Exclusive by Danielle Wainwright
Queens, Wales and Paris were just some of the ludicrous answers that Americans gave when asked to name a British city other than London with Manchester coming in at a respectable second place.
Like a scene straight out of Family Fortunes, Stacey Cavanagh asked 1000 US citizens to give their answers, curious of how her hometown of Manchester would fare across the pond.
And to her surprise our Northern city narrowly missed out to Liverpool by 30 votes, with 12% of participants choosing Manchester
Stacey, who blogs through BlogSession spoke to MM of her elation to see her hometown of Manchester in the top five cities mentioned by Americans, as well as her inspiration for her survey which has taken Twitter by storm.
“We were having a conversation in the office last week about how Manchester should absolutely be the UK’s official second city,” she said.
RESULTS: Stacey’s survey outcome
“Of course, there’s some bias in our city centre office! But it got me wondering how well the city is known outside the UK and Europe. So it was a good opportunity for me to try out Google Consumer Surveys and find out how well known Manchester is at the same time.
“I had definitely expected to see Manchester first or second but had anticipated Birmingham to be the main rival for the top spot.”
And how does Stacey feel about Manchester’s northern rival taking the top spot?
“The initial reaction for me was surprise at Liverpool’s position. But then again, I hadn’t considered the Beatles-factor.”
However the keen blogger admitted her lack of knowledge of US cities, and has plans to test her fellow Brits on the subject.
“The follow up survey to this will be putting Brits under the spotlight to find out if we fare any better.”“You know, it’s easy for us to laugh at mentions of Wales and Paris up there… but I’ll be the first to admit my knowledge of US cities is probably pretty poor!
Coming in at third most widely known British city was Leeds with 47 votes, Cambridge at fifth with 37 then Bristol with 36.
Other answers included Cornwall, Cheshire with a handful of participants not even bothering to answer leaving ‘I don’t know’.
Manchester and Liverpool’s success, Stacey believes, may be down to having two huge teams one of whom has won the Premier League.
Popularity could also stem from Manchester’s influential musical scene, with huge artists such as The Smiths, Oasis and the Stone Roses all achieving a US following.
“We’ve also got amazing museums,” she added. “And most importantly Coronation Street!
“What we have within walking distance is incredible. In no more than a 10 minute walk, I can reach theatres, shops, museums, bars, libraries and enjoy some really unsung architecture along the way.
“I’m guilty of taking it for granted, living here, but our city centre is an awesome place to be.”
To visit Stacey’s blog, click here.
Picture courtesy of Etienne Pelletier via Flickr, with thanks.
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