BEST CITIES FOR A WORLD CUP GARDEN PARTY & BBQ THIS WEEKEND
Next analysed a range of metrics from the average size of gardens and summer temperature right through to the availability of both meat and meat-free BBQ products, to predict which UK cities are the top hosts for world cup garden parties.
- Bath comes in top for both meat and meat-free BBQs thanks to the city’s larger than average garden size, high core sunlight hours and favourable summer temperatures.
- Just searching for good weather? Reading takes the hot spot with an average British summertime temperature of 24 degrees and a total of nine sunlight hours – the highest of all cities.
- The largest gardens for entertaining are found in Bath with an average garden size of 204SqM – that is nearly 13 times the size of London gardens.
- If you’re after a top-quality meat BBQ, Brighton takes the crown with a total of 20 butchers in the city centre (or 14 per 100,000 people).
- Veggie or vegan? The city of Bath is the meat-free BBQ capital with close to 11 specialised vegan supermarkets per 100,000 residents.
09 July 2021: The rule of six has been lifted outside and we can once again welcome more of our friends and family into our backyards. While the British weather is as unpredictable as ever, one thing that is predictable is Brits’ love for BBQ’s. In fact, there’s a full week dedicated to it with National BBQ Week running from the 5th to the 18th July this year but even more important to that- IT’S COMING HOME.
Next Home and Garden has looked at a range of different metrics to declare which UK cities will be going the barmiest for backyard BBQ’s this summer. Metrics analysed include – sunlight hours, average summer temperature, average garden size, number of butchers and search volume for BBQ-related terms. To find the top cities for veggie BBQ’s, the index used all former metrics but instead of butchers looked at number of veggie supermarkets and search volume was for veggie specific terms.
The top 10 backyard BBQ cities overall
Bath in Somerset takes the top spot overall in list of the top 10 cities for backyard BBQ’s scoring well throughout each data point. There is however one area the city truly outdoes all others; the largest gardens seen in the full study were found in Bath, where the average garden reaches a very sizeable 204SqM. London, on the other hand has the smallest gardens of the study at an average size of just 16SqM.
Coming in second on the list is Brighton, with an extra hour of sunlight (on average) in the summer months and a slightly higher summer temperature – perfect for late-night BBQ’s. Brighton also exceeded Bath when it comes to number of butchers with a total of 20 in the city centre or 14 per 100,000 people. The city just misses out on the top spot due to its much smaller average garden size of 23 SqM.
Cities |
Search volume for BBQ terms (per 100,000 people) |
Sunlight hours |
Average summer temperature |
Average size of garden (SqM) |
Number of butchers |
1. Bath |
433 |
6 |
15 |
204 |
6 |
2. Brighton |
438 |
7 |
16 |
23 |
20 |
3. Chester |
530 |
5 |
15 |
75 |
11 |
4. Newcastle |
639 |
8 |
13 |
55 |
15 |
5. Edinburgh |
348 |
8 |
14 |
84 |
38 |
6. Birmingham |
472 |
7 |
15 |
163 |
14 |
7. Reading |
286 |
9 |
24 |
66 |
5 |
8. Oxford |
321 |
6 |
15 |
107 |
12 |
9. Bristol |
471 |
6 |
17 |
56 |
37 |
10. Inverness |
491 |
5 |
13 |
141 |
2 |
The Scottish city of Inverness comes 10th overall when it comes to backyard BBQ’s due to its lower summer temperatures, less hours of sunlight and just two butchers in the city centre. But the city fares well when it comes to garden size with an average of 141 SqM placing it third in the study when for garden size.
Veggie and vegan capitals: The top 10 cities for meat-free BBQ’s
When it comes to meat-free BBQ’s, Bath once again takes the top spot with a total of 10.6 vegan supermarkets per 100,000 people – that’s almost 10 times as many options for residents than any other city.
Birmingham and Oxford take the second and third spots respectively but considering the search demand for meat-free BBQ products, both could do with more specialised supermarkets opening in the areas.
London boasts the most vegan supermarkets overall with a generous 43 vegan supermarkets in the capital. However, the city misses out on making it into the top 10 of both rankings due to its much smaller than average garden sizes. And while numbers look high for metrics like search volume and the number of vegan supermarkets, the high population of the city means that it’s still not enough to cater for its bustling population of close to eight million.
Cities |
Search volume for Vegan/ Veggie BBQ terms (per 100,000) |
Sunlight hours |
Average summer temperature |
Average size of garden (SqM) |
Number of vegan supermarkets |
1. Bath |
73.9 |
6 |
15 |
204 |
10 |
2. Birmingham |
4.1 |
7 |
15 |
163 |
5 |
3. Oxford |
93.4 |
6 |
15 |
107 |
1 |
4. Brighton |
129.5 |
7 |
16 |
23 |
3 |
5. Chester |
66.3 |
5 |
15 |
75 |
1 |
6. Edinburgh |
12.9 |
8 |
14 |
84 |
9 |
7. Bristol |
13.0 |
6 |
17 |
56 |
8 |
8. Cardiff |
13.4 |
6 |
15 |
61 |
1 |
9. Manchester |
30.3 |
5 |
15 |
54 |
7 |
10. Liverpool |
4.6 |
5 |
14 |
88 |
9 |
A spokesperson at Next said: “COVID taught us just how much we love and appreciate our outside space and what better way to celebrate this than a British BBQ. With the rule of six outside now lifted, we’re anticipating British BBQ’s to be bigger than ever this year and so we wanted to research which cities are best for BBQ’s. By including a meat-free ranking too, we hope that our research encourages everyone to enjoy laughs, drinks and good food outside with family and friends – no matter what their dietary requirements.”
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