The famously multicultural city of Bradford has emerged as one of the three most "English" places in England for patriots to spend St George's Day.

The Yorkshire manufacturing, tourism and university centre comes second only to the coastal town of Scarborough and the Cornish district of Penwith for traditional English activities per head of population.

Curries may win it more headlines, but Bradford has one of the country's highest ratios of fish and chip shops to people, and an astonishing number of cricket clubs and leagues.

It also scores exceptionally well for Morris dancing troupes, tea rooms and even holiday camps, with a cluster of small centres for children and families in the district's outlying areas around the Bronte village of Haworth and Ilkley Moor.

The city, which beat apparently more iconic English centres such as Westminster, Blackpool and Brighton in the data analysis, will celebrate today by reviving its St George's Day parade, which will be led by the lord mayor, Howard Middleton, plus a dragon.

Concern in recent years that the English flag might appear jingoistic or excluding have been eased by the popularity of the St George's Cross in football competitions, and its enthusiastic endorsement by the archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu.

He called yesterday for the country "to recognise collectively on St George's Day the enormous treasure that sits in our cultural and spiritual vaults". The archbishop, who will spend the day with flag-waving schoolchildren in York, said: "The truth is that an all-embracing England, confident and hopeful in her own identity, is something to celebrate."

Bradford's events will pick up the theme, with the 50 England cricketers who played in the main Bradford cricket league balanced by 50 who went on variously to play for Pakistan, Australia, India, the West Indies and New Zealand.

The area's most famous tea shop, Betty's in Ilkley, is the product of an international marriage between a Yorkshirewoman and a Swiss confectioner.

The Conservative leader of Bradford council, Kris Hopkins, said: "This is an opportunity for people from across the district to join together to celebrate England's national day. The emphasis will be on having fun and I hope we will have a large turnout."

The bishop of Bradford, the Rt Rev David James, said: "The legends surrounding St George express values that are not exclusive to England, but they have made England and Bradford good places to live."

Anne Hawksworth, Bradford council's executive member for the environment and culture, said: "It's great not to be seen in terms of the usual stereotypes. We've plenty of other English things too, which don't figure in this study, like Black Dyke Mills brass band, Timothy Taylor's beer and all the locations for Billy Liar."

The top 10 in the survey, commissioned by the website locallife.co.uk, are (with the number of local people per "traditional English" institution:

Scarborough – 618

Penwith – 831

Bradford – 1,653

York – 1,753

Blackpool – 1,763

Brighton and Hove – 1,885

Hastings – 1,921

Westminster – 2,000

Harrogate – 2,110

Tower Hamlets – 2,155