With annual global book sales set to hit 107 billion GBP by 2023, it’s no surprise that budding readers are still stocking up on their must-read lists. But which UK city is the best for book lovers?
In conjunction with ‘Read a New Book Month’, TheKnowledgeAcademy.com measured the number of bookshops and libraries across major UK towns and cities using OpenStreetMap’s API overpass. These factors provided a ranking, highlighting which UK cities are the best for book lovers!
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Top 10 best UK cities for book lovers
| Rank | UK city | Bookshop score (/10) | Library score (/10) | Final index score (/10) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 = | York | 10 | 9.53 | 9.77 |
| 1= | Oxford | 9.53 | 10 | 9.77 |
| 3 | Cambridge | 9.38 | 9.84 | 9.61 |
| 4= | Edinburgh | 9.84 | 8.91 | 9.37 |
| 4= | Manchester | 9.06 | 9.69 | 9.37 |
| 6 | Brighton & Hove | 9.69 | 8.59 | 9.14 |
| 7 = | Leeds | 7.97 | 9.06 | 8.51 |
| 7= | Nottingham | 8.75 | 8.28 | 8.51 |
| 9 | Portsmouth | 8.59 | 7.66 | 8.12 |
| 10 | Aberdeen | 9.22 | 6.41 | 7.81 |
= symbol means a joint ranking
TheKnowledgeAcademy.com can reveal that TWO cities finish on top in the search for the nation’s best city for book lovers! Whereas the fortified city of York has more bookshops per capita, Oxford ‘s famous University helps to boost the local library count to 20, easily the most per person of all cities studied. Both cities scored a remarkable 9.77 out of 10, highlighting that they’re near perfect places for book lovers to visit.
Closely following York and Oxford in third is another city shaped by history and education: Cambridge, with a score of 9.61/10. Cambridge has the second most libraries per head of all locations ranked, however its fewer book shops means it just falls short of taking the top spot.
In joint fourth place are Northern powerhouses Manchester and Edinburgh, with scores of 9.37/10. Edinburgh has a huge amount of book shops available to readers (47), however falls short per capita to Manchester’s superior quantity of public libraries, meaning both cities finish with exactly the same score.
The South Coast bohemian metropolis of Brighton and Hove follows in sixth, scoring a highly respectable 9.14/10 – its high count of book shops being met by a low count of public libraries in the area.
All Inclusive
Luksusowy kwartalnik turystyczno-podróżniczy. Od 2004 roku opisujemy miejsca, do których warto lecieć dłużej niż na weekend, i ludzi, którzy je prowadzą.
