The Most Sex Positive Towns and Cities in the UK

Where you live impacts all aspects of your life, including your sex life. If you’ve ever wondered where in the UK is the most sexually positive, look no further, we have done the research and crowned the UK’s sex positive cities.

Being sex positive [1] includes behaviours such as being accepting of others' sexual preferences and identity, being open to new things in the bedroom, practising safe sex and frequently testing for STIs.

Alongside sexual positivity, our research and analysis have also revealed what could be deemed the most sexually active cities in the UK, where Brits are embracing their sexual health as well as pleasure, which are often seen as taboo subjects.

We have looked at a variety of factors, including how much each location spends on sex toys, the number of NHS sexual health clinics, the number of sex therapists and how much each location is searching for contraceptives to reveal the UK’s most sex positive city.

The UK’s sex positive towns and cities

We broke down our research into four different categories to see where in the UK the hotspot for each different sexually positive factor is. But what do our metrics mean when it comes to overall sex positivity?

When considering the total spend on sex products, this implies the individual is open to experimenting within the bedroom and embracing sexual products within their lifestyle - ultimately making them a more sex positive person.

Sex clinics, contraceptives and sex therapists all collaborate to improve an individual's sexual safety and show people are taking steps to improve their sexual well-being.

All of these factors work towards breaking down stigmas and taboos surrounding sexual health. The more of these key metrics that are present, the better these areas are equipped to celebrate sexual positivity!

Manchester's metrics speak for themselves, with a total score of 91, the city is the top performer when it comes to sex positivity.

Perhaps Manchester ranks highly for these factors due to its young population, with 59.11% of the city's population under the age of 34[2], helping break the mould and change attitudes around sex.

London follows in second place, with a score of 88, the city makes a conscious effort to launch new sexual health services[3] to reduce inequality within local services.

Croydon, with a score of 85, boasts a large selection of sex positive, kink-allied counsellors[4] as well as ranking within the top 10 in the UK for both sex therapists and NHS sexual health clinics.

Bristol, with a score of 82, has a dedicated sexual health improvement program[5] showing the city has a real interest in improving residents' understanding of sexual health and access to sexual health services.

Top 10 most sex positive cities in the UK

When looking at the top 10 sex positive locations on the map, it's clear to see that the north and south divide does not include the nation's sexual positivity!

It could be said that our sex positive cities are influenced by other factors, with 7 of the top 10 also ranking as top cities for LGBTQ communities[6].

This could suggest that these cities are truly sex positive as they are accepting of people no matter who they love and are the best places to be for celebrating all types of love.

A further 6/10 of our sex positive cities also rank within the best student cities in the UK[7] suggesting that these student hotspots are also more accepting of the sex positive movement.

The top 10 cities and towns for sex product spend, sexual health clinics, sex therapists and contraceptive keyword searches

The NHS sexual health clinics

Within the UK, there have been significant cuts when looking at NHS sexual health services, with a reduction of £100 million since 2015/16[8].

These cuts have led to less resilient sexual health services, especially when faced with increased patient demand, as seen with the rise in monkeypox cases in the UK[9].

London has been found to be the location with the most NHS sexual health clinics, with the city boasting a total of 27.

This is followed by Manchester, our most sex positive city, with a total of 14.

Despite ranking reasonably low in terms of the total number of NHS sexual health clinics, Birmingham is the area with the highest expenditure on sexual health in the UK (2021-22), with spending reaching £16,462,000 - it’s a shock the city is not higher up the chart.

The second highest location for government sexual health spending on sexual health was found to be in Kent (£12,825,000) however the city does not feature within the top 10 when looking at the number of NHS sexual health clinics available.

The highest sex product spend

Crowned as the UK’s sex product hotspot is Londonderry (Derry), the second-largest city in Northern Ireland.

With their average spend being over £1,000 higher than any other location within the UK, it’s surely home to some of the most sex positive individuals.

This is followed by Beaminster, located in Dorset, this seemingly idyllic rural town is actually home to some of the UK’s highest spenders on sex products!

The most sex therapists

A sex therapist helps those with sexual problems and in the UK alone there have been over 5,000 searches looking for a sex therapist.

Sex therapists offer a range of services, this includes help for those with difficulty orgasming, erectile dysfunction sufferers, anyone experiencing painful sex and individuals with a lack of sexual desire.

London has been found the location with the most registered sex therapists, with 91 in the city alone. London is closely followed by Liverpool, with 90 sex therapists.

Searching the most for contraceptives and safe sex

Contraception can be a confusing topic if you're not clued up on the various kinds of contraceptives on offer.

With this in mind, it's no surprise to see significant search levels within the UK. London tops the chart with over 210,000 searches around contraceptive methods suggesting the city is looking to find out more about how they can better protect themselves sexually.

It’s great to see so many cities scoring highly when it comes to sex positivity.

Negative connotations and judgement around sex have no space in a sex positive society, with jokes and stigma around STIs, considering sex to be a dirty act and ‘slut’ shaming becoming a thing of the past.

If you want to educate yourself on sexual heath related topics, we have a variety of resources such guides around same sex sexual health or even the benefits of orgasms to aid you on your journey towards sex positivity!

Sources

Methodology

To find out which city or town is the most sex positive in the UK, Chemist4U selected the top 100 UK cities and towns, according to internal sales data, that have spent the most on sex products (sex toys, lubricants, condoms) since 28/09/2020.

The population figures for these 100 cities and towns were then collected to calculate the spending on sex products per 10,000 people.

NHS data for the total number of NHS sexual health clinics and sex therapists within 5 miles of each city and town centre was also captured.

Using Google Keyword Planner, we looked at the search volume for 5 key contraceptive search terms (contraceptive, contraceptive coil, contraceptive implant, contraceptive methods, contraceptive patch and contraceptive pill). This was exported with the average monthly search volume multiplied by 12 to provide the total annual searches for each city and town.

An index scoring system was then applied to calculate which city or town is the most sex positive in the UK.

Data

The full data set is available to view here.

i How we ensure accuracy in our content

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