10 reasons to #LoveExeter

Discover 10 of many reasons to #loveExeter from Martin Thomas, Cultural Director at Exeter Cultural Partnership

1. Exeter is one of only five designated ‘Areas of Archaeological Significance’ in the country; and it is the only area in the south west of England (source: Historic England)

2. Across the United Kingdom Exeter ranks in the top 7% for historic built environment; top 5% for museums, archives and artefacts; and top 4% for cultures and memories (source: Heritage Index England, RSA/HLF 2016)

3. Cultural heritage: The Exeter Book (c.970 CE) in the care of Exeter Cathedral Library & Archives was described as one of the ‘world’s principal cultural artefacts’ by the United Nations and added to the UNESCO Memory of the World register (source: UNESCO 2016)

4. Cultural tourism: Exeter was a finalist for City of the Year in the international Food & Travel Magazine Awards (2016), and runner up as UK’s ‘most cultural city’ survey by Totally Money (2017)

5. Higher education: the University of Exeter is listed in the top 1% in the world (93rd) and ranked 9th in the UK (source: The Times Higher Education World University Rankings; Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide)

6. Exeter is the region’s only ‘growing creative cluster’ west of Bristol, with higher creative GVA than Cardiff, Edinburgh, Liverpool or Sheffield (source: Geography of Creativity in the UK, Nesta/Creative England 2016)

7. Devon’s economic and cultural engine: Exeter has England’s third highest travel-to-work ratio pro rata to population after Croydon and Cambridge (source: University of Exeter)

8. Cultural economics: Exeter’s multi-award-winning Royal Albert Memorial Museum, with its nationally designated collections and over one million objects, directly contributes over £3.3m to the local economy each year (source: Exeter City Council)

9. Cultural investment: Exeter City Council is one of the most supportive local government councils in sustaining support for culture pro rata to its budget (sources: The Stage; LGA; ECC)

10. ‘Exeter expertise’: the largest number of meteorologists and climate change specialists in the UK are based here. Award-winning specialists in diabetes and breast cancer can be found at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital, and the University of Exeter has many award-winning research fellows (source: Exeter City Council)