These are the best and worst accents in the British Isles

YouGov poll ranks the most and least attractive accents in the UK

There is something about a British accent abroad that people go crazy for. Seriously, in certain parts of the US our accent is like a currency and they don’t really care if you’re from Norwich or Newcastle.

But within the UK, we’re slightly more discerning (read: snobbish) in our preferences when it comes to accents that we find most attractive.

According to a YouGov poll, the most attractive accent in the British Isles is Southern Irish – think Michael Fassbender and Cillian Murphy.

Following the beautiful Irish lilt in popularity is Received Pronunciation as spoken by the Royal Family, Boris Johnson and documentary legend David Attenborough.

At the other end of the scale, Brummie was voted as the least attractive accent – sorry Adrien Chiles, Frank Skinner and Ozzy Osbourne.

The Birmingham accent scored a -53 compared to Southern Irish’s +42 in the results of the survey.

The top five most attractive accents are:

1. Southern Irish 42 2. RP 31 3. Welsh 20 4. Yorkshire 15 5. West Country 13

The five least attractive accents are:

1. Brummie -53 2. Scouse -33 3. Mancunian -31 4. Cockney -30 5. Glaswegian -29

Interestingly, people tend to like their own accent even if the rest of the country can’t stand it. Londoners scored Cockney accents at -16 while everyone else rated it as -30 while Glaswegians positively loved their native tongue, giving it +7 compared to the -29 score it got overall.

According to YouGov, “unearned features, such as accents, still have an impact on success, in employment, social life and elsewhere”.

Do you think your accent has held you back or helped you out in life?