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The UK’s Best Coffee Cities

It’s no secret that we love coffee. After all, we drink a staggering 95 million cups of it every day.

But what city is best for die-hard coffee fans?

We collated a list of every coffee shop in the UK (all 25,698 of them), and ranked 20 of the UK’s biggest cities based on the following seven metrics:

  1. Coffee shops per person
  2. The ratio of independent coffee shops to chains
  3. Average star rating of each coffee shop
  4. Coffee roasters per person
  5. Average hygiene rating of each venue
  6. Notable coffee events in each city
  7. Price of a regular size latte

Read more about our methodology and sources here.

The best UK cities for coffee lovers

wdt_IDRankCityCoffee Index
11Leeds134.90
22Edinburgh128.10
33Manchester120.80
44Glasgow116.70
55Bristol111.70
66London111.40
77Bradford108.90
88Sheffield105.40
99Nottingham102.50
1010Cardiff91.90

Key Highlights

  • Leeds came out on top as the best city in the UK for coffee lovers. It’s got an eclectic range of independent roasters, a high number of coffee shops per person, and nearly half of all the coffee shops there are rated above 4.5 stars.
  • Edinburgh was a very close second. Edinburgh has the highest number of coffee shops per person, and the highest proportion of roasters. But a high average price and a lack of recent coffee events kept it from the top spot.
  • Manchester, Glasgow, and Bristol round out the top 5 cities in the UK for coffee. Manchester has a high number of coffee shops per person, and an impressive number of roasters. Glasgow is the cheapest of the top five places to grab a coffee, and Bristol has an independent coffee scene worth exploring.
  • London came in 6th, with its high average price and relatively low number of 4.5+ ratings letting it down.
  • Bradford is a surprise entry in the top 10, the booming coffee culture in Leeds has spilled over the border. Bradford has a similar ratio of independents to chains as Bristol, and a decent amount of roasters.
  • Stoke-on-Trent and Coventry come bottom of our list. They’re cheap, but you’ll mostly find chains in these cities, and less than 15% of the coffee shops have a high rating (above 4.5).

Cheapest Cities For A Latte

  • Sunderland – £2.43
  • Stoke-on-Trent – £2.50
  • Coventry – £2.53
  • Bradford – £2.55
  • Kingston upon Hull – £2.60
  • Swansea – £2.61
  • Belfast – £2.66
  • Nottingham – £2.67
  • Leicester – £2.76
  • Glasgow – £2.82
  • Liverpool – £2.86
  • Bristol – £2.90
  • Cardiff – £2.93
  • Newport – £2.93
  • Leeds – £3.03
  • Sheffield – £3.06
  • Manchester – £3.07
  • Birmingham – £3.12
  • Edinburgh – £3.18
  • London – £3.19

Latte Price: We manually gathered the price of a regular-sized, standard milk latte from 215 independent coffee shops across the UK. We took prices from several coffee shops in each city and then took an average to get the final price.

COFFEE DATA & INDEX

The following table contains the final aggregated data compiled into an index. All variables except the “Hygiene Index” and “Latte (price) Index” are double-weighted.

Summarised data

wdt_IDCityCoffee ShopsChainsIndependentsIndependent to Chain RatioCoffee Shops Per CapitaRoasters Per CapitaEvents (Yes/No)Food Hygiene Pass PercentageAvg Latte Price £1* Reviews2* Reviews3* Reviews4* Reviews5* ReviewsAvg Rating# Highly Rated% Highly Rated (4.5*+)
1London1,8886721,2161.8121.101.20196.08%3.1922,45814,16940,26289,300224,7844.2367136%
2Birmingham11048621.2911.200.20190.00%3.121,2368302,4706,90917,8764.343835%
3Liverpool7543320.748.700.60193.33%2.868195621,7394,0799,9524.271824%
4Sheffield10036641.7814.601.201100.00%3.061,0547182,2825,84715,6764.344343%
5Bristol8426582.2313.602.10098.81%2.907175491,6354,50611,3644.353946%
6Glasgow9836621.7216.601.70186.73%2.829968132,5476,10614,1864.293536%
7Leicester4211312.828.300.200100.00%2.763382216802,0065,3944.382048%
8Edinburgh14954951.7632.002.40085.23%3.181,7771,3844,72112,06527,9684.326846%
9Leeds12754731.3527.902.20197.64%3.031,0437672,1835,71215,7004.355946%
10Cardiff9223693.0020.600.40098.91%2.938796101,9284,96112,3404.323740%

Coffee index

wdt_IDRankCityIndexIndependent Coffee Shop IndexReview IndexCoffee Shops IndexRoasters IndexEvent IndexHygiene IndexLatte Index
11Leeds134.9079.60101.80161.20269.20100102.0093.70
22Edinburgh128.10103.50101.10185.10289.90089.0089.50
33Manchester120.8057.7099.90153.40216.90100101.4092.70
44Glasgow116.70101.40100.3095.70207.1010090.60100.80
55Bristol111.70131.30101.7078.60258.000103.2098.10
66London111.40106.5099.00121.70146.30100100.3089.10
77Bradford108.90131.60102.90106.20204.700104.40111.50
88Sheffield105.40104.60101.7084.30143.00100104.4092.90
99Nottingham102.5069.60101.5086.30152.40100104.40106.40
1010Cardiff91.90176.60101.10118.8054.800103.3096.90

List of all UK coffee shops

The following list is an export of all “coffee shops”, “coffee roasters”, “coffee stores”, and “coffee stands” in the United Kingdom. Data has been collected from Google My Business profiles and is correct as of 4th October 2022.

The category classifications are selected by business owners (and therefore may not all be completely accurate).

Feel free to use this data to aid your own analysis.

INFOGRAPHICS

The above image(s) are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-ND 4.0).

You are free to share, copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format for any purpose, even commercially.

Press & media enquiries

For any press and media enquiries, or for access to any specific base data, please contact Veronica at [email protected].

Sources & Methodology

Coffee Shops Per Capita: Coffee Shops Per Capita has been calculated using a complete extract of all UK coffee shops, roasters, stores, and stands. Each individual store has been geocoded to its relevant city. Population data source.

Independent Coffee Shop Ratio: We manually categorised each coffee shop as ‘independent’ or ‘chain’ based on whether the business has more than 50 stores. For the purposes of this metric, smaller regional chains may be classed as independent (if they have less than 50 total stores). The ratio shows the proportion of independent coffee shops for every chain store (e.g. Starbucks, Costa Coffee, Caffe Nero, etc).

Average Star Rating: We used the Google Business Profile star rating for each business. To obtain city-level star ratings, we aggregated the individual business reviews at each star level (1-5) and created a weighted city average. Rating data correct as of 4th October 2022.

Coffee Roasters Per Capita: Coffee Roasters Per Capita has been calculated using a complete extract of all UK coffee roasters from Google Business Profile listings. Each individual roastery has been geocoded to its relevant city.

Food Hygiene Rating: Obtained from the official FSA food hygiene database, and crossed referenced to their corresponding Google Business Profile listing. Note: food hygiene ratings are subject to continuous change. The official FSA food hygiene rating database is updated daily to reflect the results of any new inspection(s). If in doubt, check the official food hygiene ratings database for confirmation.

Notable Coffee Events: We manually searched for any notable coffee-related events that took place in each city. The event must have happened in the last two years (or be planned for a future date).

Latte Price: We manually gathered the price of a regular-sized, standard milk latte from 215 independent coffee shops across the UK. We took prices from several coffee shops in each city and then took an average to get the final price.

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