Birmingham is home to the best neighbours in Britain

Over 2,000 adults were asked how well they knew their neighbours, and what they were willing to do for the people who lived closest to them. Acts of kindness such as taking out the bins (53%), lending a cup of sugar (56%) and clearing snowy driveways (35%) were all gestures that people surveyed said they would do for their neighbours.

Melanie McDonald, head of PR and brand marketing at Anglian Home Improvements, said: “Great Britain has a long-standing tradition of close-knit communities and it’s great to see these are still alive and well.

“As well as traditional neighbourly gestures, many residents are now using technology to bring their community together and help each other out, from creating hyper-local websites, to setting up community groups on social media”.

The survey showed that community spirit is still very much alive, with more than one in ten Brits (12%) claiming to know their neighbours very well, and only 3% saying they didn’t know their neighbours at all. Respondents were asked how well they know their neighbours on a scale of one to ten – one being not at all and ten being very well – and the national average was 6.6.

Interestingly, it was female homeowners aged over 65 who live in detached properties know their neighbours best. It was found that homeowners know their neighbours better than those who rent, and those living in detached houses claimed to know their neighbours best out of all different property types polled – flats, terraced houses, semi-detached and detached houses.

Residents in Edinburgh claimed to know their neighbours the best with an average rating of 7.1, while those living in Leeds felt they knew their neighbours the least at 6.1. However, Birmingham topped the table as the most neighbourly city with the highest percentage of respondents willing to carry out neighbourly gestures.