Wrexham named third best city for Christmas celebrations in UK

Following 2020’s mishmash of a Christmas period with market cancelations and uncertainty about who we could and couldn’t celebrate with, the festive period this year is bound to be full with twice the laughter and thrice the food.

The new study by OVO Network has looked at the access families have to toy shops, sweet shops, child-friendly attractions, Santa and the likelihood of festive weather to find the best places for festive celebrations in 2021.  

Wrexham shares the third place ranking with Oxford – both coming in in 3rd place. The city in north Wales ranks towards the top in the top 10 for four of the five categories considered in the study. Wrexham has more toy stores per child than in any other place in the UK with over 7 per 10,000 – the UK average is under four.

Wrexham also has some of the best access to child-friendly things to do over the festive period with better access than both Swansea and Cardiff per 10,000 kids.

Speaking of the neighbouring cities, Wrexham pips both to be named the best place in Wales for a festive day-out this year. Wrexham, with it’s 3rd overall rank, eclipses Cardiff, 10th best in the UK, and Swansea which ranks in 20th place.

UK Findings

York takes the top spot in the study with Edinburgh and Oxford taking 2nd and 3rd respectively. York has over 30 child friendly attractions during the festive period for families to get involved with and the city has over four sweet shops and 5 toy shops per 10,000 children in the area – both considerably above the national average! York’s average temperatures in December time also make it an optimum place for snow to fall too.

Edinburgh takes the second spot with the capital north of the border offering kids and families the perfect opportunity for the full festive experience. The Scottish city’s ideal backdrop is the perfect place for pictures with Santa, and the city is actually one of the places in the UK where kids are likely to have the best access to both shopping centres and toy stores per 10,000 kids. The data predicts that around the UK there are four shopping centres per 10,000 children – but Edinburgh offers families around five Santa-friendly shopping centre locations.  

The Best Cities for Kids this Christmas, by Category…

At the bottom of this particular study is Luton and London – both offer festive lovers a below average access to toy stores, sweet stores and Santa. London has the fewest toy stores per 10,000 children in the whole of the UK and also has some of the worst access to see Santa (Luton has the worst).

Slough, Wolverhampton and Northampton make up the bottom five cities for festivities in 2021 – with a low likelihood of festive weather and poor numbers of attractions during the holidays.

The Worst Cities for Kids this Christmas, by Category…