A NEW study by Tea and Coffee has uncovered links between house prices and the density of the UK’s favourite coffee house chains.

The study found that in the UK house prices are in fact influenced by the density of coffee houses located in the area.

Areas of higher house prices will tend to see more Starbucks and Pret a Manger chains with areas of lower house prices seeing more Greggs and Muffin Break chains.

Chelmsford has Essex’s highest house prices with an average of £340,000.

The city also has the highest density of Pret A Manger with 0.56 stores per 100,000 people - way above the national average of 0.10.

Where house prices are the lowest in the area, Colchester at £270,000, the density of Greggs stores is higher than the national average.

Colchester has a Greggs density of 2.08 stores per 100,000 people compared to the UK average of 1.8.

People in Southend - where house prices are at the median point for Essex - do not have the best access to coffee shop chains with below average access to all major stores.

Instead, Southend is the Independent Coffee Store Capital of Essex with over 30 chains per 100,000 people.

Essex residents on a whole have above average access to Muffin Break, Costa and Cafe Nero, with Costa Coffee being named as the county’s champion coffee chain.

Also revealed in the nationwide study is how house prices can be altered as the density of coffee shop chains changes location by location.

Starbucks dominate the areas where house prices are higher in areas such as South Buckinghamshire and Uttlesford.

But Greggs dominate in the lower house prices areas such as Darlington and some Wales areas.

This is highlighted in the tool created by Tea and Coffee which can be found at tea-and-coffee.com/blog/coffee-shop-index