Location, Location, Location...
Revealed: The best British cities for dogs and their owners
If dogs had estate agents...
...where would they choose to live? Lots of things need to be taken into account when you welcome a dog into your family - regular exercise, veterinary care, food and socialising just some of them.
With all that and more in mind, we’ve taken a long, hard look at which British cities make the best all-round environment for dogs and their owners.
Of course, raw dog food and natural dog treats taste amazing wherever you are in the UK - and we'll deliver to your door (to say nothing of our stellar range of dog supplements). A great way to get going is with one of our sample packs:
What we researched:
> Local park stats
> No. of vets
> No. dog-friendly pubs
> Private garden sizes
> No. of groomers
> No. pet supplies stores
> No. of dog trainers
> Road congestion
What have we discovered?
Our research factored in access to and quality of public parks, the average size of domestic gardens, the variety of pet supplies stores, how many dog-friendly pubs are nearby and much more.
We were then able to rank the 30 biggest cities in Britain for their dog-friendliness. You can see the overall rankings below, and further down a breakdown of how each city fared across the multiple different categories that matter most to you and your canine companion leading healthy, happy lives together.
How did we conduct our research?
We chose eight factors we believe matter the most when it comes to dogs and their owners leading fulfilled lifestyles:
- The size, average proximity and number of users of its parks
- The number of vets by population
- The number of dog-friendly pubs by population
- The average size of private gardens
- The number of groomers by population
- The number of pet supplies stores by population
- The number of dog trainers by population
- How congested the roads are
In each category, publicly available data was sourced and multiple factors were scored for each location to produce a ranking out of 30. Points were then assigned 30 to 1 from first-placed city to last and a multiplier applied depending on the importance of each category.
For instance, the points awarded in the parks category were multiplied by five, in the vets category by four and in the pubs category by two. The total multiplied points awarded across all categories then produced the final overall ranking.
Where’s the best city for dog-friendliness?
Nottingham came out on top of the 30 cities analysed overall. Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Bristol, Liverpool and Preston made up the rest of the top five.
Nottingham ranked second overall for its parks, first for vets, second for pet supplies stores and fifth for groomers - enough to secure the overall number one position, despite being the fourth most-congested city on the list and only coming 24th for the average garden size.
At the other end of the table, Coventry scored the lowest overall of the cities on the list, joined in the bottom five by Portsmouth, Southend, Bradford and Doncaster.
Of the largest cities and capitals, Glasgow was 8th, Cardiff 11th, Birmingham 13th, Edinburgh 15th, London 16th and Manchester 20th.
Where’s best for parks?
Stoke-on-Trent topped the table for parks alone, with data showing there’s an average of nine different parks within any 1km radius in the city, that residents are only 211m away from a public park on average and the average size of its parks is more than 139,000sqm - plenty of space for a canine companion to make the most of.
There’s also only 5,200 residents per park in Stoke, making its green oases some of the country’s most peaceful.
Where’s best for dog-friendly pubs?
Reading came out on top for dog-friendly pubs - calculations showed there are roughly 160 watering holes within a 15 mile journey that welcome four-legged customers, with about 2,100 people per pub, based on population figures.
While London had the most dog-friendly pubs, with more than 600, its population density meant you could, in theory, be sharing any one of them with more than 16,000 other people.
And the rest?
Dogs in Bournemouth have the biggest gardens to enjoy - homes there enjoy an average 307 sqm of private green space.
Newcastle was found to be the best city for its number of pet supplies stores, while anyone wanting to get their pet walking beautifully to heel should head for Southampton, where the most dog trainers by population are.
For owners of dogs that need a regular haircut, Cardiff ranked best for the number of groomers by population.
Wakefield, in West Yorkshire, was the least congested city on the list so likely to offer the best experience of walking along roadsides and the smoothest journeys whenever a trip in the car is needed.
Explore all our findings in the interactive chart below:
Heidi Maskelyne, CEO of ProDog Raw
“All dog owners want the best for their pets, which usually means having good access to a variety of places to exercise them, pamper them, care for health needs, feed them and of course to just enjoy their company and socialise.
“Our in-depth research dived deep into all sorts of data to find out which large, urban areas cater best when it comes to those things and we think we’ve put together the ultimate guide to dog-friendly cities as a result.
“Research shows there are more dogs in the UK than ever before as more people become pet owners, so it’s really important the nearby environment is suitable for them to lead happy, fulfilled lives - something ProDog Raw is deeply passionate about.”
Sources:
> The 30 largest cities are based on population figures for ‘primary urban areas’ as defined by the Centre for Cities
> Data for parks is based on ONS statistics around access to green spaces
> Vet listings is according to the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons database
> Dog-friendly pubs is estimated based on listings at doggiepubs.org.uk
> Garden sizes is taken from ONS datasets on green spaces
> Groomers is estimated from listings on mypetgroomer.co.uk
> Congestion levels are based on the Inrix City Ranking List
> Dog trainers is estimated from listings on the Animal Behaviour and Training Council database