The UK's most attractive accent has been revealed—but do you agree?

Interesting!

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It's fair to say that many of us have certain accents that we find particularly pleasing to the ears.

While some of us adore the accent from one part of the UK, others might prefer the tone from somewhere entirely different.

But now, research has found that there's one accent the great British public find most attractive—and it might surprise you.


The research by Gala Bingo shows 17% of people find the Scottish accent the most attractive, quickly followed by the Welsh accent, at 13%, and the Northern Irish accent, at 12%.

11% of people also said that they found the Geordie (Newcastle) accent most attractive, while a smaller 8% argued in favour of the West Country accent, found in the likes of Devon, Cornwall and Dorset.

And it seems the Scots also top the list when it comes to trust too, with 14% of people surveyed saying they find that accent the most trustworthy. The Yorkshire accent is a close second, at 13%.

But when it comes to intelligence, a huge majority of Brits—35%—say that Received Pronunciation is the most intelligent-sounding UK accent, while the Mancunian and Essex accents sit at the bottom of the list, at just 2%.

Received Pronunciation is the accent regarded as 'typically British', most commonly based on educated speech in southern England.

And when it came to the British public's favorite accent overall, Scottish came top of the bunch once again, followed by the Geordie accent, Welsh, Northern Irish and West Country accent.

At the bottom however was the East Midlands accent—held by people from the likes of Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire.

However, the Cumbrian accent was by far the least popular, being voted as the favorite by just 2% of people.

The UK's top ten favorite accents:

  • Scottish - 15%
  • Geordie - 12%
  • Welsh - 12%
  • Northern Irish - 10%
  • West Country - 8%
  • Yorkshire - 8%
  • Cockney - 6%
  • Received Pronunciation - 6%
  • Scouse - 5%
  • East Midlands - 3%
Amy Hunt

Amy Hunt is an experienced digital journalist specialising in homes, interiors and hobbies. She began her career working as the features assistant at woman&home magazine, before moving over to the digital side of the brand where she eventually became the Lifestyle Editor up until January 2022. Amy won the Digital Journalist of the Year award at the AOP Awards in 2019 for her work on womanandhome.com.