WE HAVE long suspected it but now it’s been confirmed. Brighton is the most “hipster” city in the world.

In an extensive study carried out by website MoveHub, Brighton was ranked the Earth’s cool capital, beating Portland, Oregon to the honour – a city whose infamous trendiness was satirised in the successful television programme Portlandia.

In order to complete their “hipster index”, MoveHub counted how many vegan restaurants, coffee shops, tattoo studios, vintage boutiques and record stores there were per 100,000 residents.

Brighton and Hove scored 8.1632 on the list, triumphing over Portland by one thousandth of a point.

You can’t accuse the website of slacking on the mathematics.

MoveHub’s Frederick O’Brien said the result would come as “no great surprise to Brits”.

He said: “Fashionable, overpriced and the only place in the country with a Green Party MP, Brighton and Hove has long been renowned for its hipster credentials.

“Think of it as Shoreditch-On-Sea.

“In fact, the top 20 suggests that most hipster strongholds are near the sea, presumably to make all the tattoos of swallows slightly less ridiculous.”

Brighton and Hove was the only UK city to make it into MoveHub’s top 20.

Manchester came in at 27, with Edinburgh at 32 and Belfast at 40.

The research suggests Luton is the least fashionable place in the UK.

While the index might seem trivial, it threw up some interesting stats.

The study showed that there are 125 coffee shops per 100,000 Brighton residents.

Brighton has by far the highest proportion of record shops, too – 9.142.

The nearest competitor on that front was Bordeaux with a relatively measly 5.747.

We also hit the top five in the charts for coffee shops.

Brighton’s victory caught the attention of national newspapers including The Telegraph.

Helen Coffey of the Independent online wrote a piece supporting the city’s credentials.

There’s an authenticity behind Brighton’s brand of trendy,” she wrote.

“Because these things have always been part of the city’s DNA, none of it’s forced or pretentious.

“Nothing is designed to make the visitor to the city feel unwelcome or unhip.”

lWhat do you think about the hipster index?

Is Brighton a worthy winner or is the study a lot of fuss about nothing?

Email us at letters@theargus.co.uk