposium in the comments, while elsewhere Deptford Dame ('for once Time Out get it right' – the cheek!), 853 and Bryn have a word.