Preston has been announced as the UK’s top spending city on Valentine’s Day in a survey conducted by WorldPay.
Residents of the North-West city will spend an average of £53 per person on their partner or loved ones, 18% higher than the national average of £45. The figure is also clearly ahead of second place Milton Keynes (£49) and third-place Aberdeen (£48).
The payment gateway platform names Coventry and Walsall as the lowest spenders at £26, less than half that of Preston. Between the capital cities, Edinburgh sits in fifth nationally spending £47, London is eighteenth with £43 while Cardiff is in twenty-fifth place with £42. Belfast wasn’t included in the study.
With Valentine’s Day falling on a Sunday this year, WorldPay is also predicting an upturn in spending on what it is calling “Make Up Monday†with forgetful partners spending more online on gifts to apologise. Average spend on flowers is expected to be £50 on Monday, up from £40 on the week prior to Valentine’s Day.
Dave Hobday, Managing Director of WorldPay, said “Valentine’s Day is bigger than Christmas for certain sectors – particularly if you happen to be a florist in Lancashire, where local residents really seem to go to town on spoiling their loved ones.
“Most business owners will be focusing on how to maximise profits over the intense and increasingly panicked 48 hour period up to and including Valentine’s Day.
“But the shrewdest shop owners will also be making sure to keep some stock back for Monday morning, when our data suggests there’s a premium to be made out of penitence.â€
It’s estimated that over £1.6 billion has been spent on Valentine’s Day this year, with the typical romantic businesses of florists, restaurants, jewellers and hotels seeing much of the benefit. Tesco alone sells over one million bunches of flowers at this time of year.
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