The Best Towns & Cities in the UK To Be A Musician
Date: 06 June 2017

At some point in our lives, we’ve all probably dreamed of packing in the day job to become a rock star, but which UK cities would give you the best chance of making your dreams come true?

We’ve taken a look at which towns and cities have the most live music venues, rehearsal and recording studios and music shops and teachers, according to those which are listed on Yelp, as well as which have the most upcoming gigs in the next 30 days, according to Songkick.

We then looked at how the numbers stack up, relative to the population of the town of city, to give us our final results.

As you can see, despite boasting the most venues and studios by some way, it turns out that London didn’t come out on top, and it was in fact Manchester which came out on top, with Brighton just behind, despite having a population of just 285,300!

Town/City Venues (Pts) Rehearsal Studios (Pts) Music Shops & Teachers (Pts) Studios (Pts) Upcoming Gigs (Pts) Total (Pts)
Manchester 49 48 47 49 49 242
Brighton and Hove 50 48 44 47 50 239
Liverpool 48 50 49 50 36 233
Nottingham 45 37 50 46 42 220
Cardiff 46 49 39 49 34 217
Newcastle upon Tyne 38 39 42 39 46 204
Glasgow 42 46 27 45 44 204
Edinburgh 43 44 29 43 37 196
Birmingham 41 45 41 44 22 193
Bristol 47 31 40 28 45 191
Bournemouth 28 37 48 37 39 189
Norwich 25 33 39 33 47 177
Oxford 40 38 11 36 48 173
Portsmouth 34 42 32 43 20 171
Cambridge 44 28 23 25 41 161
Reading 21 40 20 41 38 160
London 30 41 17 38 24 150
Birkenhead 16 44 46 41 2 149
Leeds 35 25 19 26 35 140
Belfast 33 31 10 33 30 137
Coventry 27 32 30 31 16 136
Sheffield 22 31 21 28 30 132
Southend-on-Sea 10 37 31 35 14 127
Southampton 19 23 13 31 40 126
Wolverhampton 27 12 45 10 28 122
Milton Keynes 10 12 28 22 43 115
Bradford 38 19 36 10 12 115
Derby 32 12 34 10 26 114
Huddersfield 38 19 25 13 19 114
York 31 26 5 18 33 113
Blackpool 39 6 37 5 23 110
Ipswich 5 37 18 35 13 108
Leicester 16 23 12 25 28 104
Peterborough 12 28 27 25 8 100
Swansea 19 19 9 19 32 98
Stoke-on-Trent 24 12 35 16 10 97
Kingston upon Hull 7 20 15 20 25 87
Middlesbrough 24 19 17 5 18 83
Sunderland 30 19 8 13 11 81
Slough 3 23 23 29 3 81
Bolton 16 6 34 16 7 79
Dundee 17 6 24 5 21 73
Poole 5 6 43 14 5 73
Plymouth 6 12 8 10 31 67
Northampton 13 12 6 10 17 58
Warrington 20 14 3 11 6 54
Swindon 8 14 4 18 9 53
Telford 1 25 1 22 4 53
Aberdeen 11 6 15 5 15 52
Luton 2 6 2 5 1 16

We’ve also included all of the stats from each of the factors we looked at – how does your local town or city fare?

