the thing is bassline isnt realy "sexy" in the way that 4x4 and speed garage was sexy, its more kids, and kinda a more hardcore feel to it, in so far as the scene goes as much as anything.
i think its the basslines as much as anything that drive it. i went into a mobile phone shop and asked the kid (about 14/15) behind "what bassline cds should i get" (nb i have NEVER ever asked fro recommendations before!) the kid was a bit nonplussed and then asked if i liked "wobblers" or something else that i didnt catch. i guessed that was kinda referring to the basslines, but for some reason i just said "tthe more speed garage stuff", i think i ws a bit freaked out by the slang. but i dont really know what bassline has taken the place of, i think it has been here ever since speed agarge was big down south but just expanding its audience until it has the ubiquity of grime in london, and as already noticed, it spans both black asian and white communities. i see it as kids music in a sense, as grime is, it has a big constituency amongst the kids, which bodes well for its longevity.
the north as far as i know has always been on a more ravey axis than the south maybe, i dont think you get the strong happy hardcore scenes down south that you do in newcastle of all over scotland, as though after rave happened, the "cheesy" stuff stayed up north, and the "darkside" blew up down south, theres definately a cheesy element to all northern dance musci i think, scouse house, funky house, bassline, happy hardcore etc. i dont know how well jungle did yup here though, and leeds is another weirdo outlier as techno, as in pure techno, surgeon ben sims etc etc is dead strong here, it has a similar audience, eg "chavs", quite young guys in ellesse polos, the demise of the orbit hasnt killed the scene.
this migth be extrapolating here, and im definately not entitled to such a comment, being such a relative newcomer (only been in north since 98, and was too obsessed with warp to notice anything else then!), but maybe the splits within rave that i heard about from breakbeats and techno, to the dark stuff and the cheesy, havent been as great in the north. maybe all those same elements have remained popular i think, and the differentiation hasnt been as great.
as for grime, well its not represented, partly becayuse the undergound homegrown scene here IS bassline, but jammer and ears are playing on fri or satand thats a fairly big club, so it exists.
but bassline is king. i want to stress that i have no idea what i am talking about as i dont know anythign about rave/hardcore, nor do i know anything baout the north. but it doesnt stop me dreaming dumbass theories.
edit: two points for 2step fan
a) the glam element in leeds, to be foudn in the mint club are hopeless at being glam anywya, but i doubt they would touch bassline with a bargepole cos its fro "chavs"
b) i dont know if reflex in sheff is actually closing! it migth just be expanding. it keeps on movign around sheffield though, i sort of lost track. moving back in a week wo will check it out.
c) sheffield town - watch out for jammer and ears in oct!