please empty your brain below
No. 63: is that Gillingham in Kent, or in Dorset? I assume the former.

Jamesthegill | 13.01.21 - 7:11 a.m. | #

Southampton is definitely worth a bit of an explore. It's got a nice gate and a really convenient IKEA

Dan | 13.01.21 - 7:21 a.m. | #

Wow! Serious fail. Only been to the first four of the top 10. The other 6 never been to. And only been to 3 of the next 10. Guess I'm not a city person.

Putters | 13.01.21 - 7:30 a.m. | #

I’ve a friend who lives in Swaythling just outside central Southampton; there’s a lovely walk along the river Itchen nearest to Swaythling station. In normal times you can rent a kayak at the Woodmill Outdoor Activities Centre.

Toni | 13.01.21 - 7:36 a.m. | #

In the new game of Places I have been that DG hasn't, I have Huddersfield (worked there for eighteen months and fell in love with The North), Barnsley (fab town hall, if you like Waltham Forest's), and Chesterfield (great open market, last time I went).

In terms of largest cities, I'm pretty sure I haven't been to Bradford (unless Saltaire counts), and I definitely fall at Hull.

Sarah | Homepage | 13.01.21 - 7:56 a.m. | #

Or Gillingham in Norfolk? (It’s not that one)

Kirk | 13.01.21 - 8:07 a.m. | #

Those population statistics look like authority boundaries not urban areas as suggested.

Edwin | 13.01.21 - 8:13 a.m. | #

Edwin, you may be right in some places but not others. For example, in the West Midlands we have Birmingham, Coventry, Wolverhampton, Solihull and Dudley, but no mention of Walsall or Sandwell. However Sutton Coldfield is shown, but it is in Birmingham.

dg writes: Walsall is 109

Ian | 13.01.21 - 8:23 a.m. | #

I only get as far as Sheffield. To be fair, I moved here as an adult and have never lived north of Birmingham, but the entire North of England is a bit of a dead zone (and East Anglia, too).

James | 13.01.21 - 8:46 a.m. | #

There is also the question of which locations we have wanted to visit and made the trip, rather than having had to go there for work or other reasons. On that basis, I'm looking at the wet midweek conference in Bradford in 2000. Otherwise it's a matter of having driven through Stoke many times and never having felt the desire to stop...

Waterhouse | 13.01.21 - 8:51 a.m. | #

Hull for me, I have got as far as the South end of the Humber Bridge then turned round.
Sheffield I think I have only stepped out from the front of the station for a look around.
I have been to Salts Mill on Shipley which is in the Bradford District buy otherwise only driven through Bradford

John Styles | 13.01.21 - 8:56 a.m. | #

Basingstoke gets a lot of stick but I think you'd find it interesting. The milestones museum in particular is better than you might expect for a town of its reputation

Ian | 13.01.21 - 8:57 a.m. | #

As a resident of Southampton, I was about to say that you haven't missed anything but I realise, to my shame, that I haven't visited two of our own museums (SeaCity and Solent Sky). It's probably a thing that you don't visit the attractions where you live.

Michael Churchill | 13.01.21 - 9:02 a.m. | #

Although I have been through on the train many times, my only visits to Luton have been very fleeting - once to post a Valentines card (for the anonymity-enhancing postmark), once to take someone to the airport, and once when I was driving from Cambridge to Oxford and got so thoroughly lost in Luton I had to stop to buy a road atlas

72% of the top hundred

timbo | 13.01.21 - 9:05 a.m. | #

So whilst Coventry was the biggest, I've also not been to;

Norwich (always wanted to go)
Southend (always too far away)
Middlesborough (planning to go when the bridge re-opens)
Ipswich (always too far away)
Colchester (I can't see a reason to go)

I'm not going to venture into the next 50, other than to say Chesterfield is nice, def worth a trip to see the crooked spire.

