It’s no secret, we love a good coffee wherever we are in Greater Manchester. We’re very proud of our coffee prowess, with countless spots to get our caffeine fix, and now our very own Salford has been named the best city in the entire UK to get coffee − and we can’t say we’re surprised.
Based on coffee accessibility and quality, price and coffee culture and interest, coffee enthusiasts Coffeeness scoured the country to rank cities in terms of the coffee experiences for locals and visitors. As it turns out, Salford is far and away the top UK city for coffee lovers.
While London boasts a vast coffee culture with 4,100 shops serving over 8.7 million residents, Salford stands out with 575 coffee shops for just 108,409 locals − that translates to one coffee shop for every 189 residents. Although there’s only one coffee roaster in the city (Salford Roasters), Salford ranks in the top 10 for perceived coffee quality; in other words, it’s not difficult to find a really good cup of coffee in Salford!
With over 90 coffee-related events this year, there’s a strong coffee culture in this North West city. Perhaps most importantly, the price of coffee in Salford is among the lowest in Britain, in fact, on average, Durham is the only city with a cheaper cup of coffee.
As we say, we’re not particularly surprised. The city most definitely has a bustling coffee culture, with the likes of The Old Fire Station, Procaffeinated and Coffee Rules providing locals with their daily fix, plus a friendly face and a chat when needed.
Joining Salford in the top 10 was North West neighbour Preston, with one coffee joint for every 203 Preston residents, and Liverpool, with a huge interest in and culture surrounding coffee. Salford neighbour Manchester ranked at 28 in the UK, with generally good quality and accessible, yet expensive, coffee.
The top 10 cities in the UK for coffee
- Salford
- London
- Preston
- Bath
- Brighton & Hove
- Liverpool
- Durham
- Peterborough
- Wells
- Leicester
The research also revealed the least favourable UK cities for coffee lovers, including Aberdeen, Lisburn, Plymouth, Dundee and Sunderland. These cities don’t seem to have a particularly well-developed coffee culture, and you’ll end up paying more for a specialty drink than in top-rated cities featured in the study. The North West strikes again.