Norwich voted second nerdiest city in the UK in new study

The city has been named the second 'nerdiest' in the country and now the battle is on like Donkey Kong with Manchester, which has claimed top spot.

A study by Rant Casino took into account the number of comic book stores, game shops or cafes, conventions and science museums in each area to work out a score out of 10.

Hobbies such as gaming and comics have become more mainstream (Image: OLL)

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Norwich earned a majestic score of 8.33 to be narrowly beaten by the grandmasters of Manchester, with a score of 8.39.

Those who contribute to the city's nerd culture put down their digital swords, took off their VR headsets and welcomed the results.

Jon Gage, founder of OLL conventions (Image: Jon Gage)

Jon Gage is the founder of the OLL Video Games Convention, which was held at the Norfolk Showground in April. He said: "It's great to see these hobbies and interests getting good exposure here.

"It's helped drive a lot of independent businesses too that might not have been possible in other cities."

Board game cafés are more popular around the city (Image: Slice and Dice)

Samantha Whitehouse, owner of the Slice and Dice boardgame cafe, in St Benedicts Street, said: "I've always actively tried to make hobbies, like boardgames, more mainstream.

"I feel it's opened up all kinds of people to these activities.

"It's definitely a good thing to have nerdier hobbies in the public eye."

Samantha Whitehouse, owner of Slice and Dice in St Benedicts Street (Image: Slice and Dice)

The city also has the annual NorCon convention, which is at the showground on September 23 and 24 and will see cosplay fans dress up as groups including Norwich Star Wars Club and Norwich droids entertain the crowds.

Claire Underwood and her partner Lee Curson, from Dereham, at NorCon 2022 with children Theo, Esme, Dolcie and Stanley (Image: Peter Walsh, Archant Norfolk)

The Norfolk Ghostbusters at NorCon 2022 (Image: Peter Walsh, Archant Norfolk)

Nick Wells has co-owned In Demand Toys in Murrayfield Way, Hellesdon, with his brother Matt Wells for 20 years and said: "It's taken a while but it's good to see being nerdy is now cool.

"We attend a lot of conventions and we've seen the footfall there increase from a few thousand to tens of thousands.

Movie franchises like Star Wars and Transformers have helped reduced the stigma around nerd culture (Image: Nick Wells)

"Movie franchises such as Marvel, Star Wars and Transformers have helped reduce the stigma.

"It's all come together to form a nerdy, but cool, community."

Brothers and co-owners of In Demand Toys, Nick Wells and Matt Wells (Image: In Demand Toys)

READ MORE: Albion Games Cafe to open in St Benedicts Street

Tom Scott, owner of Albion Games Cafe, which is due to open soon in St Benedicts Street, added: "I moved to the city about six months ago and noticed it was geared more towards the nerdier side of things.

The top 10 nerdiest cities in the UK according to Rant Casino (Image: Rant Casino)

"The fact the city builds more towards that community aspect is only a positive.

"Hobbies which people would usually speak about in online forums now have so many places to go and meet up in person."

Tom Scott, owner of Albion Games Café which is set to open next month in St Benedicts Street (Image: Jack Verduyn)