More than half of the BBC Breakfast team's employees have rejected the move north
"Salford or fuck it" was the not very subtle title of the BBC Breakfast team's farewell party held at a candlelit wine bar near White City. Presenter Sian Williams and more than half of the 86 programme staff have decided not to make the move 180 miles north – but the BBC still says that is a victory in its contentious £200m move out of the capital.
Employees have been offered relocation packages worth £45,600 (£1,900 a month over two years) but only 861 jobs of 1,500 moving north have been filled – while Breakfast, Radio 5 Live and Blue Peter will all have to battle to persuade the likes of David Cameron or Keira Knightley to appear in the studio.
Of the BBC Breakfast staff, 46% are relocating – as are similar proportions of Radio 5 Live and BBC Sport teams. The BBC said these numbers were "significantly higher" than hoped. BBC executives, trying to manage expectations, had indicated that if a third of the employees agreed to go, that would be seen as a "strong result".
Some big names appear keen to at least present their shows from the north-west, such as 5 Live presenters Nicky Campbell and Richard Bacon, but others less so. Gary Lineker, whose current contract with the BBC expires after the Olympics, is unenthusiastic about commuting from his west London home to present Match of the Day.
And Lineker is not someone whose BBC duties are so intense that he would have to move house.
Nevertheless, the BBC does not want all of its existing people to move. Former BBC chairman Lord Grade said it was "essential" that the Salford move be completed because "otherwise the BBC can't be a national broadcaster".
He added: "It's good news if not everybody goes up because then new people can come in. You'll even get some vacancies at the top."
However, some BBC Breakfast employees are dissatisfied about how the transfer is being handled. Breakfast was a late inclusion in the Salford plan because the BBC had to send extra posts north to meet the requirements of a seven-figure grant from the Northwest Regional Development Agency.
The most repeated criticism at an organisation where "most people don't see the point or expense of the move" is – in the words of one veteran journalist – that the man in charge, BBC North director Peter Salmon, is only renting a house and not moving his family. Nor is Five Live controller Adrian Van Klaveren initially relocating to Salford full-time.
One source at BBC Breakfast said there are still reservations about the move: "There is much cynicism over an email from Peter Salmon welcoming Breakfast to 'this exciting opportunity' considering he is not initially moving his family."
Yet anyone visiting the new Media–City UK complex where BBC North will be based – it leases the site from commercial company Peel Holdings – would struggle not to be impressed. The light and airy modern buildings overlooking a piazza and Salford Quays are a world away from the much-loved but increasingly decrepit Television Centre. With the Lowry Centre and Old Trafford stadium a stone's throw away, plus ITV's new Coronation Street set soon to be built, the area possesses a creative buzz.
Meanwhile, the BBC can claim no shortage of interest. A website advertising new jobs has so far had 50,000 individual registrations as people chase work in a region hit hard by public sector cuts. But times may be tough for the hundreds refusing to head north in the hope there will be jobs in London – at a time when the BBC is contracting.
For those remaining in the capital as their departments move north, there will be much competition in the BBC's "internal market" for a diminishing number of roles.
However, the north-west offers ex-London dwellers far more for their money. This year, in-house BBC magazine Ariel ran a for-sale ad for Cotes Hall, a grade II listed Georgian house an hour from Salford and on sale for £1.15m – including 1.8 hectares and a helipad. It would be hard to imagine finding a helipad alone for a similar price in London.