New research from leading mobile reseller Buymobiles has ranked 28 of the UK’s major cities based on a number of metrics to determine the best places to watch the European Football Championship this summer, as England march on to the quarter-finals.
The data reveals that Manchester is the best place in the UK to watch the Euros, with the best average score based on phone signal, the average cost of a pint, the number of venues, venue ratings, sun hours and a ‘footy-mad’ rating – determined by Google Trends.
Ranking second place is Liverpool, which makes the North West the place to be for the ultimate viewing experience. Edinburgh, Newcastle and Glasgow made up the top five followed by Leeds, Belfast and Southampton.
Aberdeen was next on the list meaning Scotland can boast three cities in the top ten with Yorkshire duo Sheffield and York ranked closely behind. London, the UK’s capital, ranked low, taking twelfth place despite having one of the best football-mad ratings and the biggest population by a considerable distance.
Unfortunately, London had the highest average cost of a pint when compared to 27 other cities.
Other locations that scored low include Birmingham, which was just behind the capital, and Bristol coming in at twenty-first of the twenty-eight cities analysed. This is despite both cities having more than one football club and having a higher population than the vast majority on the list.
Welsh Capital Cardiff also found itself ranking in the lower echelons, placing in twenty-third, followed by Portsmouth, Sunderland, Coventry and Plymouth. This leaves Swansea as the worst place in the UK to watch the championship, due to a lack of venues, poorer venue ratings and a comparatively low amount of sun hours.
Jess Canning, Mobile Expert at Buymobiles said on the new research: “We’ve missed so much live entertainment as a result of the pandemic, and the Euros is a fantastic start to some normality returning. Whilst we know every fan will make the best of this tournament, whatever city they watch the games in, it’s a great conversation starter for the group football chat.
“Afterall, what more could you need while watching the Euros than sunshine, a cheap pint and a good strong signal on your mobile to stay connected while you celebrate. None of us expected London to rank outside the top ten given its size and number of venues, but perhaps not so surprisingly, the average cost of a pint let the capital down as it was the highest on the list.
“Likewise, with some of the bigger cities like Birmingham and Bristol, which we thought would come in the top ten.”
