Manchester named second most luxurious city in the UK

New research reveals the top 10 cities around the UK that offer the most luxury, from designer label stores to five-star hotels and Michelin restaurants.

The study conducted by Money.co.uk has analysed the number of lavish venues in a city to find out where you can live your best life and spend big money with ease. London tops the list but in second place is Manchester, which offers 12 Michelin restaurants, six five-star hotels, and 11 stores selling luxe brands.

Although dwarfed by London’s numbers, it’s worth noting that the city of Manchester is just 115 sq kilometres compared to the gigantic 1,572 sq kilometres of London.

Luxury in Manchester

Manchester is widely considered a splendid spot for shopping, offering high-end fashion and beauty from the glass-fronted store of Selfridges Manchester Exchange.

But, if all the shopping makes gives a craving from award-winning food, head to Mana and try their specialities like caramelised scallop chawanmushi and salt-aged duck hung over burning grapevines with bread sauce.

Then you can sleep it all off in one of the six five-star hotels that Manchester has to offer, such as the award-winning The Lowry Hotel which currently has a treasure hunt to win 20 luxury prizes worth over £5,000.

Or check-in to The Midland Hotel, which has recently hundertaken a £14 million pound revamp including all of the hotel’s bedrooms redesigned, as well as transforming the public areas and shaking up the food and drink offering.

How was the luxury city report calculated?

Money.co.uk’s ranking lists were calculated by counting the number of five-star hotels, Michelin-star restaurants and the number of designer stores (of the top 10 most luxury brands – Cartier, Rolex, Tiffany & Co, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Prada, Burberry, Valentino, Versace and Hermes) in each city. Those with the highest total number across all three categories are ranked the most luxurious city in the world. Data correct as of September 2021.