0 4 mins 8 yrs

The top 20 named and shamed.

Grim up North: Blackpool might be famous for its sea air – but the stag-party hotspot has become the most dangerous place to drink in Britain. 

The figures are based on drinkers needing to be hospitalised – and were revealed as part of a chart of the top 20 hotspots for dangerous drinking in the UK.

In Blackpool, around five drinkers are hospitalised every day – with 1,230 people out of every 100,000 needing treatment last year.

The figures were uncovered by Labour MP Liam Byrne, who said, ‘Booze abuse costs Britain a staggering £21 billion a year. These shocking figures expose just where our problem’s biggest.

‘We’ve got to now make sure councils and health chiefs have proper plans in place to put treatment in reach of drinkers needing help.

‘’No one should suffer with alcohol addiction alone – especially when it’s parents with a problem.’

Even taking into account that Blackpool is a popular stag and hen party destination and a lot of the people getting drunk do not reside there, northern towns and cities make 99% of the top 20 list, and around 95% of the top 50 list. Is it that bad up north?  

The top 20 towns for dangerous drinking(FIgures don’t seem to include Scotland and Northern Ireland)

  1. Blackpool
  2. Stoke-on-Trent
  3. Sunderland
  4. Norwich
  5. Middlesbrough
  6. Gateshead
  7. Salford
  8. Nottingham
  9. Barrow-in-Furness
  10. South Tyneside
  11. Burnley
  12. Newcastle-under-Lyme
  13. North Tyneside
  14. Chesterfield
  15. Wakefield
  16. Kingston upon Hull
  17. Wigan
  18. Manchester
  19. Torbay
  20. Wirral

Blackpool has been named as the smoking capital of the UK – with almost three times as many adults lighting a cigarette than in parts of the South.

According to newly released health watchdog data, the popular seaside town has a smoking rate of 26.9 percent – meaning that one in four people regularly spark up.

A further three northern towns – Kingston Upon Hull, Salford and Manchester, made up the top five areas with the most smokers, closely followed by Nottingham.

In total contrast, the place with the lowest smoking rate was revealed to be Wokingham in Berkshire, where fewer than one in 10 adults spark up on a regular basis.

This was closely followed by Richmond upon Thames (11.2 per cent), Windsor and Maidenhead (12.1 per cent).

Other low ranking towns included Hounslow (12.3 per cent) and North Somerset (12.4 per cent).

The new figures come as the number of adult smokers continues to fall across England, now standing at 18.0 per cent – falling almost 3 percent from the 20.8 recorded in 2010.

Here are the top 10 areas with the highest rate of adult smokers.

  • Blackpool / 26.9%
  • Kingston upon Hull / 26.4%
  • Manchester / 25.8%
  • Salford / 24.4%
  • Nottingham / 24.2%
  • Blackburn with Darwen / 23.6%
  • Hartlepool / 23.4%
  • Wakefield / 23.4%
  • North East Lincolnshire / 23.3%
  • Brighton and Hove / 23.1

And here’s the lowest.

  • Wokingham / 9.8%
  • Richmond upon Thames / 11.2%
  • Windsor and Maidenhead / 12.1%
  • Hounslow / 12.3%
  • North Somerset / 12.4%
  • Cheshire East / 12.6%
  • Solihull / 12.6%
  • Harrow / 13.1%
  • Barnet / 13.2%
  • City of London / 13.3%