Hereford named among UK's ugliest cities

Paying no regard to the city's stunning cathedral, historic buildings, and green spaces, research by Atlas Ceramics has seen the city ranked as the fifth least aesthetically pleasing city in the UK.

Church Street, Hereford. Picture: Barry Reynolds

Derry, Durham, Sheffield, and Leeds took first to fourth positions, according to the company.

And Herefordians may be surprised to hear that nearby Worcester was ranked as second most aesthetically pleasing city in the country, just missing out on the top spot, which was taken by Oxford.

Broad Street, Hereford. Picture: Abhinav Varun Revis

Hereford received a 'beautiful city score of just 2.56 out of 10, while Worcester received a score of 7.98.

The scores were based upon the number of listed buildings and monuments, number of interior designers, number of architects, and the percentage of boutique hotels found in each city.

Bishops Meadow. Picture: Susan Tattersall

Hereford was found to have three listed buildings per square kilometre, 8.3 interior designers per 100,000 people, 6.7 architects per 100,000 people, while 28.57 per cent of hotels were listed as 'boutique'.

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Worcester, however, was found to have 22 listed buildings per square kilometre, 54.9 interior designers per 100,000 people, 48.9 architects per 100,000 people, while 28.57 per cent of hotels were listed as 'boutique'.

Castle Green. Picture: Stevie HS

At the top of the scale, Oxford took the crown as the UK’s most beautiful city, with a score of 8.39 out of 10. The city of dreaming spires took the top spot thanks to having a whopping 26 listed buildings and monuments per square kilometre. The historic city has 72.6 interior designers per 100,000 people and ranks well for its proportion of architects too, Atlas Ceramics said.

Canterbury was named the chicest city in the study. The city, most famous for its cathedral, has a whopping 41.67 per cent boutique hotels, clearly helping cater to tourists looking for unique places to stay.

Widemarsh Street. Picture: Barry Reynolds

London, Manchester and Liverpool were named the most beautiful cities on TikTok and Instagram. London had 39.5 billion TikTok views and 158 million Instagram posts. Manchester follows with 5.7 billion TikTok views and 18 million Instagram posts. Liverpool also had 32.2 billion TikTok views and 16.5 million Instagram posts.