July 2022 saw Britain faces the highest number of customer complaints since records began in 2008. For a polite-obsessed nation, the UK is facing a customer service crisis.
Due to this, we wanted to find out where in the UK is the politest, and where customers are getting the best, and worst, service for their money.
To do this we analysed over 784,000 Google reviews across B&Bs, barbers, cafés, gyms, hairdressers, restaurants, plumbers, shops and supermarkets in 57 cities in the UK.
Contents
Key findings
- The best city in the UK for customer service was found to be Wells in Somerset with 20.9% of their reviews being positive.
- The worst city in the UK for customer service was found to be Westminster in London, with 2.42% of their reviews being negative.
- Chichester is home to the best hairdressing and barbering experiences in the UK, with 24% of reviews expressing their positive customer experience, but London had the highest proportion of negative reviews (9.5%).
- Fitness fanatics will get the best customer service in Bath, which had the highest percentage of positive gym reviews in the UK (14%), with Cambridge having the nation’s highest proportion of negative gym reviews (3.24%).
- Those in Bradford, West Yorkshire, are getting the best plumbing service in the UK, as the city had the highest percentage of positive reviews for plumbers (55.2%), while those in Leicester had the worst plumbers (3.1%).
Good customer service is a key foundation for a business to be successful helping to create customer loyalty and a solid brand reputation. Those who do well are often rewarded with positive online reviews, however, those who don’t deliver an outstanding service can expect to read a swathe of negative reviews on their business page.
Here are the cities that came out on top as having the best customer service reviews and those that had the complete opposite.
Best and worst cities for customer service in the UK
The following map reveals the cities with the highest percentage of positive, and negative, reviews across all business types analysed in the UK.
Map note: No cities from Wales, Scotland, or Northern Ireland featured in the best or worst top 10.
Top 10 UK cities with the best customer service
Wells in Somerset had the highest percentage of customer reviews as positive, out of the city’s 9285 reviews analysed, 26.9% of these were positive, the highest in the country. After this, Ripon in North Yorkshire came second, which had 20.7% of their total reviews having positive feedback.
Cities such as Derry were at the very bottom of the list scoring just 11.3% of positive reviews out of 11,858 in total.
The following is the top 10 cities ranked by the percentage of all reviews being positive:
| Rank | City | County | Percentage of Reviews as Positive |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wells | Somerset | 20.90% |
| 2 | Ripon | North Yorkshire | 20.70% |
| 3 | Chichester | West Sussex | 19.90% |
| 4 | York | North Yorkshire | 19.20% |
| 5 | Truro | Cornwall | 18.50% |
| 6 | Lichfield | Staffordshire | 18.50% |
| 7 | Plymouth | Devon | 18.20% |
| 8 | Salisbury | Wiltshire | 18.20% |
| 9 | Norwich | Norfolk | 17.70% |
| 10 | Bath | Somerset | 17.70% |
Top 10 UK cities with the worst customer service
In terms of the worst customer service, where the unhappy public had used terms such as rude, terrible service, disgusting, don’t recommend and disappointed in their reviews. The top city with the worst customer service in the UK was Westminster, followed by the rest of London having a 0.01% difference in negative reviews. Customers in Westminster used the term “rude” to describe their customer service the most out of any cities in the UK (1.03%).
Outside the capital, Brummies review their businesses with negative terms the most (2.3%), with Birmingham having the second-highest portion of “disappointed” reviews (1.08%) in the country, behind neighbouring Lichfield (1.11%).
You can see the full top ten cities ranked by their poor customer service reviews below:
| Rank | City | County | Percentage of Reviews as Negative |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Westminster | London | 2.42% |
| 2 | London | Greater London | 2.41% |
| 3 | Birmingham | West Midlands | 2.30% |
| 4 | Leicester | Leicestershire | 2.25% |
| 5 | Bradford | West Yorkshire | 2.20% |
| 6 | Cambridge | Cambridgeshire | 2.14% |
| 7 | Manchester | Greater Manchester | 2.08% |
| 8 | Oxford | Oxfordshire | 2.05% |
| 9 | Nottingham | Nottinghamshire | 2.01% |
| 10 | Salford | Greater Manchester | 2.00% |
Hospitality
The pandemic impact on the hospitality industry is around £115bn, therefore, gaining back custom is more important than ever. To do so, restaurants, bars, and cafes need to put their best customer service foot forward. As the sector recovers, we have reviewed which cities are doing the best in terms of hospitality customer service.
The pandemic impact on the hospitality industry is around £115bn, therefore, gaining back custom is more important than ever. To do so, restaurants, bars, and cafes need to put their best customer service foot forward. As the sector recovers, we have reviewed which cities are doing the best in terms of hospitality customer service.
