Fast food and alcohol '˜clustered' in deprived areas

The most deprived areas of Glasgow have more outlets offering alcohol, fast food, tobacco and gambling than the city's more affluent areas, research shows.

Research shows fast food and alcohol outlets are 'clustered' in Glasgow's most deprived areas. Picture: John Devlin

Using spatial cluster analysis, the Glasgow University findings showed there was a greater number of overlapping clusters of these outlets in more deprived areas.

The mapping technique used was not restricted by pre-defined boundaries and plotted the natural concentrations of these outlets across the whole city.

For all categories of outlets combined, numbers of clusters increased from the least to the most income deprived areas. For fast food and tobacco outlet clusters, the most deprived areas had a greater number than more affluent parts, while alcohol outlets, including off-licences and pubs, clustered in the most deprived area.

Gambling had the lowest number of clusters but the most deprived sections had the greatest number and the least deprived had none. Researchers found the outlets were clustered in the city’s east end.