R2 | 13.01.21 - 9:05 a.m. | #

Well I put Liverpool but there again not sure I have really been to Birmingham. Hands up to those who have never been to London. Spent 3 years at Uni in Southampton so it is probably the one I have been to most times.

davews | 13.01.21 - 9:06 a.m. | #

Always rated Carlisle as one of the big towns I’ve not visited, but looks as though it isn’t in the 100.

dg writes: It's 107

Philip | 13.01.21 - 9:14 a.m. | #

Given it's a rail interchange, I always assumed Crewe must be a fairly significant place, and yet I couldn't see it on the 100 list. Its absence means it can't be as big as I thought it was.

RogerW | 13.01.21 - 9:16 a.m. | #

Southampton is definitely worth a visit. It punches below its weight compared to many other European port cities but it’s interesting seeing a English city adjacent to a working port; unique I’d say! Lots of interesting buildings (old city wall), architecture (both good and bad) and history.

Flare | 13.01.21 - 9:21 a.m. | #

Stockport has some excellent museums. I'd say it's far more interesting than Oldham. Not that this has anything to do with the fact that I live near Stockport or anything...

Andrew Bowden | Homepage | 13.01.21 - 9:22 a.m. | #

By my measure I fail at number 2. I have been there 3 or 4 times, but always for work. So it's get off at New Street, jump in a taxi. Go to the office and then the same in reverse to go home again.

Similarly I discount Liverpool as all I did was to catch the ferry to Dublin from there.

Southern Heights (Light Railway) | 13.01.21 - 9:23 a.m. | #

By DG's criteria, I hit about 69%. Bit of uncertainty about places I have driven through, and may or may not have stopped to buy fuel or a newspaper or a chocolate bar - such stops not being properly registered in my memory.

The way conurbations are split up in these data seem a bit iffy to me. Are Rochester inhabitants counted in with Chatham, for instance?

Malcolm of Kent | 13.01.21 - 10:03 a.m. | #

10 years or so ago I decided to go to more away football games, but combined with sightseeing (whether day trips or weekend breaks), it was a deliberate choice to see more of this country

Really glad I did it

Mikey C | 13.01.21 - 10:07 a.m. | #

My own London borough falls somewhere between 18) Reading and 19) Wolverhampton, which is somewhat depressing for one who prefers more countryside and fewer people!

Cornish Cockney | 13.01.21 - 10:08 a.m. | #

R2: Make sure you know how to spell and say Middlesbrough before you visit.

I think I have made a qualifying visit to all the first 37, although some have just been a brief wander out of the station while changing trains (as per DG at Southampton).

There's something odd with the placements below the top 50. As a Man of Kent, I would expect Maidstone to be a long way below Gillingham. Sometime, I must delve into the ONS figures to understand how they define the towns in this list. It certainly can't be Local Authority Area (Sutton Coldfield is part of Birmingham, as previously stated; Gillingham and Chatham are both within Medway).

Pedantic of Nottinghamshire | 13.01.21 - 10:09 a.m. | #

As a Warringtonian by birth I'm biased, but our Museum & Art Gallery is definitely worth a visit (it was probably the first rate-supported museum in England). It's a very short walk from Warrington Bank Quay station, so worth popping in even if you happy to be around for an extended changeover of trains. Sadly the town centre was looking a bit desolate last time I was there, bar the new market, but there's some good Joseph Priestley heritage around the town as well.

A lot of heritage sites are in surrounding Cheshire however. For science and industry: Jodrell Bank, the Lion Salt Works, and the Anderton Boat Lift might be of interest. For the literary world, the Lewis Carroll centre and birthplace are in nearby countryside, and the origin of the Cheshire Cat is a sandstone carving on a church in Grappenhall, Warrington.

Think that ends my missive as the Ambassador for Warrington in London.

Richard Martin | 13.01.21 - 10:14 a.m. | #

Pfft I haven’t even made top 5! I clocked London and Birmingham only. Also a few more down the list. I’ll sure have this list in hand for when we can travel again, it will be a nice place to start deciding where from my gigantic bucket list to go to!!

