Grimsby has the ‘unhealthiest’ high street in Britain, according to a new study that looks at the impact of the high street on the health of a town’s residents.
Published by the Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH), the study ranks Britain’s major towns and cities based on the prevalence of different types of businesses found in the towns’ main retail areas.
It found that northern towns topped the rankings for the unhealthiest high streets, with Grimsby as number one and Bradford as number 10.
Edinburgh was ranked as Britain’s healthiest high street.
The study found that the average life expectancy for people living in areas with the top 10 healthiest high streets is two and a half years longer than for those in the 10 unhealthiest ranked areas.
The number of fast food shops was a major factor in determining the healthiness of a high street.
Fast food shops have increased by 4,000 between 2014 and 2017, especially in the most deprived areas, which now have five times more fast food shops than the most affluent areas, RSPH found.
The number of vape shops has doubled from 1,000 to 2,000 in the past three years.