When I first left home, about 35 years ago, I move to the North, just to be different, because everybody else seemed to automatically move to London.
The first city I moved to was Liverpool - and I loved it! It was then a city rather down on its luck but it had bags of variety, character and charm (and still does, of course!). The inhabitants of Liverpool, 'Scousers', like to give the impression of being 'hard' (and I certainly wouldn't choose Liverpool as a place to pick a fight!)but I always found them very warmhearted and friendly.
Unfortunately, this first move didn't work out - which was not Liverpool's fault - and I ended up in Manchester.
I've lived in Manchester, now, for 33 years but I've never really warmed to it (can't imagine living anywhere else, though). Mancunians are just as warmhearted as Liverpudlians and I have many Mancunian friends. Its just that I find the city, itself, ugly and depressing.
Liverpool has the Mersey Estuary and the Docks which give it a great sense of freedom and space. It also has many fine and historic buildings which give a sense of history and continuity.
Manchester, on the other hand, has no dramatic features whatsoever and actively seeks out any interesting buildings and tears them down in the name of 'progress'. At the moment skyscrapers are being thrown up all over the city centre - so now we're going to be blessed with absolutely loads of office space (yawn!).