Manchester has more shops per square kilometre than London

Christmas shopping. You either loathe it or hate it. But it’s got to be done, unless, of course, you’re single and don’t have any friends or family, in which case you’re quids in.

But which are the best towns and cities in the UK for a shopping break?

The team at UK parcel forwarding company Forward2Me decided to find out.

They looked at the 30 biggest towns and cities in the UK and ranked them according to six factors including number of shops and shopping centres, the cost of a hotel stay and a restaurant meal.

Then they combined them to reach a final weighted score out of 100 for each place.

According to their research, London is the best city in the UK for a shopping break, with Manchester runner-up.

But they found that Manchester has 55 shops per sq km – far more than anywhere else in the survey and almost twice as many as London.

So take that, London. We may only have two shopping centres compared to your 58, but they’re fantastic shopping centres.

And when it comes to the number of shops per sq km, Manchester is the number one place in the UK.

Find out more.