Harrogate has been named as the UK’s best place to work from home in a survey published today.
The Uswitch Remote Working Index 2020 ranked 106 of the UK’s biggest towns and cities by seven factors.
Harrogate’s superfast broadband, green space, and low crime rates earned it top spot ahead of Bath.
Large cities fared poorly. York was eighth, London 88th and Manchester 100th.
The seven factors ranked were: average property prices, green spaces, crime rates, broadband speed, air quality, number of GPs and average Ofsted ratings.
Covid has forced many people to work from home and a fifth of people said they wanted to do it more often when the pandemic is over.
Adelana Carty, broadband expert at Uswitch.com, said:
“The pandemic has turned our working routines upside down and given many of us a taste for what our lives could be like if we worked from home on a more permanent basis.
“Unsurprisingly, this has resulted in millions of people dreaming of ditching the rat race and moving away from the big city.”
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Pollsters Opinium surveyed 2,003 UK adults for the survey.
It found the increase in home working has shifted attitudes away from living in large cities.
One in four people currently live in a city with a population in excess of 500,000 people but only one in nine wish to do so in future.
Harrogate people switch energy suppliers more frequently than anywhere else
Harrogate people are more likely to switch energy providers than anywhere else in England.
Comparison website Uswitch based the finding on analysis of how often residents changed their gas or electric supplier over the past 20 years.
Harrogate topped the table with 196 switches per 1,000 people, whereas London was bottom with only 116 per 1,000.
London is believed to be last because more people rent than own their own property and are therefore less inclined to switch.
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Will Owen, energy expert at Uswitch.com, said:
“Northerners are showing southerners how it’s done when it comes to switching, with Harrogate residents switching at twice the rate of those in central London.
“Yorkshire residents are earning their reputation for being frugal, with five locations in the top ten being from God’s Own Country.”
Leeds was fourth, with 182 people switching per 1,000.
According to government energy regulator Ofgem, households can save on average £300 a year by switching energy providers.