[Closed] BBC move to Manchester

[i]Seems up to 80% of the staff on BBC Breakfast will refuse to move up north. [/i]

We'll see. I suspect they'll change their minds when they find out if they can sell their two bedroomed apartment in London they'll be able to buy an 8 bathroomed mansion in Warrington.

meh, we dont want the likes of them here anyway 😆

Persoanlly I think moving some of the programs away from London will help with giving a more balanced view of what is happening across the country and not just what is happening in media central London.

Couldnt agree more. There's more to england than London.

It's ****ing ridiculous. Such politically correct bollocks.

How can the BBC move most of it's news and politics programs to Manchester, when Westminster is in London...all the countrys politicians are in London, celebrities or experts are most likely to be based in London (or find that London is the easiest place to get to.)

London is the capital for a reason. It's because its the central hub for the country's transport and communication networks.

Silly silly move.

I suspect they'll change their minds when they find out if they can sell their two bedroomed apartment in London they'll be able to buy an 8 bathroomed mansion in Warrington.

I ****ing doubt it. Warrington's a dump. Ask Binners...

BBC is based all over anyway. All the nature programmes and that are produced in Bristol, f'rinstance.

TBH the Beeb would do well to ditch the mindless low-brow stuff like Dancing on Ice and all that crap. Save a whole bundle of cash.

Silly silly move.

No, quite the opposite, I'd say. Too much stuff is based down here; government, finance, media. Clogs London up with loads of moaning miserable commuters, too much traffic and pushes prices up. About time stuff was spread out throughout the nation; no need for things to be based in particular locations any more.

Also, it would give those in run down deprived areas such as Birmingham, Manchester and Scotland something to have more pride in, if their cities were known for certain things. Then London could just get on with being the Greatest City on Earth, without all the crap we have to put up with. Like Northerners coming down here for meetings, and moaning about how much better everything is Oop North, yet they'd probbly still be wearing fur pants and living in caves if it weren't for London. 😐

Elfinsafety - Member
I suspect they'll change their minds when they find out if they can sell their two bedroomed apartment in London they'll be able to buy an 8 bathroomed mansion in Warrington.
I ****ing doubt it. Warrington's a dump. Ask Binners...

Waaaah...

I find myself agreeing with Fred.. 😐

He's right tho...
Warrington is a dump, sadly it's a dump where I work 🙁

I still like the idea of making them move, make the politicos etc move out of their little bubble in London occaisonally.

As for celebs, they are only ever on to self promote themselves anyway so they will still turn up.

I didn't say it was right, merely that they would be able to buy a much bigger house.

I work there too.

Erm, technically the beeb is relocating to the fine city of Salford, not the neighbouring city of Manchester (I don't think this will change the minds of the 80 percent though)

A company I knew relocated from Oxford to Manchester. Well, I say relocated, it folded when every member of staff refused to move (close to 100 of them). 😆

TBH the Beeb would do well to ditch the mindless low-brow stuff like Dancing on Ice and all that crap. Save a whole bundle of cash.

You think that's bad. I was down at the new media city t'other week and the beeb were making a pilot for a new game show called "scare the hare". I lost interest at that point.

pleanty of very nice places to live around manchester. Certainly better than the **** holes I pass through to get into london centre.

See? Look, there's one of 'em there! ^ 😆

You don't have to come here you know. You can always stay out.

All New Total Wipeout, on the other hand, is top quality Public Service Broadcasting. 🙂

There's more to england than London

London is more to Britain than Scotland, however. 2million+ more people, for starters. 😀

Good luck to those 80% in finding another job, can't blame them really. Like people have suggested, the hub will still be in London, but back room staff up north will probably be employed at lower rates, I expect that's the reason. BBC are probably happy about the 80%, they can start the re-employ of back room expendables at lower pay rates asap. Sad but true, if you're a PA, secretary or some other supporting staff.

You don't have to come here you know. You can always stay out

You think that if I had a choice I'd still go? 😆 Not bloody likely. A sentiment shared by most of us northeners who dont live in the southern bouble and know how much more there is to Britain or England for ever having gone there. 😛

You do have a choice. Get another job. Let someone who actually appreciates this great city have it instead. Then you don't have to ever leave that wonderful part of Britain you love so much.

