The Friendliest Cities in the UK Revealed!

NEW MAP REVEALS UK HUMAN WARMING ‘HOTSPOTS’ – AND PREDICTS ‘HEATWAVE’ THIS JUNE!

New data, revealing the regions of the UK that hold the most Big Lunch events, has been used to create a UK Map of the friendliest cities in the UK.

The Big Lunch used its ‘Human Warming Index’ to create the map. Human Warming is a term coined by The Big Lunch to describe what happens when people get to know their neighbours, relationships grow and friendships blossom.

The Big Lunch holds its annual get-together for neighbours every June, and used pack registration data to calculate the regional spread of Big Lunches across the UK.

The Index revealed:

Northern Ireland is the hottest region in the UK – and has the hottest counties too

The South West and North East also sit at the top of the list (second and third place respectively)

Wales came fourth, with the East Midlands beating the North West, Scotland and the South East into fifth place

London, East England, the West Midlands and Yorkshire & Humber polled at ninth, tenth, eleventh and twelfth place respectively

County Fermanagh is rated as the hottest UK county, with Northern Ireland’s five other counties dominating the top 10 county list, which also includes Cornwall, Cardiff and Dundee

The hottest city in the UK is Lincoln

The Big Lunch, an idea from the Eden Project made possible by the Big Lottery Fund, used pack registration data to work out how many people had registered to hold a Big Lunch between 2010 and 2015.

The aim of The Big Lunch is to bring neighbours together to help make their communities friendlier and better connected places to live. Post event research in 2015* showed that 85% of Big Lunch participants said it made them feel better about their neighbourhoods, and that 8 out of 10 people have kept in touch with people they met at Big Lunches in previous years.

David Head, a Big Lunch organiser from Malvern said:

‘I’m speechless at how it’s developed. I’d lived in my street for 35 years but hardly knew anybody before, now you find people all over the place who you know because of The Big Lunch. It’s the best thing that’s ever happened to our road, it’s brilliant!”

Marcus Rand of Campaign to End Loneliness said:

“Holding a big lunch or doing something with your neighbours is a great starting point to turning the tide on loneliness. It’s vital we all play our part in reducing loneliness in our communities. Shockingly 10% of people who are over 65 feel lonely all of the time, and the summer months are no different. In fact, a study by Brunel University concluded that older people are more likely to feel lonely in the summer months than in December or March, so the timing of The Big Lunch Friendship heatwave couldn’t be better!”

The Human Warming Index has also been used to work out how many people per capita in towns, cities and counties across the UK have joined in a Big Lunch.

On the findings by county, Northern Ireland leads the pack again with County Fermanagh, County Armagh and County Antrim taking first, second and third places respectively. For the cities, Lincoln, Plymouth and Reading featured in the top three ‘hotspots’ for neighbourly friendliness.

Stephanie Mitchell, Big Lunch organiser from Belfast said:

“It was a wonderful day, a roaring success. There were lots of compliments about the food – but more than that it was about the atmosphere, and the excuse to get together and sit down with a diverse range of people from all over. It was a lovely example of unity and diversity.”

Peter Stewart of The Big Lunch commented:

“Our Human Warming Index shows that an increasing number of communities are holding Big Lunches every year. In 2015, more than 7 million participants took part across the UK, and we predict a heatwave this June with 10 million people expected to take part!

“The Big Lunch is all about connecting communities, and connected communities mean that neighbours help each other out – for example swapping skills, sharing tools, and helping one another with childcare. This is good for individuals and good for communities.

“We want to use this map to call on the public to increase Human Warming in their local areas. Don’t despair if your region or city isn’t top of the list; sign up for a pack for The Big Lunch, which this year is being held of Sunday June 12 – the same day as the Queen’s 90th birthday celebrations. Let’s increase Human Warming across the UK, and have fun in the process.”

The Big Lunch will reissue the map at the end of June with data from 2016 added. So it isn’t too late to sign up for a pack to hold a Big Lunch on June 12 and make your area warmer. Visit www.thebiglunch.co.uk for more information.

And to take a deeper delve and see how your county measures up, visit the Human Warming Index county breakdown map on The Big Lunch website: https://www.thebiglunch.com/join-in/map-of-human-warming.php

Map of Human Warming – regional breakdown

1. Northern Ireland (105 unique pack registrations per 100,000 people, which means almost 240,000 people in Northern Ireland have joined in a Big Lunch at least once)

2. South West (74 unique pack registrations per 100,000 people, which means almost 506,000 people in the South West have joined in a Big Lunch at least once)

3. North East (72 unique pack registrations per 100,000 people, which means 238,000 people in the North East have joined in a Big Lunch at least once)

4. Wales (61 unique pack registrations per 100,000 people, which means almost 240,000 people in Wales have joined in a Big Lunch at least once)

5. East Midlands (60 unique pack registrations per 100,000 people, which means almost 354,000 people in the East Midlands have joined in a Big Lunch at least once)

6. North West (56 unique pack registrations per 100,000 people, which means almost 506,000 people in the North West have joined in a Big Lunch at least once)

7. Scotland (56 unique pack registrations per 100,000 people, which means almost 379,000 people in Scotland have joined in a Big Lunch at least once)

8. South East (55 unique pack registrations per 100,000 people, which means almost 614,000 people in the South East have joined in a Big Lunch at least once)

9. London (52 unique pack registrations per 100,000 people, which means 561,000 people in London have joined in a Big Lunch at least once)

10. East England (50 unique pack registrations per 100,000 people, which means 379,000 people in the East of England have joined in a Big Lunch at least once)

11. West Midlands (48 unique pack registrations per 100,000 people, which means 346,000 people in the West Midlands have joined in a Big Lunch at least once)

12. Yorkshire & the Humber (42 unique pack registrations per 100,000 people, which means almost 285,000 people in Yorkshire & Humber have joined in a Big Lunch at least once)

Top 10 ‘hottest’ cities

1. Lincoln

2. Plymouth

3. Reading

4. Norwich

5. Exeter

6. Canterbury

7. Bournemouth

8. Poole

9. Worcester

10. Nottingham

Top 10 ‘hottest’ counties

1. County Fermanagh

2. County Armagh

3. County Antrim

4. County Tyrone

5. County Londonderry

6. County Down

7. Cornwall

8. Cardiff

9. Dundee City

10. Devon