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2 May 2025

Could the UK cycling industry be showing signs of renewed momentum? Following a challenging period marked by falling sales and overstocked inventories, overall trends and sales figures from...

2 May 2025

The Netherlands is set to legalise electric scooters and other light electric vehicles on public roads from July 2025, provided they are registered and display a license plate.

30 Apr 2025

The ACT has welcomed the announcement of a parliamentary inquiry into e-bike products not meeting safety regulations, which has been launched “in context of dangerous low-quality e-bike...

29 Apr 2025

Edinburgh has been named the UK’s top city for bike commuting, with 10.00% of its workforce choosing to cycle to work, according to new research.

28 Apr 2025

The Labour Government’s new Employment Rights Bill is set to be in force this year and the new regulations will impact high street retailers up and down the country.

25 Apr 2025

ACT parent company Bira welcomes the Chancellor's announcement of plans to create a level playing field for British businesses against unfair international trade practices.

15 Apr 2025

Retail Crime Remains Alarming - Bira's Latest Survey Reveals Urgent Need for Action

11 Apr 2025

Bira has cautiously welcomed the Prime Minister's announcement this week on plans to put 'thousands of Bobbies back on the Beat' with a new neighbourhood policing guarantee.

11 Apr 2025

Cycling UK has called for greater, targeted investment in cycling infrastructure across the UK to help more women feel safe and confident to cycle, with the charity urging Government to commit...

10 Apr 2025

Graeme Stickells, Head Trainer at South Africa’s only Cytech training centre Torq Zone Academy, is recovering from a life-threatening hit-and-run incident — and a crowdfunder has...

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Study names UK’s best and worst cities for retail customer service

Posted on in Business News , Cycles News

A new study, by careers experts, StandOut CV, claims to have identified the best and worst cities in the UK for customer service by highlighting the frequency of positive and negative comments left by customers in each city. The study analysed 784,444 customer reviews from Google Maps.

The analysis reviewed a variety of industries which included B&Bs, barbers, bars, cafés, gyms, hairdressers, restaurants, shops and supermarkets to reveal how many times positive and negative phrases were used.

Looking at retail businesses, the data revealed the best-reviewed city for retail customer service to be Wells in Somerset, with 9.3% of reviews posting positive comments about their customer service. York was rated the second best, with 8.4% of the city’s reviews containing positive customer feedback.

 Top 10 cities for positive customer feedback in retail:
1.    Wells (9.3%)
2.    York (8.4%)
3.    Truro (8.2%)
4.    Ripon (8.2%)
5.    Ely (7.3%)
6.    Chichester (7.2%)
7.    Winchester (6.9%)
8.    Salisbury (6.7%)
9.    Manchester (6.5%)
10.    Chester (6.5%)

Cities that performed less well in their retail customer service were led by Leicester, with 3.25% of its retail business reviews containing various negative customer comments.

Top 10 cities for negative customer feedback in retail:
1.    Leicester (3.25%)
2.    Westminster (2.91%)
3.    Southampton (2.90%)
4.    Bradford (2.86%)
5.    Birmingham (2.85%)
6.    Manchester (2.53%)
7.    Oxford (2.53%)
8.    Bristol (2.34%)
9.    Nottingham (2.30%)
10.    Cambridge (2.27%)

Cities providing the best customer service in the UK

When looking at the overall data, which considers retail businesses as well as many others, the study found Wells in Somerset had the highest percentage of positive customer comments, relative to the city’s overall total, with 26.9% of reviews mentioning any of the positive customer service phrases analysed in the study. Ripon in North Yorkshire came next (20.7%), followed by Chichester (19.9%).

Customer Services best cities

The city of Westminster had the highest overall proportion of customer service reviews where 2.42% of business reviews contained negative comments from customers, followed by London (2.41%), and Birmingham (2.3%).

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