Music Venues

Town/City Music Venues Per 10k People Points
Brighton and Hove 55 2.01 50
Manchester 104 1.96 49
Liverpool 85 1.78 48
Bristol 65 1.45 47
Cardiff 44 1.27 46
Nottingham 36 1.12 45
Cambridge 14 1.07 44
Edinburgh 49 1.05 43
Glasgow 63 1.04 42
Birmingham 93 0.84 41
Oxford 14 0.83 40
Blackpool 11 0.77 39
Newcastle upon Tyne 20 0.68 38
Bradford 36 0.68 38
Huddersfield 11 0.68 38
Leeds 51 0.66 35
Portsmouth 13 0.63 34
Belfast 19 0.57 33
Derby 14 0.56 32
York 11 0.53 31
London 454 0.52 30
Sunderland 9 0.52 30
Bournemouth 9 0.49 28
Coventry 15 0.43 27
Wolverhampton 11 0.43 27
Norwich 6 0.42 25
Stoke-on-Trent 10 0.40 24
Middlesbrough 7 0.40 24
Sheffield 21 0.37 22
Reading 7 0.30 21
Warrington 6 0.29 20
Southampton 7 0.28 19
Swansea 5 0.28 19
Dundee 4 0.27 17
Birkenhead 2 0.23 16
Leicester 8 0.23 16
Bolton 3 0.23 16
Northampton 5 0.22 13
Peterborough 4 0.21 12
Aberdeen 4 0.20 11
Southend-on-Sea 3 0.17 10
Milton Keynes 4 0.17 10
Swindon 3 0.14 8
Kingston upon Hull 3 0.12 7
Plymouth 3 0.11 6
Ipswich 1 0.07 5
Poole 1 0.07 5
Slough 1 0.06 3
Luton 1 0.05 2
Telford 0 0.00 1

Rehearsal Studios

Town/City Rehearsal Studios Per 10k People Points
Liverpool 28 0.59 50
Cardiff 18 0.52 49
Manchester 27 0.51 48
Brighton and Hove 14 0.51 48
Glasgow 26 0.43 46
Birmingham 43 0.39 45
Edinburgh 16 0.34 44
Birkenhead 3 0.34 44
Portsmouth 6 0.29 42
London 232 0.27 41
Reading 6 0.26 40
Newcastle upon Tyne 7 0.24 39
Oxford 4 0.24 38
Nottingham 7 0.22 37
Bournemouth 4 0.22 37
Southend-on-Sea 4 0.22 37
Ipswich 3 0.22 37
Norwich 3 0.21 33
Coventry 7 0.20 32
Bristol 8 0.18 31
Belfast 6 0.18 31
Sheffield 10 0.18 31
Cambridge 2 0.15 28
Peterborough 3 0.15 28
York 3 0.14 26
Leeds 10 0.13 25
Telford 2 0.13 25
Southampton 3 0.12 23
Leicester 4 0.12 23
Slough 2 0.12 23
Kingston upon Hull 2 0.08 20
Bradford 3 0.06 19
Huddersfield 1 0.06 19
Swansea 1 0.06 19
Middlesbrough 1 0.06 19
Sunderland 1 0.06 19
Warrington 1 0.05 14
Swindon 1 0.05 14
Wolverhampton 1 0.04 12
Milton Keynes 1 0.04 12
Derby 1 0.04 12
Stoke-on-Trent 1 0.04 12
Plymouth 1 0.04 12
Northampton 1 0.04 12
Blackpool 0 0.00 6
Bolton 0 0.00 6
Dundee 0 0.00 6
Poole 0 0.00 6
Aberdeen 0 0.00 6
Luton 0 0.00 6

Music Shops & Teachers

Town/City Music Shops & Teachers Per 10k People Rank
Nottingham 126 3.92 50
Liverpool 125 2.61 49
Bournemouth 44 2.40 48
Manchester 123 2.32 47
Birkenhead 20 2.25 46
Wolverhampton 57 2.24 45
Brighton and Hove 59 2.16 44
Poole 29 1.96 43
Newcastle upon Tyne 55 1.88 42
Birmingham 195 1.75 41
Bristol 77 1.71 40
Cardiff 59 1.70 39
Norwich 24 1.70 39
Blackpool 23 1.62 37
Bradford 78 1.48 36
Stoke-on-Trent 35 1.39 35
Derby 33 1.33 34
Bolton 17 1.33 34
Portsmouth 27 1.32 32
Southend-on-Sea 21 1.18 31
Coventry 40 1.16 30
Edinburgh 53 1.14 29
Milton Keynes 26 1.13 28
Glasgow 65 1.08 27
Peterborough 21 1.08 27
Huddersfield 17 1.04 25
Dundee 15 1.01 24
Cambridge 13 0.99 23
Slough 16 0.99 23
Sheffield 55 0.97 21
Reading 22 0.95 20
Leeds 72 0.93 19
Ipswich 12 0.90 18
London 742 0.86 17
Middlesbrough 15 0.86 17
Kingston upon Hull 21 0.81 15
Aberdeen 16 0.81 15
Southampton 19 0.75 13
Leicester 24 0.70 12
Oxford 11 0.65 11
Belfast 19 0.57 10
Swansea 10 0.56 9
Sunderland 8 0.46 8
Plymouth 12 0.46 8
Northampton 10 0.45 6
York 9 0.43 5
Swindon 9 0.43 4
Warrington 8 0.39 3
Luton 6 0.28 2
Telford 0 0.00 1

