If you’re single and past your early 20s, then living in a big city is pretty much the only way forward, I rate. Chilling in some regional town somewhere, swiping through the eight people that are actually on Tinder (three of them you’ve already dated, one of them is your mum), going to the same, tired old bar where everyone saw you pull your trousers down last weekend, only restaurant a Cafe Rouge that has given you food-poisoning twice – you’ve slim pickings, basically.
Move to a city and you widen the dating pool, potentially up your salary, and you’ve got an endless supply of fun things to do on dates, as well as places to meet people: it’s the only way forward.
But which city is better? There’s only one way to find out…
REEESSEEAARRCCHHH!!!!
And leave that down to the Thames cruise company Bateaux London, who analysed data from the Office of National Statistics to discover, once and for all, which is the best city in the UK to be single.
To work it out, they took into account the percentage of people that were single (obviously), the average salary, date-related costs like the price of a meal out, a beer, a coffee, a cinema ticket (the worst date idea in the world, btw), then also the price of a one-bed flat and a gym membership (because as everyone knows: you’ll never have sex unless you have a six-pack). They then assigned a percentage, demonstrating how good it is to be single in that particular city.
Here’s what they found, in order of worst to best:
22. London – 29.2%
Average salary: £34,967
Meal out: £55
Pint of beer: £4.50
Coffee: £2.64
Gym membership: £46.50
Cinema ticket: £12.00
Rent for one-bed in city centre: £1,682
21. York – 40.15%
Average salary: £24,175
Meal out: £50.00
Pint of beer: £3.35
Coffee: £2.42
Gym membership: £34.33
Cinema ticket: £9.00
Rent for one-bed in city centre: £720
20. Brighton – 43.07%
Average salary: £25,116
Meal out: £50.00
Pint of beer: £4.25
Coffee: £2.42
Gym membership: £36.14
Cinema ticket: £9.44
Rent for one-bed in city centre: £907
19. Oxford – 45.26%
Average salary: £29,476
Meal out: £50.00
Pint of beer: £4.25
Coffee: £2.60
Gym membership: £38.14
Cinema ticket: £10.50
Rent for one-bed in city centre: £1,075
18. Cambridge – 45.99%
Average salary: £30,886
Meal out: £50.00
Pint of beer: £3.83
Coffee: £2.62
Gym membership: £38.71
Cinema ticket: £10.00
Rent for one-bed in city centre: £1,046
17. Bristol – 47.45%
Average salary: £27,983
Meal out: £50.00
Pint of beer: £3.80
Coffee: £2.72
Gym membership: £28.56
Cinema ticket: £9
Rent for one-bed in city centre: £853
16. Leeds – 47.45%
Average salary: £26,015
Meal out: £45.00
Pint of beer: £3.50
Coffee: £2.66
Gym membership: £24.14
Cinema ticket: £10
Rent for one-bed in city centre: £656
15. Sheffield – 48.91%
Average salary: £24,269
Meal out: £50.00
Pint of beer: £3.00
Coffee: £2.55
Gym membership: £28.42
Cinema ticket: £9.89
Rent for one-bed in city centre: £593
14. Edinburgh – 48.91%
Average salary: £28,048
Meal out: £48.00
Pint of beer: £4.00
Coffee: £2.54
Gym membership: £31.42
Cinema ticket: £10.00
Rent for one-bed in city centre: £718
13. Chester – 51.09%
Average salary: £25,436
Meal out: £50.00
Pint of beer: £2.90
Coffee: £2.50
Gym membership: £32.80
Cinema ticket: £9.00
Rent for one-bed in city centre: £585
12. Norwich – 52.55%
Average salary: £22,604
Meal out: £45.00
Pint of beer: £3.50
Coffee: £2.54
Gym membership: £32.00
Cinema ticket: £9.00
Rent for one-bed in city centre: £586
11. Reading – 53.28%
Average salary: £31,852
Meal out: £50.00
Pint of beer: £3.65
Coffee: £2.54
Gym membership: £25.44
Cinema ticket: £9.65
Rent for one-bed in city centre: £885
10. Glasgow – 56.2%
Average salary: £26,096
Meal out: £50.00
Pint of beer: £3.50
Coffee: £2.55
Gym membership: £28.53
Cinema ticket: £9.45
Rent for one-bed in city centre: £610
9. Manchester – 57.66%
Average salary: £26,436
Meal out: £50.00
Pint of beer: £3.50
Coffee: £2.68
Gym membership: £26.42
Cinema ticket: £9.00
Rent for one-bed in city centre: £720
8. Hull – 59.12%
Average salary: £21,533
Meal out: £45.00
Pint of beer: £3.10
Coffee: £2.45
Gym membership: £24.50
Cinema ticket: £9.00
Rent for one-bed in city centre: £433
7. Nottingham – 63.5%
Average salary: £24,304
Meal out: £45.00
Pint of beer: £3.00
Coffee: £2.58
Gym membership: £26.89
Cinema ticket: £10.00
Rent for one-bed in city centre: £559
6. Cardiff – 63.5%
Average salary: £24,643
Meal out: £40.00
Pint of beer: £3.20
Coffee: £2.45
Gym membership: £25.53
Cinema ticket: £6.75
Rent for one-bed in city centre: £636
5. Newcastle – 64.23%
Average salary: £25,151
Meal out: £50.00
Pint of beer: £3.50
Coffee: £2.62
Gym membership: £22.42
Cinema ticket: £8.50
Rent for one-bed in city centre: £582
4. Birmingham – 64.23%
Average salary: £25,843
Meal out: £40.00
Pint of beer: £3.50
Coffee: £2.28
Gym membership: £22.42
Cinema ticket: £8.00
Rent for one-bed in city centre: £663
3. Southampton – 64.96%
Average salary: £26,982
Meal out: £40.00
Pint of beer: £3.10
Coffee: £2.59
Gym membership: £20.91
Cinema ticket: £10.00
Rent for one-bed in city centre: £698
2. Liverpool – 66.42%
Average salary: £23,995
Meal out: £42.50
Pint of beer: £2.90
Coffee: £2.55
Gym membership: £21.79
Cinema ticket: £9.00
Rent for one-bed in city centre: £602
1. Belfast – 67.15%
Average salary: £24,012
Meal out: £40.00
Pint of beer: £4.00
Coffee: £2.33
Gym membership: £23.77
Cinema ticket: £6.75
Rent for one-bed in city centre: £520
So there we go: move to Ireland if you want to kiss somebody. And get the hell out of London.
Still, being in London and trying to find a snog is surely easier than being in Grantham or Wokingham or something, no?
I mean, I say ‘easier’, but the way the dating pool aggressively parts every time I walk into town like I’m some sort of contraceptive Moses, I can’t quite see it myself.
(Images: Rex)
