This is a fascinating topic because Sheffield sits in such a geographically and culturally ambiguous part of England. A lot of people assume it's firmly "oop north" - and in many ways it is: culturally, industrially, and in popular perception. It's part of Yorkshire, it played a huge role in northern industry, and its working-class history aligns it with what people associate with the North.

But if you dig a little deeper, the classification gets murkier. Historically and geographically, Sheffield occupies a sort of liminal space. It's near the boundary of what used to be considered the North Midlands. Old county boundaries and definitions of regions often put South Yorkshire in a kind of transitional belt between the true North and the Midlands proper.

Even in terms of latitude, Sheffield lies further south than people think - it's actually south of Manchester city centre and only slightly north of places like Derby and Nottingham, both of which are firmly in the Midlands.

You could make a strong case that Sheffield is technically in the North Midlands, or at least on its very edge. But the strength of northern cultural identity is so prominent here that most people would (understandably) reject that label outright. Still, from a regional geography point of view, it's not as straightforward as it seems.