London-based wellness start-up, www.OsenaLondon.com, rounded up the top 20 largest cities by population and put them to the test, comparing the number of vegetarian and vegan restaurants, yoga classes, health food shops, car charging points and even pollution levels, to uncover the Wellness Capital of the UK.
Bradford came out on top overall, having claimed the top spot for the number of vegan restaurants and health food shops across the 20 cities. The northern city also had the second highest number of vegetarian restaurants and car charging points. The top five best locations for wellness in the UK were revealed as follows:
- Bradford – 20 points (accumulation of ranking place across six categories)
- Newcastle upon Tyne – 47 points
- Manchester – 48 points
- Derby – 49 points
- Nottingham – 50 points
- Liverpool – 50 points
Whilst these cities may seem to be thriving when it comes to wellbeing, at the opposite end of the scale was London, coming in last place, followed by Birmingham and Stoke-on-Trent. Although there are a number of vegan and vegetarian restaurants in both Birmingham and London, when comparing this to population size, the two fell short of the mark.
When it came to some of the other category winners, Derby came out on top for the highest number of yoga classes in relation to its population – equating to 1,650 people per class. This was shortly followed by Southampton (1,672 people per class) and Nottingham (1,949 people per class).
Despite having two of the smallest populations of the 20, Stoke-on-Trent (population 277,051) managed to finish 16th, while Hull (population 288,671) came 18th.
Liverpool averaged the best pollution levels of the top 20 cities, with an overall daily rating of 13 on the Air Quality Index (AQI). Edinburgh shortly followed behind with an average of 28 on the AQI, with its fellow Scottish city Glasgow coming in third by the smallest margin, at 29 on the AQI scale.
When it came to car charging points, the following cities came out on top according to www.carwow.co.uk:
- Belfast – 1 car charging point to 8,890 people (37 points in total)
- Bradford – 1 car charging point to 9,501 people (38 points in total)
- Nottingham – 1 car charging point to 10,059 people (31 points in total)
- Sheffield – 1 car charging point to 10,675 people (51 points in total)
- Coventry – 1 car charging point to 11,186 people (33 points in total)
Kiran Bhondi, Founder of wellness start-up www.OsenaLondon.com, commented on the findings:
“It was quite surprising yet pleasing to see Bradford coming out on top, compared to cities like London, that finished last, or Bristol, which finished middle of the table. Wellbeing and the health of the environment are at the forefront of people’s agenda, increasingly so since the pandemic put our health in the spotlight. It’s great to see the cities you might not have expected to making moves towards a more sustainable future, all while putting the health of their communities at their upmost priority.”
