As brands increasingly move from the high street onto the web, city centres are having to up their game to encourage shoppers into their stores.
Nowadays, shopping in the UK’s major towns and cities is worthy of a full weekend break, with big-name chains and department stores popping up alongside boutique shops all over the country.
But where are the best places to shop in the UK? We’ve analysed a range of factors such as number of shops and shopping centres, to the cost of your hotel stay and a restaurant meal to find out.
Methodology/Sources
We looked at the 30 most populated towns and cities in the UK and ranked them on the following six factors, before combining them to reach a final weighted score out of 100 for each (with a 75% weighting towards the number of shops/shopping centres and 25% for the factors relating to price/cost).
Shops per Square Kilometre
The number of retail enterprises and local units per square kilometre according to the UK Business: Activity, Size and Location dataset from the Office for National Statistics (Table 16).
Shopping Centres
Number of shopping centres in each town/city according to Wikipedia’s List of Shopping Centres in the United Kingdom.
Uber Base Fare
The base fare when ordering an Uber in each town/city according to Uber’s Price Estimate tool. Note: Uber is unavailable in Aberdeen and Kingston upon Hull, so the base rate for a taxi from Numbeo was used.
Average Public Transport Cost
Average cost of a one way trip on public transport, according to Numbeo.
Average Hotel Price
Average cost of a one night stay on a weekend night, based on prices from the last two weeks at Kayak.
Average Restaurant Meal Price
Average price of a meal in an inexpensive restaurant, according to Numbeo.
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