Our city is on a roll.
First it was named Britain’s best place to live, by the Sunday Times. Then, just last week, it was revealed to be country’s most summer-friendly city.
And now it is clearly everyone’s favourite, as York has topped the poll to be hailed as Britain’s most popular city.
This is no small, fly-by-night survey either. It was conducted by the international market research agency YouGov, following a poll of 55,000 people.
Clear winner
They were asked their opinions towards 57 English, Welsh and Scottish cities. And York was a clear winner, with 92% of Britons saying they like our city.
Second, with 89%, was Bath, while Scottish capital Edinburgh came in third at 88%.
London could only limp in at number 22. The lowest ranked city was Bradford, at just 23%. Leeds came in 40th (58%). See the full table below.
YouGov have also conducted a popularity poll of the English counties. North Yorkshire came fourth, with 87% – the only county outside the south west to make the top five (Dorset, Devon and Cornwall were the top three respectively).
But just to keep our feet on the ground, here’s one of the responses on Twitter:
I wonder who you ask sometimes just had 2 weeks in York and it was awful especially the sewers which stank to high heaven
— joanne parkin (@craftgatherer) August 20, 2018
Britain’s most popular cities
| City | % who like the city | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| York | 92% | 1 |
| Bath | 89% | 2 |
| Edinburgh | 88% | 3 |
| Chester | 83% | 4 |
| Durham | 81% | 5 |
| Salisbury | 80% | 6 |
| Truro | 80% | 7 |
| Canterbury | 79% | 8 |
| Wells | 79% | 9 |
| Cambridge | 78% | 10 |
| Winchester | 78% | 11 |
| Oxford | 78% | 12 |
| Inverness | 78% | 13 |
| Lincoln | 77% | 14 |
| Exeter | 76% | 15 |
| Stoke-on-Trent | 75% | 16 |
| St David's | 74% | 17 |
| Brighton & Hove | 74% | 18 |
| Worcester | 73% | 19 |
| Chichester | 73% | 20 |
| Hereford | 73% | 21 |
| London | 73% | 22 |
| Newcastle upon Tyne | 72% | 23 |
| Norwich | 72% | 24 |
| Glasgow | 71% | 25 |
| Ripon | 71% | 26 |
| Manchester | 69% | 27 |
| Liverpool | 68% | 28 |
| Plymouth | 68% | 29 |
| Cardiff | 67% | 30 |
| Ely | 66% | 31 |
| Stirling | 65% | 32 |
| Gloucester | 64% | 33 |
| Portsmouth | 64% | 34 |
| Bristol | 63% | 35 |
| St Albans | 63% | 36 |
| Carlisle | 61% | 37 |
| Lichfield | 60% | 38 |
| Aberdeen | 58% | 39 |
| Leeds | 58% | 40 |
| Nottingham | 57% | 41 |
| Southampton | 55% | 42 |
| Swansea | 53% | 43 |
| Sheffield | 53% | 44 |
| Dundee | 53% | 45 |
| Derby | 44% | 46 |
| Birmingham | 40% | 47 |
| Peterborough | 40% | 48 |
| Salford | 38% | 49 |
| Leicester | 38% | 50 |
| Coventry | 37% | 51 |
| Kingston upon Hull | 37% | 52 |
| Preston | 33% | 53 |
| Wakefield | 32% | 54 |
| Sunderland | 30% | 55 |
| Wolverhampton | 24% | 56 |
| Bradford | 23% | 57 |