An impressive 17 UK cities have landed a spot in an official ranking of Europe’s 100 greatest metropolises, with London nabbing the top spot.
The list of locations, compiled by Resonance Consultancy – which runs a spectacularly nerdy website called WorldsBestCities.com – were ranked according to six categories including place, product, programming, people, prosperity and promotion (yep, we’re not quite sure what any them quite mean either).
The researchers took into account various statistics, online commentary and other social media to work which cities were good at attracting employment, investment and visitors.
While London was the only British city to make the top ten, 16 other cities reached the benchmark for being quality places to live, work and travel in Europe, including lesser-known destinations such as Coventry.
Coming in behind London was Oxford and Edinburgh, with both bagging decent places on the list (27th and 28th) thanks to their notable universities and impressive architecture. Next up was Manchester (33rd), followed by Nottingham (37th), Birmingham (38th), Glasgow (41st) and Liverpool (49th). Just missing out on a place in the top half of the list was Southampton in 53rd.
Crossing over to Northern Ireland, Belfast was awarded 67th place for its regeneration and business expansion. The UK’s fourth largest city, Leeds, came 68th, followed by Leicester (75th), Sheffield (79th), Bournemouth (81st) and Newcastle (90th).
The final two cities to make the top 100 were the Welsh capital, Cardiff, and Coventry, at number 98. Resonance described the latter as ‘a people-powered coveted hometown’ with redevelopment ‘everywhere’. Not too shabby.
Chris Fair, president and CEO of Resonance Consultancy, said: ‘As we emerge from the depths of the pandemic, there’s never been a bigger opportunity for cities to act on their ambitions and to do right by their citizens – current and future... the data we collect to produce these rankings will continue to track and monitor this pivotal transformation every step of the way, identifying the best Ccties to live, work and visit, now and in the years to come.’
Disagree with the list? Check out Time Out’s own annual round-up of the world’s best cities, ranked according to things like community spirit, affordability, nightlife, culture and green space.
ICYMI: What exactly is the Eurovision Village and where is it?
Plus: More than 130 golden retrievers are meeting for a play date in Cornwall.