"I moved from Kent to Sheffield and life here is far superior for three big reasons"

“I grew up on the Isle of Sheppey, in Kent, before moving to South Korea, where I lived from 2007 to 2018, teaching English.

“When I moved back to the UK with my wife and our twins, now six, we lived in Kent for four years and I started teaching business studies at GCSE and A-level.

“The good thing about teaching is you can move around almost anywhere you want. We decided the south east wasn’t for us and spent a few months thinking about where to move to in the country.

“We didn’t have any family or friends in Sheffield. My only link was that by an accident of childhood I’m a Sheffield Wednesday fan, as it was the first team I completed in the 1985 Panini sticker album.

“We chose to live here for three main reasons, and we’re so happy we did.

“Firstly, the cost of living here is so much cheaper. It’s not just housing. I remember the first time I took the kids to the playground up here, the ice cream van came along and we bought three ice creams. How much is that? £4.50.

“It was the first of a few times up here I’ve had to say ‘excuse me, sorry, can you repeat that?’ or ‘have you added everything?’. I was absolutely shocked by how cheap it was.

Why live in poverty in the south east, when I can live like a king in the north?

“I’ve also paid just over £3 for a pint here at just a regular non-Wetherspoons pub. So, you know, why would I live in poverty in the south east when I can live like a king in the north?

“Secondly, I always used to say that Seoul was so much more user-friendly than London and the south east, and I feel that Sheffield occupies that middle ground.

“It’s just little things like going on the tram and a conductor goes to you to sell you the tickets. The fact that near our house in Waterthorpe there are lots of little tree-lined pathways going to the shopping centre and this, that and the other.

“It’s just so much easier getting around. There’s a dual carriageway from the outskirts of the city that you can use to get to the city centre in 10 minutes. Whereas you look at London and the south east, there are just too many people for the infrastructure.

Sheffield’s a lot more user-friendly

“It’s too congested, whereas I just feel like Sheffield’s a lot more user-friendly.

“Last of all is the location. Everything in the south east is so London-centric. You know, if you’re right in the south east corner, every train line goes to London, every motorway goes to London.

“If you want to go anywhere, you still have to navigate London and the crowds there, of the M25 or the underground there to get round to the next train station to take you off to wherever you want to go.

“In Sheffield, we’re an hour-ish from Manchester, Leeds, Nottingham, Leicester. It takes just over two hours on the train to get to London, just over two hours to get to Newcastle, and I love that freedom of just being able to get in the car and go to so many different places, whereas you’re so trapped in that south east corner.

So many more beautiful spots

“Also the beauty around here as well. Every part of the UK has its beautiful areas but compared to the south east, up in Yorkshire there are just so many more beautiful spots. We’re about half an hour away from the Peak District so it’s just so easy to go to all these beautiful spots. We didn’t get that in the south east.

“Our favourite places in Sheffield include Millhouses Park, where the kids love the skateboard park, and Cozy Corner Cafe in the city centre.

“In the Peak District, we love visiting Castleton and Bakewell, where there’s a great little water park for the kids.”

As well as teaching, Laurie, 44, runs the hugely popular Knox Study TikTok account, which has 1.3 million followers.

This article is partly taken from a post on that account, which has been viewed more than 60,000 times and had over 2,000 likes, as well as from an interview with The Star.

Laurie’s other TikTok videos range from ruminations on the English language to informative pieces on subjects like the most common surnames in different parts of the world.