Newcastle tops the league but what's the long term impact of London's unaffordability on the provinces?

I missed the results of this European Commission survey into the best cities to live in when they came out on Feb 13. I can see lots of reasons why Newcastle would score highly - affordability, access to the sea and beautiful countryside, it's a doddle to get around - but it will be interesting to see what happens to all the regional "capitals" over the next ten years as London becomes more and more unaffordable. I've been in the North East a lot over the last year and there's clear signs that there are a lot of entrepreneurs opening businesses there. I've spoken to a number of them and there's definitely a pattern of a reverse brain-drain - in other words lots of people who once would have made their way to London to make their living are now choosing instead to "start up" in a city where launching a business is far less expensive. It'll be fascinating to see what happens over the next decade because I also know lots of people who work in the arts who've left London because they can simply no longer make it work for them on their low salaries. In other words an unintended by-product of the emergence of London could be a revival for regional capitals...Newcastle