Recording Studios

Town/City Recording Studios Per 10k People Rank
Liverpool 29 0.61 50
Manchester 31 0.58 49
Cardiff 20 0.58 49
Brighton and Hove 15 0.55 47
Nottingham 15 0.47 46
Glasgow 28 0.46 45
Birmingham 47 0.42 44
Edinburgh 18 0.39 43
Portsmouth 8 0.39 43
Reading 8 0.34 41
Birkenhead 3 0.34 41
Newcastle upon Tyne 9 0.31 39
London 252 0.29 38
Bournemouth 5 0.27 37
Oxford 4 0.24 36
Southend-on-Sea 4 0.22 35
Ipswich 3 0.22 35
Norwich 3 0.21 33
Belfast 7 0.21 33
Coventry 7 0.20 31
Southampton 5 0.20 31
Slough 3 0.19 29
Bristol 8 0.18 28
Sheffield 10 0.18 28
Leeds 12 0.16 26
Cambridge 2 0.15 25
Leicester 5 0.15 25
Peterborough 3 0.15 25
Milton Keynes 3 0.13 22
Telford 2 0.13 22
Kingston upon Hull 3 0.12 20
Swansea 2 0.11 19
York 2 0.10 18
Swindon 2 0.10 18
Stoke-on-Trent 2 0.08 16
Bolton 1 0.08 16
Poole 1 0.07 14
Huddersfield 1 0.06 13
Sunderland 1 0.06 13
Warrington 1 0.05 11
Wolverhampton 1 0.04 10
Bradford 2 0.04 10
Derby 1 0.04 10
Plymouth 1 0.04 10
Northampton 1 0.04 10
Blackpool 0 0.00 5
Middlesbrough 0 0.00 5
Dundee 0 0.00 5
Aberdeen 0 0.00 5
Luton 0 0.00 5

Upcoming Gigs

Town/City Upcoming Gigs Per 10k People Rank
Brighton and Hove 305 11.16 50
Manchester 357 6.73 49
Oxford 96 5.71 48
Norwich 80 5.66 47
Newcastle upon Tyne 152 5.19 46
Bristol 228 5.07 45
Glasgow 298 4.94 44
Milton Keynes 97 4.22 43
Nottingham 128 3.98 42
Cambridge 51 3.90 41
Southampton 98 3.86 40
Bournemouth 69 3.76 39
Reading 77 3.31 38
Edinburgh 150 3.23 37
Liverpool 152 3.18 36
Leeds 223 2.88 35
Cardiff 95 2.74 34
York 52 2.51 33
Swansea 42 2.34 32
Plymouth 60 2.28 31
Belfast 75 2.25 30
Sheffield 128 2.25 30
Wolverhampton 55 2.16 28
Leicester 74 2.16 28
Derby 52 2.09 26
Kingston upon Hull 53 2.05 25
London 1718 1.98 24
Blackpool 28 1.97 23
Birmingham 204 1.84 22
Dundee 27 1.82 21
Portsmouth 35 1.71 20
Huddersfield 27 1.66 19
Middlesbrough 26 1.49 18
Northampton 32 1.44 17
Coventry 46 1.33 16
Aberdeen 25 1.27 15
Southend-on-Sea 20 1.12 14
Ipswich 14 1.05 13
Bradford 46 0.87 12
Sunderland 12 0.69 11
Stoke-on-Trent 17 0.68 10
Swindon 14 0.67 9
Peterborough 10 0.52 8
Bolton 6 0.47 7
Warrington 8 0.39 6
Poole 5 0.34 5
Telford 4 0.27 4
Slough 2 0.12 3
Birkenhead 1 0.11 2
Luton 2 0.09 1