Alternatively, just stop moaning. It's quite simple really. 🙂

The staff of the BBC staff refusing to move is the EXACT reason the Beeb are moving. Up North people get on with their jobs, they don't moan about being asked to do their jobs they do it. People turn up for work on time, they set out earlier if the traffic's crap, they don't get allowances because they live inside a ring road and unlike the Beeb staff they don't consider themselves indispensable.

I've done a lot of work at Media City and the whole area is top notch, it will be an eye opener for people to move away from the big smog, still have city living but not feel that everything's 100mph 24 hour society..

And if they have a mountain bike they're spoilt for choice 8)

Up North people get on with their jobs, they don't moan about being asked to do their jobs they do it.

😆

Have you ever actually read this forum??!

Northerners always moan. They have to; it's genetic.

And if they have a mountain bike they're spoilt for choice

Yeah; 'shall I ride in rain, or sleet, or snow?' 😀

Who said my trips are for work? I'm not moaning either, simply trying to point out that there really is more to britain than London and that whilst you hold your home town in great esteem which is admirable, its not the only place in our great country worthy of note. The tone in which is spoken about anywhere outside your pressious london is insulting and ignorent at best.

Spread the eggs about, only fair! good long term move!

Jeeze lighten up mate! 😆

Sure there are great places in the UK. But there are also many towns needing redevelopment, as traditional industries have all but died out. London has constantly evolved and adapted according to shifts in industry and technology. Other places haven;'t bin so well located, or thought of. Somewhere like Bradford has bin neglected, and suffered from a lack of financial and social investment. Moving stuff to such places can really help revitalise them, and give those who live there a greater sense of belonging. This in turn can hopefully encourage more investment in time and effort by individuals who live there.

Hence, I really do welcome the Beeb moving stuff out to other towns and cities. And I would really like to see large chunks of the financial sector leave London. mWould mean London would become less congested and housing in much less demand. HSBC etc can just as easily be based in Leeds, Liverpool or somewhere else beginning with L, as in London. Llandudno?

London is still the Greatest City on Earth though.

And Warrington is still a dump.

Well at least that god-bothering smug heap of self-love Simon Mayo won't be coming up here, one thing to be grateful for.

I'd rather chew my own face off than have to listen to him and Kermode congratulate each other on how funny, erudite and wonderful they both are.

God, he makes me almost as angry as Richard Bacon, a man so painfully proud to be stupid he makes Christian O'Connell sound intelligent, and O'Connell himself is thicker than a whale omelette.

And as for Nicky Campbell, my god, what species is he?

Apart from Fighting Talk, Radio 5 is a station for idiots, by idiots.

I feel better now. 😀

Calm Rusty; calm.

And breathe....

FFS no-one mention Moyles. 😯

geordie mick, I think you are mistaken. Anywhere in the country, whatever the business, if people are required to go through a relocation or find another job, the majority will find another job. We are probably talking about the BBC back room minions, not the stars/presenters.
I went through a similar forced relocation with an Oil Distribution company in North Yorkshire, the majority of our Head Office staff including me found other jobs locally, rather than relocate.
This is probably no different, to relocate is a massive ask on anyone.

When I am elevated to my rightful position as Dear Leader, all radios will only be able to receive BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio 4 or BBC Radio 7.

Oh, and Radio 1 will only broadcast Test Match Special.
If there is no cricket being played, then there will be repeats of old Test Match Specials, Gardeners Question Time and vintage John Peel shows.

Listening will be compulsory.
Well, apart from You and Yours, obviously. I may be a ruthless, heartless, autocratic tyrant, but there are limits.

Up North people get on with their jobs, they don't moan about being asked to do their jobs they do it. People turn up for work on time, they set out earlier if the traffic's crap, they don't get allowances because they live inside a ring road and unlike the Beeb staff they don't consider themselves indispensable.

BBC staff are scum aren't they.

