Some interesting research from the Daily Express today, which shows which UK towns and cities have the most veterinary practices per capita.

You could otherwise call them "Britain's Best Places to Get Ill (if you are a dog)", or alternatively "Britain's Worst Places to Open (another) Veterinary Practice".

The best town, in the whole of the UK, for a dog to get ill, is, wait for it ... Worcester, which has a veterinary practice for every 7,308 people. Not far behind, Worthing, Chelmsford, Southampton, and Exeter all have a practice for every 9,916 people or less.

At the other end of the scale, the very worst place for a dog to get ill - and possibly the best place to open a practice - is Birmingham, where (according to this research) each practice serves 227,424 people. London was in second place (one practice for every 210,119 people), Manchester in third (1:181,833) and St Helens in fourth (1:179,331).

The research was part of a bigger analysis to see where in the country pets are best catered for, according to the number of pet shops, dog groomers, vets, parks, dog walkers and kennels in the area, as listed on yelp.co.uk.

Blackpool was the clear winner, with pet-friendly facilities for every 2,680 people. In fact, it was the only Northern town in the top ten. In second was Chelmsford and in third was Woking.

The full rankings of UK towns and cities by number of veterinary practices per capita was:

1. Worcester (.0001368)
2. Worthing (.0001277)
3. Chelmsford (.0001192)
4. Southampton (.0001189)
5. Exeter (.0001008)
6. Cheltenham (.0000939)
7. Gloucester (.0000930)
8. Eastbourne (.0000872)
9. Watford (.0000828)
10. Cambridge (.0000801)
11. Oxford (.0000776)
12. Bath (.0000742)
13. Maidstone (.0000715)
14. Woking (.0000692)
15. Reading (.0000675)
16. Southend-on-Sea (.0000660)
17. Ipswich (.0000650)
18. Blackpool (.0000643)
19. Norwich (.0000641)
20. Swindon (.0000635)
21. Crawley (.0000627)
22. York (.0000625)
23. Blackburn (.0000605)
24. Telford (.0000569)
25. Brighton (.0000555)
26. Poole (.0000529)
27. Newport (.0000528)
28. Bournemouth (.0000513)
29. Lincoln (.0000508)
30. Peterborough (.0000503)
31. Dundee (.0000471)
32. Solihull (.0000467)
33. Portsmouth (.0000466)
34. Wolverhampton (.0000462)
35. Rochdale (.0000458)
36. Northampton (.0000443)
37. Belfast (.0000441)
38. Newcastle upon Tyne (.0000439)
39. Bristol (.0000435)
40. Basildon (.0000434)
41. Warrington (.0000429)
42. Nottingham (.0000425)
43. Kingston upon Hull (.0000422)
44. Luton (.0000419)
45. Coventry (.0000416)
46. Cardiff (.0000414)
47. Slough (.0000403)
48. Edinburgh (.0000390)
49. Derby (.0000389)
50. Oldham (.0000385)
51. Plymouth (.0000380)
52. Colchester (.0000368)
53. Middlesborough (.0000356)
54. Bolton (.0000351)
55. Gateshead (.0000346)
56. Basingstoke (.0000342)
57. Glasgow (.0000338)
58. Stoke-on-Trent (.0000313)
59. Stockport (.0000275)
60. Milton Keynes (.0000262)
61. Doncaster (.0000259)
62. Wigan (.0000246)
63. Swansea (.0000244)
64. Liverpool (.0000224)
65. Aberdeen (.0000219)
66. Wakefield (.0000205)
67. Sheffield (.0000190)
68. Sunderland (.0000180)
69. Rotherham (.0000152)
70. Leicester (.0000141)
71. Salford (.0000119)
72. Bradford (.0000112)
73. Leeds (.0000102)
74. St Helens (.0000056)
75. Manchester (.0000055)
76. London (.0000048)
77. Birmingham (.0000044)

PS: Whilst you're here, take a moment to see our latest job opportunities for vets.