8:58am UK, Wednesday February 19, 2003

The cheerful folk of Bristol are nearly four times as friendly as people in London, according to a survey of smiles.

180 Lenny Henry laughs comic relief red nose day

Comic Relief's Lenny Henry

Researchers visited 14 towns and cities around Britain and smiled at 100 strangers in each, logging their responses.

They found more people smiled back in certain cities than others.

In London only 18% of smiles were returned, compared to Bristol's 70%.

The Comic Relief study, in the run-up to the mammoth charity event by Lenny Henry and friends, found Edinburgh was Britain's most miserable city, with just 4% responding positively to the smiling psychologists.

Glasgow, however, saw the second highest response rate with a score of 68%.

Comedian Tony Robinson, from Bristol, joked: "We do smile a lot in Bristol but sometimes it's not really a smile - we're just a little bit constipated."

Dr Pat Spungin, the expert in social psychology who led the research team, said smiling was partly "determined by social setting and context".

On the capital's low score Dr Spungin said: "With a population of seven million, which is very mixed and mobile, it is difficult to feel a sense of community with other Londoners."

The "smiles per hour census" represents the number of smiles returned to the smiler for every 100 people smiled at.

Here's how each city scored:

:: Bristol 70

:: Glasgow 68

:: Exeter 54

:: Manchester 54

:: Wrexham 42

:: Cardiff 41

:: Liverpool 41

:: Norwich 35

:: Newcastle 32

:: Birmingham 31

:: Southampton 24

:: London 18

:: Nottingham 12

:: Edinburgh 4