It makes you wonder how the BBC manage to employ only work-shy greedy low-lives ? I guess it must have something to do with their selection process.

Luckily there is an easy solution - the BBC only needs to relocate to the North and the problem is solved. Up North there aren't any work-shy greedy low-lives for them to employ - even if they want to, and they probably do.

When I am elevated to my rightful position as Dear Leader, all radios will only be able to receive BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio 4 or BBC Radio 7.

Racist.

BBC staff are scum aren't they.

Oh of course. I'm just watching Orla Guerin reporting from Libya, from a vehicle in the middle of a battle. Lazy good for nothing workshy cah, reporting from a warzone to bring us accounts of what's happening there, so that we may be aware of the reality of the terrible events in that country. She should be ashamed.

"We all know, that people are the same wherever you go....."

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Never trust cats...

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Elfin, I share a lot of your sentiment, but I have to question weather london conscientiously evolved and adapted or weather it stumbled along with the title of Britains capital proping it up?

We have Britains desision makers looking after there own district when making important choices about things such as the olympics, which could have injected huge revitalisation into some of the more needy citys. Places with far more space to locate it, and I dare say where it would have been cheeper to build. London is looked after in a big way, what we do have in manchester or anywhere else is through bloody hard work with a lot of odds stacked against us.

I know what you wrote above is meant in the very best way, but it does sound from here like giving us the bbc is like the master throwing the dog a bone that we should be greatfull for. I fear that may be my own malignent interpretation, but damn right we should see some of britains public owned buisness spread out. We all pay for it!

Why in this day and age with the comunications technology we have, every buisness feels it needs to be centered in one, over priced, over congested place is beyond me.

And if Orla Guerin can report from Libya, the BBC can report from salfod bloody keys! lol.

On a lighter note...If the BBC news is to the houses of parliment, then match of the day should be to old trafford! right across the keys from media city. 😛

Has anyone asked if [b]The People of The North[/b] actually want them up here eh... with their la-di-da ways, their skin care products and their raw Japanese food?

Leave 'em darn sarf and let all BBC current affairs shows be presented by Tony Livsey, Fred Dibnah's re-animated corpse and The Tetley Tea Folk.

The Marie Celeste, I mean Media City, this morning. I heard Sport are refusing to move until after the Olympics, although I have to little to base it on.

[IMG] [/IMG]

I also work in Warrington, and take offense at it being called a dump. It's a ****less, souless, sh1thole! 🙂

i'm surprised it's only 80% who don't want to move.

not because i think location A is better/worse than location B, but because these are people with family, friends, homes, etc.

I happen to research the TV industry so once I've dragged my broken body out of bed I'll write something on the suggested reasons behind the move, and theories of what might happen as a result of the move.

I'd be amazed that the 80% think they can get jobs within media still in London. They'll be alot of competition for the jobs there at the sametime wont there?

I think the move up north is a great idea. Pull/focus attention to the area and finally push Manchester to the front. 🙂

The sport comment is rather valid - Why move away from where all the sport's going to happen?

Seems absurd to me.

Equally, why move political news broadcasting away from where all the politics happens? Why move financial news broadcasting away from where all the finance happens?

Accept it, London is the capital city, it's where [i]most[/i] stuff happens. News is primarily repotring on that stuff, so why not be where the stuff is.

Besides, there's already a large amount of local news to cover such vital stories as a new bus shelter in Nantwhich or whatever.

Ita about time.

Teh BBC is far too londoncentric, London sucks money out of the rest of the country partly by having institutions based there and we get less value for our money from london.

The sooner Londoners realise that to the rest of the UK its an expensive smelly white elephant the better.

Elf - have you ever been north of watford?

Capn, this is England not from NY to LA you know.

"London is still the Greatest City on Earth though."

😆

The departments moving to Salford are:

BBC Sport
5live
BBC Breakfast (88 staff apparently, you can do the maths of what 80% of that is)
BBC Childrens and Learning
Parts of future media and technology

Most of the news functions, including political and economy are staying in London.

😆 I doubt the Beeb would have much trouble filling the void of that many jobs.