Which city has the best hospitality service in the UK?
Ripon in North Yorkshire had the highest percentage of positive reviews (25%) within the hospitality sector, followed by Wells (23.3%) and York (23.2%). The phrase ‘lovely’ was used in 14.9% of feedback in Ripon along with other positive phrases such as ‘polite’ (0.93%) and ‘excellent service’ (1.30%).
Here are the top 10 cities with the best hospitality service in the UK:
- Ripon (25%)
- Wells (23.3%)
- York (23.2%)
- Plymouth (22.8%)
- Salisbury (22.7%)
- Chichester (22.7%)
- Truro (22.0%)
- Lincoln (21.9%)
- Chester (21.6%)
- Bath (21.3%)
Which city has the worst hospitality service in the UK?
In addition to positive reviews, we discovered London was found to have the highest percentage of negative feedback (3%) along with Birmingham (2.6%) and Westminster (2.5%). The most common phrases used in these reviews were words such as ‘disappointed’ used in 1.3% of reviews and ‘rude’ being a common discovery for reviews in London (0.94%).
The following 10 cities are rated as having the poorest hospitality service in the UK:
- London (3%)
- Birmingham (2.6%)
- Westminster (2.5%)
- Coventry (2.5%)
- Leeds (2.5%)
- Bradford (2.4%)
- Salford (2.4%)
- Manchester (2.4%)
- Brighton (2.3%)
- Lichfield (2.3%)
Barbers/hairdressers
Customer service is crucial for barbers and hairdressers as there is often a prolonged time, often hours for those with long hair, where the customer is talking to the hair professional. To find out which cities were giving the best hair and customer care, we analysed over 150,000 customer reviews from barbers and hairdressers across the UK. Here’s what we found:
Which UK cities have the best barbers/hairdressers?
Those in West Sussex’s Chichester are being treated to the best customer service by barbers and hairdressers in the UK. The city has the highest portion of reviews saying how “lovely” their experience was (10.68%), while London had the highest percentage of “highly recommend” reviews for their salon experience (9.12%).
- Chichester (24.0%)
- London (22.7%)
- Oxford (22.6%)
- Lichfield (22.6%)
- Brighton (21.7%)
- Truro (20.4%)
- Norwich (20.4%)
- Canterbury (20.2%)
- York (19.9%)
- Wells (19.5%)
Which UK cities have the worst barbers/hairdressers?
Despite the capital ranking highly for its hair experience, it claims the top spot for the worst hair experiences in the country, followed by Oxford. Nottingham actually had the highest portion of reviews where people discussed how “rude” their barber/hairdresser was (0.87%), but Londoners expressed how “disappointed” they were the most (9.12%) out of any other city.
Here are the top ten cities when ranked by their percentage of negative hairdresser and barber reviews:
- London (9.5%)
- Oxford (8.2%)
- Westminster (8.1%)
- Brighton (7.9%)
- Chichester (7.5%)
- Exeter (7.3%)
- Norwich (7.2%)
- Chelmsford (7.0%)
- Chester (6.8%)
- Cambridge (6.8%)
Retail stores
Retail customer service can be something as simple as helping you bag your items, or grab another size top when you’re in the fitting rooms. Bad customer service however can be enough to make you never return to that store again. We analysed 146,300 reviews from shops and supermarkets to find out where in the UK has the best and worst customer service.
Where in the UK has the best retail customer service?
Overall, the Somerset cathedral city of Wells has the highest-reviewed customer service in the UK, with 9.3% mentioning positive aspects of customer service. York came in second with 8.4%, London stores however had the highest portion of reviews mentioning how “polite” staff were in shops and supermarkets (1.22%).
Here are the top 10 cities in the UK with the best retail store experience ranked by percentage of positive reviews:
- Wells (9.3%)
- York (8.4%)
- Truro (8.2%)
- Ripon (8.2%)
- Ely (7.3%)
- Chichester (7.2%)
- Winchester (6.9%)
- Salisbury (6.7%)
- Manchester (6.5%)
- Chester (6.5%)
Where in the UK has the worst retail customer service?
In comparison, Leicester was rated as the worst retail store according to customer reviews. While Leicester was the worst for the overall retail experience, the phrase ‘rude’ was used the most (2.06%) in Preston, while Newcastle shops were described as ‘disgusting’ the most in the UK (0.56%).
