We tested out whether Coventry deserves its ‘least huggable town’ title

Coventry has recently been named the least “hug-friendly” town in the UK, which probably come as much surprise to anyone who has found themselves wandering the streets alone after Kasbah.

But we wanted to see if this unwanted title is really true.

Armed with a “free hugs” sign, we went to one of Coventry’s biggest shopping centres to see just how friendly – or unfriendly – the people of our local town really are.

It actually turns out most of them aren’t all that emotionless after all.

First of all we asked people directly if they wanted a hug, and out of the ten people we asked only two refused.

Either they complied just to avoid awkwardness or being impolite or maybe Cov citizens actually have a heart after all.

After explaining why we were asking people to hug us, this woman said: “I don’t think we are the least huggable at all. Or maybe, judging by the look of some of the people here.”

Slightly harsh, but definitely fair – West Orchards isn’t home to the most inspiring clientele.

So keen to show off her love of hugging, one woman literally ran to me from behind her make-up counter to give me a hug. Definitely kind of creepily enthusiastic but still cute at the same time.

“Yeah but we’re not” she said, in reply to the survey which labelled Cov residents an “anti-huggers”. Clearly spreading the love isn’t all that rare in Cov.

After a couple of very rude and very blunt refusals to give us a hug, we changed strategies. Instead we stood holding up the “free hugs” sign to really put Cov to the test and see who was willing to approach us, instead of the other way around.

Most people only looked, smiled and then moved on with their day. Out of the dozens that walked past not many people actually wanted a hug. Only three people came for a hug.

One man said to his wife” “awh, go and give and that nice young lad a hug”. She didn’t, but the thought was there.

Surprisingly enough, it was people our age who mostly went out of their way to give me a hug – middle-aged women clearly had more important things to do than bond with a 20 year old in a Tab shirt.

But, overall, we were heartened by the generally positive response. It seems you just have to be armed with a “free hugs” sign and super approachable attitude to be in with a solid chance of receiving a warm embrace.