London is known as a bastion of liberal values. But by some measures the capital city is less progressive than you might think. Findings from the British Social Attitudes survey found that residents were the least likely to say that pre-marital sex and homosexuality were rarely or never wrong.

Just 73 per cent held this view about sex before marriage and 67 per cent about same-sex relationships.

The trend is despite London having the largest proportion of gay, lesbian and bisexual people in the country.

Researchers said the regional variations were down to "religious differences" between different areas of the country and Londoners' social conservatism was "largely driven by religious factors".

"Controlling for religion, a factor significantly correlated with views towards pre-marital sex, differences between London and other regions became statistically non-significant," the paper said.

National figures show that while 78 per cent of non-religious people thought that relationships between same-sex adults were not wrong, just 55 per cent of religious people thought the same.

According to the 2011 census, London is the most religiously diverse area of the country, with over a fifth of the population following a faith other than Christianity.

It has the highest proportion of Muslims, at 12.4 per cent, compared to 4.8 per cent across England and Wales, and the lowest proportion of Christians, with less than half of people following Christianity.