Places to eat: Sheffield among UK cities with fewest number of fast food restaurants – but boasts 27 Subways

A recent study has revealed the 10 areas of the UK with the fewest number of fast food restaurants – with Sheffield being named as one of those offering the least.

The study, undertaken by health experts at Now Patient, says: “[Fast food restaurants and takeaways] are often a cheap and simple solution for your next meal, and it gives you more time to do things you enjoy. And the rising popularity of delivery services such as Just Eat and Deliveroo has made this easier and more tempting than ever before.

“There is an obesity problem in the UK, and the rising number of fast food restaurants and takeaways hardly help tackle this. That’s why we wanted to know which UK cities have the most fast food restaurants.”

Experts looked at the 36 most populous cities, and then used store locators for McDonald’s, Burger King, Subway, KFC, and Five Guys to find out the number of stores in each of the locations.

In total it found that Sheffield had 63 of these fast food outlets, which ranked it in fourth place for fewest food outlets, with just 9.2 restaurants on offer per 100,000 people.

Further research found that Sheffielders top fast food brand is McDonald’s, followed by KFC, and then Subway. Surprisingly, the city has just nine McDonald’s branches, compared with 27 Subway branches.

The overall city with the fewest fast food restaurants per 100,000 people was in fact London. With a population of over 8,960,000, the capital offers 442 of the above fast food restaurants, which means there are only 4.9 per 100,000 people.

At the other end of the spectrum, the UK city with the most fast food brands per 100,000 people was Newcastle, with 27.5 fast food restaurants. Running close in second place was Manchester, with 27.3.

Since 2013, the number of fast food restaurants in the UK has increased by over 31 per cent, with the country now home to over 48,000 restaurants, compared to just over 37,000 back in 2013.