Ice cream van capitals of UK revealed - see if your town makes the list

It’s a decades old tradition - the chimes of an ice cream van offering a chance to cool down on a sunny day.

However certain parts of the country are more in love with the travelling treat sellers than others.

That’s according to an analysis of Food Standard Agency records - which lists inspection data for every mobile food caterer in the UK.

The records were searched for businesses with ice-cream related names - and Bradford came out on top, with 41.

That’s equal to one van for every 13,102 people that live there.

Bradford city centre, Yorkshire (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

However, once population is taken into account, people in Bolton are the most spoilt for choice.

The 40 Bolton vans mean there is one van for every 7,134 residents.

Bolton was followed by Coventry with 34 vans (one for every 10,788 people), Fife with 29 vans (one for every 12,824 people), and Durham with 23 vans (one for every 22,912 people).

Coventry in West Midlands, England (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

If you live in Central Bedfordshire, you’ll have to really listen out to hear the chimes.

The local authority is one of the most ice-cream sparse in the UK, with one one van serving the entire population of 283,606.

The figures were collected using a key-word search - meaning that it is not a comprehensive record of ice cream vans, but should instead be viewed as an indication of where they are most common.

Bolton town hall (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

The search turned up 1,740 vans, using the words “ice cream” “mr whippy”, “mister softee”, “walls” and “soft serve”, among others.

Some 56 areas recorded no vans - but it's likely that any vans there just have non-standard names.

A Guardian estimate in 2013 put the number of ice cream vans at more like 2,500 - based on the number of new vehicles produced every year.

However an estimate by insurance company NCASS for the Sunday People put the figure even higher, at 5,000.

1. Bradford / 41 / 13,102
2. Bolton / 40 / 7,134
3. Coventry / 34 / 10,788
4. Fife / 29 / 12,824
5. County Durham / 23 / 22,912
6. Glasgow City / 22 / 28,473
7. Dorset / 22 / 17,113
8. Sefton / 20 / 13,770
9. Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole / 19 / 20,831
10. Peterborough / 19 / 10,581
11. Birmingham / 17 / 67,140
12. Enfield / 17 / 19,639
13. Barnsley / 16 / 15,325
14. Oldham / 15 / 15,708
15. Causeway Coast and Glens / 15 / 9,616
16. Manchester / 14 / 39,116
17. Wiltshire / 14 / 35,576
18. Northumberland / 14 / 22,877
19. Medway / 14 / 19,847
20. Tameside / 14 / 16,086