Wild things - Manchester named 'wildest city in the world'

Manchester is a party town – the stomping ground of the original 24 Hour Party People. From the infamous Temperance Hall drag ball of 1880, to the halcyon days of acid house a century later, this is a city with a long and proud tradition of letting loose.

So that the city has just been named the 'wildest in the world' (by some margin) - with the highest proportion of people 'partying hard' and 'living a life of debauchery and hedonism' - might feel like just another feather in our collective bucket hat.

But before you slip on your loose fits and drop a second Gary, let's look at why Manchester has been awarded this somewhat dubious honour.

In a study conducted by international relocation company MoveHub, out of 112 global cities, Manchester not only topped the rankings for the highest number of nightlife venues relative to its population (818 clubs and bars per 100,000 people), but also for the highest rates of alcohol, cocaine and cannabis use.

Groovy.

According to data taken from The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the global Weed Index (an inventory of weed-related statistics from around the world), Mancs consume a hefty 2.30 metric tons of weed per 100,000 people each year. On top of this, we consume 11.6 litres of booze per person per year, while 2.25% of the city's population take cocaine.

These statistics, alongside venue data taken from Yelp and TripAdvisor, were combined to give each city a score ranging from 0 ('tame') to 3 ('absolutely bonkers').

Topping the list, Manchester racked up (ehem) a score of 2.83, followed by four US cities: Washington DC (2.60), Miami (2.59), Seattle (2.51) and San Francisco (2.49). 

The next UK cities on the list are Leeds (6th), Birmingham (14th), Glasgow (22nd), Edinburgh (23rd), London (30th) and Liverpool (37th). Other European cities joining Manchester on the naughty list are Paris (9th), Lyon (10th), Barcelona (21st), Rome (24th) and Milan (25th).

The dodgy distinction comes just weeks after Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham appointed Warehouse Project and Parklife boss, Sacha Lord, as the city's first night time economy adviser. 

Lord - who put on his first club night at the Hacienda in the early 90s - is a vocal advocate of introducing testing labs to the city's clubs and festivals, in order to flag up harmful ingredients in recreational drugs.