The UK places with the most and fewest fast food outlets

Camden in north London has the most fast food outlets by population in England, replacing Bury in Greater Manchester, research has shown.

The London borough had an estimated 417 outlets for every 100,000 people living there in 2024, data from the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) found.

That is more than double its total in 2017, when the survey was last compiled.

Neighbouring Westminster is second with 248, followed by Blackpool and Southwark, one of five London local authority areas in the top 10. Manchester completed the top five.

Hackney in east London saw the number of outlets rise by more than a third to 166, climbing from 58th place to ninth and Liverpool also entered the top 10, with 175 per 100,000.

Bury, which led the previous survey with 256, dropped to 10th place last year, while Wokingham in Berkshire still has the fewest outlets, with 39, and Hartlepool (138) and Darlington (145) also saw large declines.

The data takes in a range of shops selling foods including, but not limited to, burgers, pizza, kebabs, chicken, Indian takeaways, Chinese takeaways, and fish and chips.

Deprived areas have more than twice the number (147) of fast food outlets per population than the least deprived areas (73), the analysis showed.

A Camden Council spokesperson said the area was a “world-famous tourist hotspot” where visitors “grab food on the go either before or after” nights out or travelling home from the city.

Top 10 areas in terms of fast food outlets per 100,000 people (2017 figure in brackets): Camden 417.4 (205.2), Westminster 248.2 (146.8), Blackpool 226.3 (230.1), Southwark 205.4 (110.5), Manchester 183.0 (144.9), Tower Hamlets 176.8 (149.6), Liverpool 175.1 (135.3), Tameside 170.5 (144.7), Hackney 166.0 (107.2) and Bury 165.7 (256.4).

Bottom 10 areas in terms of fast food outlets per 100,000 people (2017 figure in brackets) Wokingham 39.2 (37.4), Bracknell Forest 63.1 (54.1), Richmond upon Thames 65.5 (68.1), Herefordshire 69.0 (58.9), Merton 75.3 (92.4) West Berkshire 77.1 (82.1) ,Central Bedfordshire 77.5 (67.3), Wiltshire 77.8 (68.8), Knowsley 77.9 (61.9) and Buckinghamshire 79.1 (62.7).