Manchester tops UK index of 'creative' centres

According to a survey of Britain's cultural and creative centres, Manchester is the most progressive city in the country – or "the UK's answer to San Francisco".

For the Boho Britain survey, the UK’s 40 largest cities were ranked through their mix of ethnic diversity, acceptance of the gay community and technological innovation.

Leicester and London shared second place, suggesting that creative potential of UK cities is not confined to national and regional centres.

Of the five cities shortlisted as 2008 European city of culture included in the list, Bristol comes out top at 5th, with Birmingham at 7th, Liverpool at 17th and Newcastle/Gateshead at 21st.

But if Oxford, which is outside the top 40 by population, had been included in the list it would come second, ahead of London and Leicester. Both Oxford and Cambridge score highly because of their diverse student populations and high concentration of technology research facilities which generate numerous patent applications.

According to specially commissioned Patent Office figures, Manchester comes top of the ranking for patent applications, which is accounted partly for its concentration of higher education institutions and technology companies. This is the first time the Patent Office has ranked the innovative capacity of cities by number of patent applications.

Instead of the Castro, San Francisco’s famous gay village, Manchester has the vibrant Canal Street area featured in Channel 4 series 'Queer as Folk'. And in place of the University of California at Berkley – the university with close links to Silicon Valley – Manchester has UMIST, a leading science and technology institute.

The man behind the research, US economic regeneration analyst Richard Florida, will address a major London conference called Boho Britain next week. The event will consider the links between creativity and urban renewal in the UK.

The conference is co-hosted by Demos, the British Urban Regeneration Association (BURA) and the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).

(GMcG)