Has anyone asked if The People of The North actually want them up here eh

Well I know Northerners have a reputation for being a bit daft, but putting a bid to host the BBC's new media zone when in fact they don't want them, sounds exceptionally daft - even by Northern standards.

[url= http://menmedia.co.uk/manchestereveningnews/news/s/215813_salford_bid_wins_bbc_move_north ]Salford bid wins BBC move north[/url]

I'm sure most Northerners will be more than happy.

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Northerners waiting for jobs where they work twice as hard for half the money .......... it's what makes them happy, as geordiemick pointed out earlier.

If anyone can explain why there was a shepherd and a dozen sheep cutting about Media City on Tuesday I'd be grateful.

Aren't they moving up north to avoid being flooded in the future? 😯

Accept it, London is the capital city, it's where most stuff happens. News is primarily repotring on that stuff, so why not be where the stuff is.

I'm an avid listener of 5Live. It's clear that there's been a lot of shuffling around in pereparation for this. Simon Mayo was never going to move to Salford, so he switched to Radio 2. Peter Allen will retire rather than move.

But I hear there's now going to be a Radio4 Extra. I didn't know that many black people listened to Radio 4.

"London is still the Greatest City on Earth though."

Depends on what criteria this is based.
Using my personal criteria, London is the ar$e-hole of Britain.

With the BBC moves there'll be a few more sops around up here, with their weird accents and general southern-softy-ness...

Warrington is the most soulless place on earth. FACT! A cultural vacuum. I don't see why its relevant though. The law clearly states that if you work in the media in the north west of England, you have to live in Chorlton.

Anyroadup... I can't see the problem. If they don't want to move, then don't. Simple. Who's the one who's going to suffer here. Me. That's bloody who!

As has already pointed out, the people who do will be quids in. The poncey clothes shops, raki massage centres, and overpriced deli counters and coffee houses on Beech Road will be rubbing their hands with glee at the thought of all that housing equity, and taxpayer funded expense accounts being chucked about with wanton abandon

I suspect my cost of living is about to increase fairly drastically. 🙄

Stay in London you ****s!!!

They'll attract investment 🙂

Binners, have you never been to Warrington's "Cultural Quarter"? No neither have I, my Mum did once, it was shut.

Brycey - Have you read Pies and Prejudice? This is how Stuart Maconie put it:

"I left Bank Quay station and followed the signs for the Cultural Quarter, 5 minutes later i passed another sign saying id travelled through the cultural quarter"

Ha ha, that's about the size of it.

The clue is in the overhead costs. Ask anyone at STW about the cost of operating in the North West.

There's a story that the chairman of Airtours, one of the UK's most successful tour operators at one time, went to London to make a presentation about his company at some big ABTA conference. When he got to the slide of the company's offices in a converted cotton mill in Helmshore, deepest Lancashire, the audience guffawed patronisingly. "You may laugh," said the chairman, "but the difference is that the land on which my office stands costs one tenth of the land on which your offices stand!" The story goes that the meeting went horribly quiet as everybody considered the implications.

Ernie, we still live in black and white up here. If some ponce turns up with a wireless box that you can talk to other ponces with we’ll either eat them or burn them at the stake... then eat them.

At least there is a pub nearby should anyone wish to nip out at lunch for a spritzer.

http://menmedia.co.uk/salfordadvertiser/news/s/524961_blood_bath_pub_duo_are_guilty_

A mate of my dad has already contacted the Beeb to see if one of their relocated staff wants to buy his million pound farm house. From the sounds of it he may struggle to find a buyer.

At least there is a pub nearby should anyone wish to nip out at lunch for a spritzer.

😕 Eh ?

What was the point of that link Harry ?

Southerners can take care of themselves in Northern pubs, no bother.

it's funny that people refer to London as being a good or bad, nice or grim, dull or exciting place.

That's like referring to England as good or bad, grouping Middlesborough in the same sentence as Rock.

London is pretty big. I have no interest in living/visiting/working in about 80-90% of London, a large proportion of it, like anywhere else (except Geneva maybe!) is a dump. I stick to the areas that are appealing to me.

