Birmingham - or Brum, as it is popularly called - has been named as the savvy shopper capital of the UK.

Spanish bank Santander, which hoovered up former staples of the British building society scene such as Abbey National, Alliance & Leicester and Bradford & Bingley, has conducted a survey of Britons' shopping habits and have come up with the hard-to-challenge claim that UK shoppers have saved an average of £346 each in the past year by searching around for bargains.

That figure rises to £528 per year for denizens of Britain's second city, Birmingham, putting the city top of the tree for bargain hunting. In contrast, fellow Midlands city Leicester has been named as the major city where shoppers typically save the least through assiduous price comparison activity.

The Internet is the favoured resource of the determined bargain hunter, where price comparison services, cash-back offerings and coupon promotions are widely available.

Despite all this information being available on tap to anyone who has Internet access, 42% of respondents to the Santander survey admitted that they struggle to keep up with the latest deals and do not have the time to shop around.

"Our research has shown the flip side to the doom and gloom associated with a recession as many people are actually reaping some pretty significant financial benefits by shopping around for the best deal," said Keith Moor, Director of Brand and Communications at Santander.

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