New study reveals best city in the UK for a beer garden pub crawl

Summer is just around the corner, and what better way to celebrate an afternoon in the sun than with a beer garden pub crawl? This study reveals which cities in the UK have got it right when it comes to sipping in the sunshine…

Credit card company Aqua has undertaken research to determine where in the UK has the best selection of beer gardens.

The brand stipulated in its study that to get the very best out of a British beer garden you need a few things; warm temperatures, lots of sun, no rain, and affordable drinks, taking into account all of these factors in order to come up with a definitive list.

Aqua analysed some of the most populated cities in the UK with these factors in mind, in order to determine which city offers the ultimate beer garden experience.

Before we get to the winners, on the gloomier side of the spectrum, Leeds has been revealed as the worst destination for a beer garden trip. Its high rainfall and cold summer temperatures — at an average of 14°C — put a dampener on outdoor drinking, despite the city’s selection of 286 beer gardens.

Belfast and Manchester also came in the bottom three, with their expensive pints (£5.20 and £4.83 respectively) to blame for low scores. Low temperatures of around 15°C in summer did little to lift their rankings.

It’s therefore unsurprising, with prices so high, that Belfast residents spend the biggest proportion of their income on dining out.

However, Aqua also found that Belfast also suffers from limited alfresco drinking options with just nine beer gardens on offer in the city.

London is the most expensive city, with a beer setting you back £6.00, and the capital failed to rank in the top 10, despite its copious pub gardens.

So which cities ranked top?

Southend-on-Sea has been crowned the best city for a beer garden pub crawl by Aqua, as it boasts the most sunshine of any city in the UK, with 238 hours per month in summer, plus the least amount of rainfall at just 45mm per month. Pints cost an average of £3.50, and cocktails (£8.00) and soft drinks (£1.18) are also reasonably priced.

Wolverhampton comes in as the second best destination for a beer garden trip, with average pint at just £2.75, soft drinks at £1.15, and 281 beer gardens throughout the city.

Rank	City	Average price of a pint (£)	Average price of a soft drink (£)	Average price of a cocktail (£)	Average summer temp (C)	Average sunshine hours	Average rainfall (mm)	Number of beer gardens per city
1	Southend-on-Sea	£3.50	£1.18	£8.00	17.18	237.50	44.60	116
2	Wolverhampton	£2.75	£1.15	n/a	n/a	170.01	60.85	281
3	Southampton	£4.50	£1.50	£8.00	17.59	213.76	53.27	213
4	Northampton	£3.75	£1.44	£7.00	16.34	184.74	54.49	124
5	Blackpool	£3.00	£0.95	n/a	15.71	197.94	69.66	94

 

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