Same applies to England as a whole. Clearly, much of the north (and it's cities) is pretty crap. But you've got no reason to spend any time in them, just stick to the areas/places you find appealing.

I find someone from London, living in a 2 bedroom flat in Hackney (not even the now socially acceptable end) with barely any disposable income, banging on about how AMAZING a city London is quite amusing.

In the same respect, I find it quite funny when someone living in a 3 bedroom semi in Middlesborough with their 5 kids says that the North is amazing and they would never live in London, despite only having visited twice (once on a school trip and taking the wife xmas shopping for the day 7 years ago).

I used to love living in London, I really did. But in all honesty, for all the choice and variety I had on my doorstep (i.e. within 1 hour on the tube), I barely even scratched the surface. You don't eat out in a different restaurant every night, or drink in a different pub every friday/saturday. Like everywhere else, you find your favourite area/places and you frequent them.

I live in the North now and love it too. With a decent outlook on life and not being unbalanced by a huge chip on your shoulder caused by years of geographical predjudice (a reasonable disposable income helps too), you can enjoy most of the UK to more or less the same extent.

My prioties have changed over the years, of key importance to me now is having the great outdoors as close as possible, since that's where i prefer to spend my free time. I didn't have the same access to that in London, and even when I did I was lazy.

btw, i'm Scottish, so came to england with an open mind.

I couldn't give a crap where they put the BBC, it's rubbish anyway.

Yeah, but London is rubbish too.

I couldn't give a crap where they put the BBC, it's rubbish anyway.

Yup, they don't even have any adverts.

If I do decide to watch one of the BBC's world infamous poor quality programmes, I then have to quickly switch over to ITV to find out what I should buy.

At least there is a pub nearby should anyone wish to nip out at lunch for a spritzer.

Eh ?

What was the point of that link Harry ?

A joke that clearly missed the mark.
I'm sure media city will bring a load of jobs and money to what was once quite a run down area. However, it isn't too surprising that many people don't want to up root their families and move a couple of hundred miles. I'm sure that the BBC thought this through and factored in a change in personnel. The BBC already has a large facility on Oxford Road which I assume will also be moving so it is not as if they don't already have a fairly large resource pool already here that will fill some of the gaps that non transferring staff will create.

Or you could be balanced and live out West. Loike.

Bloody Northerners. They'll whinge about not having the BBC and then they'll whinge about having it. Fair dues though, how they find all the time to whinge while working their arses off for so little money, I'll never know - it's testament to their ingenuity to say the least. 🙂

If I do decide to watch one of the BBC's world infamous poor quality programmes, I then have to quickly switch over to ITV to find out what I should buy.

I don't watch much TV to be honest. And if I do, it's normally something of interest i've Sky+ed, rather than just sitting down to see what's on the telly and watching the best of a bad bunch.

The quality of the programmes may be better than ITV's, but that doesn't make them any more interesting to me.

London is still the 4th best city in the South of England.

...actually, make that 5th best, I forgot about Bath.

A joke that clearly missed the mark

Well if you are going to make jokes on what is clearly a very serious thread, then it's hardly surprising if it goes straight over my head.

🙄

🙄

that was amazing self restrain to to both read all the way to the end of that bitter rantette and just pick out that one sentence. Chapeau

In the olden days the regions had buoyant TV (and related) sectors. The BBC and ITV had news rooms and studios in the country's major cities. Over time it became more efficient to close these facilities, move some of the functions together (for economies of scale) and/or outsource activities to the growing number of independent production companies/suppliers. TV production was once characterised by large organisations making pretty much everything in-house (aka Fordist production), but that changed with outsourcing. It made sense for these indies to be close to the commissioners (i.e. the broadcasters) so there was a gradual shift of companies and facilities to London, increasing its share of production.

