Study claims Sheffield is 'one of the ugliest cities' in the UK - The Star disagrees

Atlas Ceramics emailed us saying it ‘had a story you will LOVE’, before trashing the Steel City for not having enough boutique hotels.

Indeed, the company’s ‘Most Aesthetic City’ assessment – which lorded Oxford, Worcester and Exeter in its top three – does not have the broadest criteria.

The spurious ranking is based on each city’s number of boutique hotels, number of listed buildings per square kilometre, as well as – bafflingly – the number of architects and interior designers per 100,000 people.

Sadly, Sheffield – for all of its 4.5m trees, 250 public green spaces and stunning 52 square miles of national park beauty – only has three boutique hotels and less interior designers than the reduced aisle at Wickes (14.1 per 100,000).

Atlas gave Sheffield a paltry ‘aesthetic score’ of 2.2. Durham took second ugliest, and Derry took first.

Sheffield also came second to last for its proportion of listed buildings in the rankings. The Star has asked if the recent decision over the John Lewis building could bump the Steel City up to fourth place.

Any resident disappointed by the meagre ranking by a ceramics company that believes architects make buildings nicer just by standing next to them are invited to attend their nearest Sheffield park this lunchtime – it won’t ever take you more than a 10 minute walk.

Yours might include taking a turn off trendy Ecclesall Road and heading to the botanical gardens, which is not suffering for a lack of interior designers.

City centre dwellers will be harder pressed – your only choices are the award-winning, envy-scoring Winter Gardens or enjoying a coffee on Devonshire Green. Don’t stop to admire Town Hall, City Hall or the Peace Gardens too long, and certainly don’t enjoy how Division Street frames the clocktower so perfectly.

If not, those whose parks are sat higher up in our little valley will have to settle with looking at the city’s unparalleled view of the Peak District. Have fun thinking about where and how you would spoil the view with a boutique hotel if you could find the architects and interior designers to build it.