Renata | 13.01.21 - 10:19 a.m. | #

I've been to 30 of the first 50, but only 6 of the next 50 (including Hartlepool and Chesterfield).

Of the places on the list that I haven't visited, Gloucester is probably the one that interests me most - not been to that part of the country at all.

Sunderland can be depressing in parts but it has enough of interest to fill a day.

Alan | 13.01.21 - 10:21 a.m. | #

I was born in Sunderland and grew up nearby. Trust me, you're not missing much.

Having said that, if you do ever visit, the National Glass Centre is a great place to visit. And Grand Central trains (which run direct to Sunderland from King's Cross) are very decent.

Laura Steel | 13.01.21 - 10:28 a.m. | #

More of interest in Sunderland than Southampton for sure - it's the supreme champion of dreariness!

cau1khead | 13.01.21 - 10:39 a.m. | #

As it says on the ONS site that DG links to at the top, this data is "experimental to assess its usefulness and its definitional accuracy".

Definition is always tricky with this sort of thing, because these clearly aren't administrative boundaries and it's not obvious to me how it's been done. So, Gillingham and Chatham both appear when Medway as a whole would be much larger (and outsiders would struggle to find where one becomes the other). Similarly I've been surprised in the past how small Newcastle actually is because it feels like a bit city more than other similarly sized places.

Eric | 13.01.21 - 10:50 a.m. | #

Pedantic of Nottinghamshire - Whoops! My smoggy mate will not be pleased!

R2 | 13.01.21 - 11:12 a.m. | #

DG; what about Watford? I think you've been there as well!!!
I know it's a differnet data set, but Wikipedia has it at 96,800. That would put it at about 87 in your list.
It doesn't seem to be listed on Nomis?

dg writes: It's number 44.

MikeK | 13.01.21 - 11:34 a.m. | #

Nope.

B | 13.01.21 - 11:41 a.m. | #

I'd personally be more interested in the metric "stayed overnight", but it would both end in Sheffield for me.

commonliner | 13.01.21 - 11:59 a.m. | #

About the statistics...

This statistical geography provides a precise definition of the major towns and cities in England and Wales. It has been developed specifically for the production and analysis of statistics, and is based on the built-up areas geography that was created for the release of 2011 Census data.

A population size threshold of 75,000 usual resident population or workday population (as at 2011 Census) was used to define the 112 major towns and cities included in the geography.

diamond geezer | Homepage | 13.01.21 - 12:05 p.m. | #

When my daughter was at university in Southampton I was able to fit in several visits and found it a fascinating place. A good range of museums, a small seafront especially where the ferries leave from and a good selections of art galleries.

Tones | 13.01.21 - 12:32 p.m. | #

DG Apologies!
It always annoys me a bit when people comment or ask about something that's in your article; which makes it look like they haven't bothered to read it. I should know betteer!!!

MikeK | 13.01.21 - 12:32 p.m. | #

I lived near Southampton for two years and think it's massively underrated, although the city also doesn't make enough of what it's got especially the city walls, its parks and waterfront.

Anders | 13.01.21 - 12:50 p.m. | #

8) Leicester. Nor any desire to do so.

Avrev | 13.01.21 - 1:19 p.m. | #

I find it odd that whilst Brighton and Hove are combined into one total, Bournemouth and Poole are not. Maybe the figures are from the period before the two were combined within one authority. If they were combined, it looks like their ranking would rise to 19th.

cau1khead | 13.01.21 - 1:26 p.m. | #

Brighton 'n' Hove is a single city, since some fudging around millennial conferral of city status.

I would like to go to Stockport to visit the Plaza cinema.

Sarah | Homepage | 13.01.21 - 1:36 p.m. | #

Southampton has quite a lot going for it in terms of things to see on a shortish day trip--walls/gate, medieval merchants house for starters, views of a big port from several parts of the shoreline.

MilesT | 13.01.21 - 2:29 p.m. | #

In my experience residents of Hove Actually are still pretty clear they're in a separate place from Brighton but those in Brighton seem to think it's expanded and "... and Hove" is just some nod of nomenclature to history and/or the football team.

