#1. Liverpool
It's hard not to be infected by a Liverpudlian's love for their own city. For decades this was a hardscrabble town beset by all manner of social ills, but still the love endured, finding its expression in a renowned gallows wit and an obsession with football.
With the worst of times now firmly behind them, it's much easier to feel the love. The city's impressive cultural heritage, dating back to when Liverpool was Britain's second-most important city, is a source of justifiable pride to Scousers – as the locals are named, after Scouse, a fish-and-biscuit stew popular with sailors – but what really excites them is the ongoing program of urban regeneration that is transforming a once dilapidated city centre into one of the most pleasant cities in northern England.