YORK has been crowned the UK’s most festive city to visit ahead of Christmas this year, according to a recent study.

The research, by Hammonds Fitted Furniture, compared a number of Christmassy factors in order to find the ultimate festive day out destinations.

The findings were then combined to rank each city out of a possible 100 points - and in the top spot, York scored 87.

York residents have plenty of Christmas cheer, according to the data, with one in six locals putting their Christmas decorations up as early as the first week of November.

The city, whose famous street, the Shambles, boasts several year-round Christmas shops, will host five seasonal events per 10,000 people this winter, such as craft workshops, Santa’s grottos and independent markets, the study found.

York Press: A festive stall at the Christmas Fair in York last yearA festive stall at the Christmas Fair in York last year

There are also 8.5k posts under the hashtag '#YorkChristmasMarket' on Instagram, making it one of the most popular markets to post pictures of. Despite the Christmas lights switch on event being cancelled for 2022, there will still be plenty of lights adorning the city this year.

Edinburgh missed out on top spot by just one point, scoring 86, whilst Manchester scored 78 out of 100 overall.

As for the areas of the country that are the least festive, Derry came in at the bottom of the rankings along with Wrexham and Warrington.