Rough Guides reveal Britain's favourite small cities - York takes the crown

Rough Guides, the British-based travel publisher asked Britons to name their favourite small city or town and the results are in, with historic York taking the crown. Whitby came 7th in the top 10 favourites making Yorkshire the only county to appear on the list more than once. The Top 10 towns and small cities chosen are *: 1. York 2. Bath 3. Brighton 4. Chester 5. St Ives 6. Durham 7. Whitby 8. Blackpool 9. Keswick =10. Stratford Upon Avon =10. Cambridge “We think this is a really nice list, reflective of Britain’s charms” says a Rough Guides spokesperson. “There’s a lot of history in there, a good bit of architecture and arts, but there’s also the seaside - in both it’s brash and beautiful guises, a bit of British alternative culture, and towns set in some of Britain’s most spectacular scenery”. “When people think of British cities it’s natural to think of London, Manchester, Edinburgh, Liverpool and the like, but our smaller cities and towns have an awful lot to offer. This list showcases the best of them across the country.” 1,491 respondents highlighted over 200 different British towns and cities - York was cited by 5% of them. The brand new Rough Guide to Yorkshire is published this month (but no, we didn’t fix the result so York came top!). It is the first travel guide to the whole region from a major guide book publisher.

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