There are a number of theories which explain why companies decided that locating in London, despite the addition costs, was worthwhile. I teach an entire third year course on this sort of thing so i'll not go into detail, other than to point out the following:

a) if you're doing business with a lot of suppliers/buyers it is cheaper to do this business if you're located nearby (the time and cost of getting to and from meetings, sending products, supplies, scripts, equipment etc is reduced)

b) to be competitive it makes sense to monitor what your rivals are doing - this is easier to do if you locate near them

c) a lot TV is about trends and fashions and technology that allows you to produce fresh, exciting content, at in new and more efficient ways. To monitor what is hot and what is not, you need to be around the people innovating and setting trends.

d) if you want to find out what the newest commissions are, and what the commissioners are considering putting tenders out for, you need to be near these people so you can read the signs

So, the net result is the TV industry clusters in a few large cities. It is dominated by London, and there are regional hubs - Bristol for natural history, Manchester, Glasgow, Cardiff (the latter two benefit from Scottish and Welsh programming budgets from the BBC and C4, as well as major commissions such as Dr Who and Torchwood for Cardiff).

The fact that most of TV production comes from London is annoying for some people for a series of interconnected reasons, some of which are mentioned on this thread. The most obvious is Londoncentric reporting. Yes Westminster is in London and so is the City, but most of the politics and most of the economy are found outside the capital. They are important, but if as a reporter that is all you see because you live there, and it is all you concentrate on because they are on your doorstep, you become blinded to everything else. This myopia means that many of important event get overlooked because they are happening elsewhere.

We can think about this problem in terms of a 'democratic deficit' and a 'cultural deficit' to what gets produced on TV. In the case of the BBC, most of their income comes from outside of London, but most of what gets shown on the BBC reflects - explicitly and implicitly - London. Think about the last time you saw your hometown appear on the BBC - you can probably remember because it is the exception. Even when places outside London do appear, they are often stereotypes. This isn't simply because of how London TV types see the rest of the country, but the media bubble around the capital doesn't help. Even if that can be avoided, the lack of indigenous production in the regions means perspectives will almost always be from outsiders looking in.

The net result is the BBC are being made to produce more stuff outside of London. The step was that a number of years ago the BBC was instructed that 25% (i think) of production should come from the 'nations and regions'. That is why Cardiff got Dr Who and Torchwood. The next phase of this is moving stuff to Salford.

I'll write some more later is anyone is interested, i've been sitting down too long (currently have a back injury from coming off my bike).

CaptJon - Don't be coming around here with your rational, thought-through and well-presented arguments. This thread is all about reactionary and lazy regional stereotyping. Can we get back to that please

ahem..... everyone who lives south of Watford smells of wee. So there!!!

IIRC binner it's coz they cant hold their shandy

I find that argument difficult, binners, as i was born in Laaadon, but have lived in Newcastle for the past eight years... i'm torn.

Will the BBC now have to add a Southern England correspondent to their staff

They have

Northern England
Eastern England
Midlands
West of England
South West of England
Scotland
Northern Ireland
Wales

.......... but no Southern

Wait I've got to go out then I've got stuff to do but I'll try and get along later to sort all this out. Please try to play nice until I get back.

X

.......... but no Southern

There may be some southern correspondents lurking around in here, I vote we move them all to London. There can't be that much going on in Reading ffs:

[url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/aboutthebbc/buildings/south.shtml ]BBC SOUTH[/url]

They've only got 1 corresspondent for the North East, Yorks and Humber, and North West?

There's already been quite a bit of interest from the BBC employees for housing stock in our area( South Manchester).

For a princely sum of £600,000 ( a drop in the ocean for some London based selbs) you can get a very generous property with country views, at least 4 bedrooms, a parcel of land, however as everyone knows we still only have outside bogs here!

Is everything still black and white up there or do you have colour now?

s everything still black and white up there or do you have colour now?

I hear that Mr Faraday's Elastic Trickery is to be installed soon

Having lived in the North for 18 years, Midlands for 5 years and South for 12 years I can categorically tell you that the South is WAY WAY WAY better. London is where its at.

Must be something in the water that makes people so miserable and ugly - anyone ever been to Wolverhampton?

You do have the lakes, peaks and easy access to the welsh and scottish hills though so well done on that.

🙂