Stoke-on-Trent UK's friendliest city? Course it is, ducky

It is a city with an international reputation for pottery, famed for its historic bottle kilns and its love of oatcakes. But do the six towns that make up Stoke-on-Trent also make it the friendliest city in the UK?

Newspaper columnist Ben Aitken certainly thinks so, after exploring the city for his Sunday Times column. He visited attractions like Trentham Gardens, World of Wedgwood and the nearby New Vic - as well as sampling oatcakes.

He was also called "ducky" 17 times in a single afternoon and described Stokies as "warm and friendly". He is far from alone in this view.

Locals told BBC Radio Stoke you won't "meet nicer people anywhere in the world" - and praised the city's community spirit and working-class roots as the reason why.

Aitken said his column aimed to shine a light on places that were often overlooked due to their industrial heritage or reputation.

"They get stuck and trapped in that reputation," he said. "Anywhere, like anyone, can be nourishing and enjoyable."

He said many people he spoke to in the city initially dismissed it as a place with little to offer and "nothing to do" but "if you interrogate them further they will come up with a long list of things they would do".

While locals will share a gripe or two about traffic on the "D road" or the city's reputation as the birthplace of the pothole, many said its community spirit and working-class roots were behind it being also known for friendliness.

Trader Eddie Skelson said people across the six towns shared a sense of community, and that traditions such as the annual Potters' Fortnight had helped foster a sense of togetherness.

"I think that made essentially entire communities enjoy time together even though they may not realise it," he said.

He said locals were usually willing to help strangers and wanted to make a good impression.

"We want to put on a good show," he said. "People are pleasant and that's not by accident."

Butcher Nicky Joinson said humour was also an important part of life in Stoke.

"We laugh, we joke and nothing's too much for anybody really," she said. "At the moment you've got to have a laugh and a joke."

She added that visitors often warmed to the area and decided to stay.

"Outsiders come in, they take to us and they stop," she said. But she thought native Stokies had a unique quality: "I think you've just got to be born and bred here to get that feeling."

In his Sunday Times column, Aitken also praised the city's food, particularly its oatcakes.

Not to be confused with the Scottish variant, the debate over what filling to have on the north Staffordshire staple is as hot as the tasty delicacy itself.

"I like them a lot," Aitken told the BBC. "It was special."

But although Stoke-on-Trent's oatcakes have a special place in hearts of many locals, the people are what many think make the city truly shine.

As Claire Breeze said as she shopped at the market, "I don't think you can meet nicer people anywhere in the world".

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