London is a haven for classic and modern literature, with the city’s style, history, and social climate returned to by authors for good reason. It makes for a city steeped in literary prowess, and now the capital has just been named the best city in the whole UK for book lovers in a new study.
Gurus of the page Aura Print have crunched the numbers and found that London is the place to be for lovers of the written word. They’ve pitted cities across the UK against one another and given each a ‘literary score’ determined by the number of bookshops, number of libraries, number of writers born in the city, and book-related hashtags on TikTok & Instagram.
London came out with a score of 75.6 in the study, narrowly beating Birmingham in the race for top bookish spot. According to the data, London’s 240 bookstores, 325, and 1,319 writers born in the city saw it take the spot comfortably, and the number of social media mentions trumped the competition. Now, of course, London has far more space and people for these numbers to take shape and climb high, but a win is a win, and you can’t argue with the history behind the words of this city.
Scotland’s big cities also came high up in the rankings, with Glasgow and Edinburgh taking the third and fourth spots. Robert Louis Stevenson can rest easy in the knowledge that his influence on the world by way of words has led to this very moment.
The UK’s Top 10 Cities for Book Lovers
- London
- Birmingham
- Glasgow
- Edinburgh
- Manchester
- Liverpool
- Leeds
- Bradford
- Bristol
- Cardiff
You can read more about Aura Print on their website.