- Leicester (3.25%)
- Westminster (2.91%)
- Southampton (2.90%)
- Bradford (2.86%)
- Birmingham (2.85%)
- Manchester (2.53%)
- Oxford (2.53%)
- Bristol (2.34%)
- Nottingham (2.30%)
- Cambridge (2.27%)
Gyms
Hitting the gym is a great thing to do for your health, however, the experience can be dampened if staff are rude, or the facilities are not up to scratch. From over 70,000 gym-goer reviews we’ve analysed which UK cities have the best customer service in the gym.
Which UK cities have the best gyms?
Bath in Somerset had the highest percentage of positive reviews for its gyms (14%), followed by Winchester (13.8%) and Wells (11.9%). Bath had the second-highest portion of reviews where people discussed how “lovely” the staff and facilities were, furthermore, 7.51% of reviews would “highly recommend” their gym, the highest in the country behind Winchester’s (7.67%).
The following cities had the best gym customer service in the UK:
- Bath, 14.0%
- Winchester, 13.8%
- Wells, 11.9%
- Ely, 11.9%
- Chichester, 11.4%
- Ripon, 11.3%
- Westminster, 11.2%
- Truro, 10.4%
- London, 9.9%
- Cambridge, 9.0%
Which UK cities have the worst gyms?
The most negatively reviewed city in the UK was Cambridge with the highest portion or negative reviews (3.2%), followed by Chelmsford with (2.3%). Cambridge had the highest percentage of reviews mentioning how “rude” the gym staff were (1.82%) in the UK, while Wakefield had the highest portion of fitness fanatics describing the facilities as “disgusting” (0.55%).
Here are the top 10 worst cities for gyms in the UK:
- Cambridge (3.24%)
- Chelmsford (2.32%)
- Westminster (2.12%)
- Portsmouth (1.86%)
- Norwich (1.86%)
- Bristol (1.73%)
- Oxford (1.72%)
- Wells (1.71%)
- York (1.70%)
- London (1.62%)
Plumbers
Many fear a ‘rogue trader’ coming into their home and messing something up or making a dire DIY situation worse. To find out where in the UK had the best and worst plumbing customer service, we analysed over 30,000 customer reviews to see who has the best time when there is a plumbing emergency.
Top 10 cities with the best customer service from plumbers
For plumbers, Bradford comes out on top with the highest percentage of positive reviews (55.2%). This is helped by the fact the city has the highest portion of reviews where happy customers mentioned the plumber’s politeness (11.17%), with the second-highest portion of “excellent service” reviews (10.06%).
The following cities had the best overall plumbing customer service in the UK:
- Bradford (55.2%)
- Canterbury (49.0%)
- Lichfield (47.0%)
- Cardiff (45.8%)
- Plymouth (43.3%)
- St Albans (43.1%)
- York (42.7%)
- Wakefield (42.6%)
- Birmingham (42.6%)
- Derby (42.6%)
Top 10 cities with the worst customer service from plumbers
As for those with the worst plumbers, Leicester and London had the joint highest percentage of negative reviews (3.1%), with London having the highest percentage of “rude” plumbers in the country (1.47%), however, Salford in Manchester had the highest percentage of “disappointed” plumbing customers in the country (1.24%).
The following cities had the worst overall plumbing customer service in the UK:
- Leicester (3.1%)
- London (3.1%)
- Salford (2.5%)
- Swansea (2.4%)
- Preston (2.3%)
- Lincoln (2.2%)
- Stoke-on-Trent (2.2%)
- Edinburgh (1.9%)
- Worcester (1.8%)
- Wakefield (1.8%)
Methodology
The data from this study was collected from 784,444 customer reviews, from Google, on 20/06/22 – 27/06/22 in a variety of industries which included: B&Bs, barbers, bars, cafes, gym, hairdressers, restaurants, plumbers, shops and supermarkets. Customer reviews were taken from 56 of the biggest cities in England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland.
To analyse which cities have the best and worst customer service, we looked at the frequency of selected phrases mentioned in customer reviews which included the following: “polite”, “rude”, “excellent service”, “terrible service”, “great service”, “bad service”, “lovely”, “disgusting”, “highly recommend”, “don’t recommend”, “best job”, “worst job”, “above and beyond”, “cowboy”, “great value”, “good value”, “poor value”, “bad value”, “only took”, “took ages”, “pleasantly surprised”, “disappointed”.
We then compared this frequency against the total number of reviews to give us a percentage for each city. Reviews that contained positive phrases but were 1 out of 5 stars were ignored, similarly, reviews containing negative phrases that were 5 out 5 stars were ignored. Negative phrases were also used, for example “you won’t be disappointed” did not count toward the total of reviews stating how “disappointed” they were. Many reviews are left by users by filling out the 5/5 star rating, without entering written comments, this is why the percentages are within lower ranges.
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