The UK’s largest coach operator, National Express has revealed the most Instagrammed activities and trending attractions across Great Britain.
The research analysed popular hashtags and trending topics from Instagram and uncovered the rising stars of Instagram fame in different regions and locations across Great Britain.
Glasgow is the top hotspot for foodies, with 22% more Instagram food related posts than any other location in Great Britain
Manchester is revealed as the number one city for photography with 99,000 related posts
Bristol is a top hotspot for art lovers, with close to 100,000 Instagram posts using the hashtag of ‘Bristol art’
Glaswegians leading the ‘Insta-foodie’ trend and Bristol top art hotspot
According to the data, foodie content tops the trending topics chart. Glasgow takes the crown for the top foodie city, with 300,000 posts relating to ‘food’ and ‘foodie’, a figure that’s 22% higher than anywhere else across Great Britain.
When it comes to photography and blogging, two other top trending topics, Manchester leads the way with over 235,000 posts. At county level however, Cornwall and Norfolk are the most prominent for photography and blogging posts, respectively.
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The most Instagrammable hotspot for art looks to be Bristol with nearly 100,000 posts under art related hashtags. The city is also leading the flower trend, with over 24,000 ‘florist’ related Instagram posts coming from Bristolians.
Outdoors and home crafting on the rise
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With many activities paused due to lockdown restrictions, it is revealed that activities to do outdoors, such as coastline walking or stargazing, are frequently cropping up. These outdoor related hashtags are popular in several locations with ‘coast’ trending in Yorkshire, ‘walks’ in Lancashire, ‘skies’ in Suffolk, ‘coast path’ in South Wales, and ‘scenery’ in Devon, most likely down to the fact we’ve all been spending extra time outdoors!
Home crafting activities such as handicrafts and pottery, beer brewing or baking are also gaining Instagram fame with residents in regions including Staffordshire, Birmingham and Cambridgeshire jumping on the trend.
When it comes to London, even Instagram data reveals a North vs. South divide. Surprisingly, even in recent months ‘pubs’ has remained a popular hashtag with over 4,000 Instagram posts in North London – they really must have been pining for a pint! Whereas ‘yoga’ is clearly South Londoners’ top trending pastime, with close to 5,000 Instagram posts.
Greater Manchester officially launches five-year climate change action plan
Danny Jones
Greater Manchester has officially begun its five-year climate change action plan, with the overarching goal of becoming a net-zero city region by 2038.
The comprehensive pledge put together over a number of years itself will see Manchester City Council and the nearby local authorities put into action a number of key measures that will help to reduce not only central carbon figures but, eventually, across the 10 boroughs in turn.
Over the last 15 years, emissions have been reduced by approximately 64%, saving an estimated 44,344 tonnes of carbon through cleaner building energy, street lighting and other electronics, as well as the increasingly green and over-growing Bee Network.
They have also insisted that it isn’t just about cutting down on greenhouse gases; the aim is to make the city region and the surrounding areas more sustainable, affordable and create a better standard of life.
Our five-year plan to tackle climate change launches today. 🌏
It details how we’ll continue to deliver dramatic reductions in the amount of carbon we emit (the biggest contributor to climate change). 🏙️
As per the summary on the Council website, in addition to creating more efficient homes, they’re hoping to provide more access to nature and good-quality green space, “public transport you can rely on”, and “better health and wellbeing for those who live, work, study and visit here.”
With a steadily recovering local and national economy (touch wood), they’re also hoping for an influx of new jobs, too.
Summarising the key bullet points leading up to the end of the decade, these are the next steps currently outlined by the Council:
Lower carbon emissions
Grow the use of renewable energy
Improve low-carbon travel in the city
Improve air quality
Grow the city’s natural environment and boost biodiversity
Improve resilience to flooding and extreme heat
Engage and involve our workforce and our city’s communities
Reduce waste and grow reuse, repair, sharing and recycling
Support a move to a more circular economy
Minimise the negative impact of events held in the city
Develop our knowledge of our indirect emissions and lower them
Create a green financing strategy and explore new funding models for the city
Influence the environmental practices of other organisations
As for emissions, the target is now to drop the present output by another 34%, which will prevent almost 43,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO₂) from being pumped into the atmosphere.
Having touched upon the continued expansion of the Bee Network infrastructure, Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) is also set to install multiple new travel links over the coming years, including both new tram stops and train stations – further
You can read the climate action plan in full HERE.
Sale Sharks sign Joe Marchant in positive boost for England rugby
Danny Jones
An impending rugby union returnee is simultaneously set to bring a positive boost to Steve Borthwick, too, as Joe Marchant has officially signed for Sale Sharks.
Not only will be a welcome restoration to the Gallagher Premiership but England as well, with Marchant’s domestic comeback once again making him available for international fixtures.
The former Harlequins centre has been playing in the French top 14 since after the 2023 Rugby World Cup (RWC), making over a half century of appearances for third-placed Stade Francais, but now he’s on his way back across the Channel on a deal until 2029.
Set to officially move to Greater Manchester and join Sale Sharks for the start of next season, Marchant – who made over 150 appearances for the Quins and shone as one of the stars in their 2021 Prem final win over Exeter – Marchant clearly wanted to put himself in contention for the 2027 RWC.
Nevertheless, there were numerous sides who emerged as suitors in the pursuit of the 29-year-old, but it was the Sharks who have ultimately won the race for his signature.
Addressing the supporters in an official club statement, Joe said: “When I spoke to [head coach] Alex Sanderson he explained the direction he wants to take the club and the ambition he has. It’s a club that wants to win trophies and I’d love to be a part of that.
“Sale have always been a tough team to play against, so I’m really looking forward being a part of that next season. There are a lot of lads at the club who I’ve played and trained with for England and it’ll be great to play with them again.
“They have some of the best players in the country and I can’t wait to play with them. I’d love to get back in the mix for England but I know that first I have to get back into the flow of the Prem and put in some good performances for Sale.”
The Winchester-born outside-centric midfielder, who is often deployed as a winger, represented his country at the last tournament and has 26 caps to his name, but his move to Europe meant that he was ineligible for selection until now.
Now clearly aiming to increase that tally as he approaches the end of his so-called ‘prime years’, he’ll prove to be a great bit of added strength in depth as Borthwick continues to oversee a great era for talent in the national pool. England fans can hopefully look forward to more impressive drives like this:
Sanderson went on to add: “Joe is a world class player. He’s got aspirations to play in the next World Cup and to do that he needs to play for a team that’s competing for the Prem. He believes that’s us.
“He’s got X-Factor on both sides of the ball and in the air. He’s got real gas and if we find him in that outside channels he’ll make something happen. But his ability to read the game defensively is just as impressive.
“He’s excited about playing outside George Ford. He’s some player and we can’t wait to get him here.”
Meanwhile, over in rugby league, the full list of fixtures and dates for the highly anticipated 2026 ‘Rivals Round’ have now been revealed.
The Manc -
6th August 2021 