I was surprised to see Liverpool so high up the list and it certainly recasts the whole "second city of England" debate. It's a city I've been conscious of never having visited for some time - most of the work stuff that's taken me to the North West for work over the years has been Manchester based and other stuff has been in smaller cities & towns like Manchester, Blackpool, Lancaster or Preston whilst relatives used to live in rural southern Cumbria.

Tim Roll-Pickering | 13.01.21 - 2:40 p.m. | #

Was speaking to a neighbour up here in the Derbyshire countryside last month and he mentioned he'd never been to London despite living just under three hours away by walk and then train.

TomH | 13.01.21 - 2:47 p.m. | #

I'm a bit mystified by the population calculations "usual resident population or workday population (as at 2011 Census) was used to define the 112 major towns". York is shown as 164,000 but the Unitary Authority population in 2011 was 198,000 so I don't know what they left out to calculate their figure.

dg writes: They used the population of the city, not the population of the borough.

RogerB | 13.01.21 - 3:57 p.m. | #

Huddersfield is on my "to do" list - been before but want to go again, to meet two famous residents, Felix and Bolt, who live in the railway station.

Sunderland does have some charms - Roker beach and pier; the bridges over the River Wear (including the new Northern Spire); Penshaw Monument; a couple of nice parks; the Monkwearmouth museum; the quirkily names suburb of Witherwack, and, as others have mentioned, the Stadium of Light and National Glass Centre. On the down side, Sunderland's railway station.

Malc | 13.01.21 - 4:19 p.m. | #

Manchester would be greater if the City of Salford was included

Ian Merrell | 13.01.21 - 5:28 p.m. | #

Coming back to York, what they seem to have used is the population of the 'built up area' as defined in a Nomisweb article, which is less than that of the the City which now includes a number of outlying villages. (There is now no distinction between the City and the 'Borough'). In Sheffield on the other hand their figure is slightly higher than the population of the City suggesting the 'built up area' there includes some settlements belonging to adjacent local authorities.

RogerB | 13.01.21 - 9:13 p.m. | #

Hope you make it to my hometown of Huddersfield some time; we have a famous railway station with a famous cat, we're the birthplace of rugby league, we have a statue of Harold Wilson. Sadly, we're very much the definition of "It's grim up north". Our Marks & Spencer closed in 2019, despite neigbouring Halifax's staying open. I could go on for days about why the council's action caused M&S to depart...

TheLupineOne | 13.01.21 - 10:01 p.m. | #

My family are from Sunderland so I have been there countless times and very enjoyable it is to go there but I have also been to England’s smallest town - Fordwich in Kent, near Canterbury

Brian | 13.01.21 - 10:55 p.m. | #

As a child of the North East, you don't need to bother with Scumderland, trust me.

Also, I'm interested to see that Hartlepool somehow made the top 100 but Durham didn't?!

Peewee | 13.01.21 - 11:20 p.m. | #

I've been to all but 2 of the top 11 to some extent; Sheffield and Coventry are the ones I'm missing from that set. Following on, I've also been to Stoke, Southampton, Plymouth, Reading and Brighton so I have 70% of the top 20 ticked off. Things start to fall apart a bit after that as the percentage drops to 60% for the top 30, 55% for the top 40 and 50% for the top 50.

(For the record, the other places in the top 50 I've visited are Portsmouth, Norwich, Swindon, Milton Keynes, York, Oxford, Poole, Telford, Gloucester, Colchester and Exeter.)

X-Plaistow | 14.01.21 - 1:28 a.m. | #

97.

Travelling on a lot of trains around the whole country has this effect.

(Stoke, Telford, St Helens in case you were wondering)

Geofftech | 14.01.21 - 8:57 a.m. | #

20/50 & 29/100 but then most of the list are dumps

Andrew Jarman | 14.01.21 - 3:48 p.m. | #

"most of the list are dumps", says miserable naysayer who hasn't been to most of them.

mike | 14.01.21 - 4:36 p.m. | #











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