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These are the 15 safest cities in Britain

Lianna Brinded,Will Martin
Sunday 11 September 2016 09:54 BST
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Birmingham has some of the friendliest citizens in the UK
Birmingham has some of the friendliest citizens in the UK (Reuters)

Generally Brits are lucky to live in a very safe society, where they can feel safe and secure wherever they choose to live. However some places in the UK are obviously safer than others. But where in Britain do people feel the safest?

As part of it's “Unbroken Britain” survey — a look into how friendly, welcoming, and polite Britain's cities are — personal finance firm Provident Personal Credit took a look at which British cities are the safest.

Provident asked thousands of people in cities across the UK to rate how safe their hometown is. The responses were tallied, and each city was given a score out of 10, with one being the worst possible score.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, London didn't score highly when it comes to safety, but some of the UK's biggest cities did end up close to the top of the list. Check out Britain's safest cities below.

15. Liverpool — 7.1. Famous for the Beatles and football, Liverpool is also one of the safest places in the UK. Liverpudlians aren't massively invested in the city from a personal perspective. Just 23% said that they get “involved with activities” in their communities

14 (joint). Chelmsford — 7.18. Essex's county town is one of the safest in Britain according to Provident. The latest statistics show that there were 928 crimes in the city in June.

14 (joint). Swansea — 7.18. UK Crime Stats says there were just 1,850 crimes in the city during June this year. Around 20% of those crimes involved anti-social behaviour.

Bay watch: The Gower Peninsula (Visit Wales)

14 (joint). Norwich — 7.18. The East Anglian city of Norwich is the safest in the region, with Provident's survey showing that 31% of people feel so safe that they'd happily open their home to neighbours for drinks and dinner.

11. Brighton and Hove — 7.19. Just over an hour from London, Brighton is not just a popular commuter town, its also incredibly safe. There were 2,891 crimes in a population of over 280,000 in June this year.

10. Edinburgh — 7.21. The Scottish capital ranked as the second safest city in the country, according to Provident. More than three quarters of residents are happy to greet strangers in the street, the survey said.

Edinburgh University expects staff to report to their department whenever they leave the office (Getty)

9. Oxford — 7.26. Famous for its world class university, Oxford experienced 1,381 crimes in June this year, including 130 people getting their bikes stolen.

8. Birmingham — 7.27. England's second city has some of the friendliest citizens in the UK, with 81% of people saying that they greet people in the street. The city's population of just over one million witnesses between 8,000 and 9,000 crimes per month.

7. Belfast — 7.33. The Northern Irish capital is ranked as the safest city in the country by Provident. That stokes a lot of local pride, with around a third of citizens saying they're proud to hail from the city.

(Getty Images (Getty Images)

6. York — 7.38. York has a population of around 200,000 people, and attracts around 1,500 crimes per month, with the vast majority of them being related to anti-social behaviour.

5. Plymouth — 7.41. Plymouth is the largest city in the county of Devon, and the safest big city in south west England.

4. Aberdeen — 7.51. Aberdeen takes the crown as the safest city in Scotland, according to Provident. More than half of people surveyed also said that they frequently use local amenities in the city.

The section of Aberdeen beach near pizza hut, where the incident is reported to have taken place (Google Streetview)

3. Wrexham — 7.6. Wrexham may be the third safest city in the UK, but it only ranks as the second safest in Wales, with a score of 7.6, far lower than the top city.

2. Worcester — 7.63. Worcester is the safest city in England, according to Provident. In June this year there were 1,305 crimes in the city, including only seven robberies.

1. Aberystwyth — 8.3. Aberystwyth takes the top spot as Britain's safest city, according to Provident. Residents are also the most likely of any in Britain to say hello to strangers in the street. A massive 89% do this frequently.

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Read the original article on Business Insider UK. © 2016. Follow Business Insider UK on Twitter.

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