BRADFORD has been ranked as the 25th-most ‘aesthetic’ city in the UK – and as the most attractive in Yorkshire – following new analysis.

A total of 43 cities were studied by tiling company Atlas Ceramics, as it compiled a list of the most and least attractive cities in the country, with the study not reflecting well on Sheffield.

The cities were ranked by the number of listed buildings, monuments, boutique hotels, interior designers and architects they had.

Although it was still ranked in the bottom half of the table, Bradford was the highest-placed city in Yorkshire.

It came three places higher than York, and 15 above Leeds, which – in 40th place – was fourth lowest in the list.

Sheffield followed one place behind Leeds, being ranked as the third ‘ugliest’ city in the country.

The list was dominated by the south – with 9th-placed Manchester being the only northern city in top 10.

Oxford took top spot and was followed by Worcester and Exeter. Winchester, Chelmsford and London came next.

Derry in Northern Ireland came bottom of the list, with Atlas Ceramics owing its low ranking to its “low proportion of interior designers, who play an important role in creating and curating a city’s aesthetic”.

Atlas Ceramics found that 5.88 per cent of hotels in Bradford were boutique hotels. This is significantly lower than Canterbury in Kent (41.67 per cent), Winchester and Chelmsford (both 40 per cent), but higher than Belfast (2.70 per cent) and Leeds (1.75 per cent).

Bradford was recorded as having seven listed buildings and monuments per square kilometre, much lower than Edinburgh (35) and Norwich (28), but higher than York (six), Leeds (four) and Sheffield (two).

The study also said that Bradford had 41.5 interior designers per 100,000 people. With a figure of 270.6, St Albans – which came 7th in the list overall – was the highest. Derry was the lowest, with only two interior designers per 100,000 people.

Stats also showed that Bradford had 40.4 architects per 100,000 people. St Albans again topped this list with 265.9 architects per 100,000 people, while Durham had the lowest, at 5.8.

Bradford was given an overall ‘aesthetic score’ of 4.47 out of 10. Table-topping Oxford was given an 8.39, while bottom-place Derry scored just 1.79.