Britain’s deprived areas have five times as many fast food shops as rich areas

Unhealthy high street businesses such as fast food outlets, tanning salons, and bookmakers are concentrated in areas of the country that already have high levels of deprivation, obesity, and lower life expectancy, a new analysis shows.

The Royal Society for Public Health has ranked 70 towns and cities in Britain on the basis of prevalence of different types of businesses found in their core retail area.1 Towns and cities in the north of England and the Midlands topped the rankings for unhealthiest “high streets,” with Grimsby rated the worst (box 1). Edinburgh was rated as the healthiest in the report. The …