The average British person says the ideal temperature is 21 degrees – but Scottish people can handle the cold better than the rest
Friday is set to be the hottest day of the year; hotter than Barcelona, Ibiza and Nice as temperatures in some parts of Britain are due to rise to 30C according to forecasters. That said, the conditions are not expected to meet the Met Office’s official threshold for a heatwave.
New YouGov research finds that the average British person finds 21C to be the ideal temperature. This makes them in tune with their summer climate, as mean maximum temperatures generally range from 20-22.5C in Southern England.
At 28C, however, the typical British person says it has become too hot. This summer, the hottest day so far has only just exceeded this at 28.7C in Norfolk and Essex.
There is very little differentiation in perceived ideal and maximum temperatures between demographics; however one group does stand out for minimum temperature. While in London and the South on average people say 7C and 6C are too cold respectively, in Scotland the mean lowest temperature is 4C. Indeed, while only 12% of Londoners are comfortable in a temperature below freezing, this figure is 25% in Scotland.
The weather can have a drastic effect on consumer behaviour. Last summer, which had the most sustained period of hot weather since 2006, ice cream sales were up 21% on the year before, 3,000 more tonnes of strawberries were sold at Wimbledon and sales of fans and air-conditioning units at B&Q were up 300%.
Image: Getty
