Sheffield: Twitter user declares Sheffield, Manchester, Liverpool, Bradford in 'the Midlands' in viral post

The tweet, from actor and voiceover artist Michelle Bayly, has proven very controversial. Ms Bayly has been inundated with replies and quote retweets declaring her take on the North, Midlands and South incorrect.

Her tweet said: “Can we all agree that North is Leeds and above..? It’s really annoying seeing the North such and such company or something artsy North and for it to be in Birmingham etc. There’s also a middle…the Midlands. Be the Midlands. North of London doesn’t mean North.”

To accompany her tweet, Ms Bayly attached an image of the UK with two horizontal lines across England, one through Northampton and one through Leeds. It was declared anywhere North of the top line was “The North” and anything below Northampton was the South, with the Midlands in between.

Ms Bayly has received a flurry of responses calling her judgment to exclude Sheffield from the North into question. South Yorkshire Mayor, Oliver Coppard, responded to Ms Bayly’s opening question simply with: “No, I’m afraid we can’t.”

Mr Coppard was echoed by Sioned-Mair Richards, the Lord Mayor of Sheffield, who said: “No.”

Another man, Leon Fleming, from Leeds, said: “The north starts around Sheffield at the border of Derbyshire into South Yorkshire. No Yorkshire person is going to accept the notion that there's parts of Yorkshire which aren't in the North, let alone that they're in the Midlands.”

Rick Leeming, from Preston, said: “Best example I can think of. The ancient kingdom of Northumbria.” Northumbria’s ancient border would include South Yorkshire, before rising sharply to cut the North off at the Humber, which would place Grimsby and Scunthorpe in the Midlands.

In the end, Ms Bayly followed up her tweet with: “After deep thought and consultation I have decided to scrap my map of North, Middle and South and instead go with the popular opinion that if you have gravy on chips or scraps and mushy peas with fish and chips then you are Northern and if not then not (no matter the geography).”