If you speak to any Arsenal fan about last night’s Champions League game against Real Madrid, they will all tell you exactly where the best place to be a sports fan in the UK is. And they’d be right! It is London, despite this study not specifically going into what area of the city it’s best in (but I can tell you: it’s North).
The aforementioned study by NSoft has ranked London at the top when it sought to find out which city was the best in the whole UK to be a sports fan. They crunched the numbers to examine 30 cities to determine where is top when it comes to the viewing of live sports, with the big smoke recognised for its number of teams, its sports bars and more. Having watched Declan Rice thump two past Thibaut Courtois, it’s safe to say that no arguments will be coming from over here.
The best cities in the UK to be a sports fan
Despite my best efforts having a full blown scrap with the ticket exchange website, I was alas, not at the Emirates Stadium for the match, which definitely would have been the best place to be a sports fan last night, but at the second best spot (in my mind): The Drayton Park pub, packed in with fellow fans making their way to the screens after work.
Oh you care more about the numbers the study tells you about the city as a whole and not a concentrated 2-hour period of Declan Rice and Mikel Merino-enduced euphoria? Well, it ranked London top overall for its number of stadiums (26) and number of proffestional sports teams (25). There’s plenty of spots you can catch a game around the city, even if its not football as your sport of choice, with rugby at Twickenham and the cricket at the Oval. Manchester scored next highest for the number of teams with 8, though Glasgow’s six stadiums pipped their 5 to the post on that point system.
London also trumped the competition when it comes to the number of sports bars and pubs, with an eye-watering 219 to choose from. Liverpool had the next highest with 55, though it was Derby who have the location voted as best, with The Hideout named as the best sports bar in the UK on the study based on reviews and Google search volume.
The only downside to London for sports fans in the study is, unsurprisingly, the cost of pints, with London’s coming in at an average of £6 compared to Northampton (who came second overall in the study) bragging £3.50 beers. Still, £6 for a lager in a plastic glass is a small price to pay when witnessing a free kick fly into the top corner in real time.
View the full research on the best cities in the UK to be a sports fan by NSoft here.