With people across the city preparing their Halloween outfits, a new study has uncovered the most popular costumes for the spooky season.

Based on the most-searched-for costumes over the last four years, ecommerce company Zendbox revealed Brighton’s favourite Halloween outfits are the devil, cats and pirates.

The firm also found that residents of the city also opt to dress up as creepy masked figures, in homage to the horror film The Purge, which envisages a scenario where all crime is legal for a 12-hour period.

Research found that, unlike other cities in the country, Brighton residents appeared to change their favourite costume each Halloween.

Data from other parts of the UK found that Scousers will be strapping on fairy wings to dress as Tinkerbell, while Leeds locals are more likely to dress as Daphne from Scooby Doo.

Most popular Halloween costumes over the last four years by city

  • London - Medusa
  • Birmingham - Cruella de Vil
  • Glasgow - Bridge
  • Liverpool - Tinkerbell
  • Bristol - Ghost
  • Manchester - Black Widow
  • Leeds - Daphne
  • Edinburgh - The Purge
  • Cardiff - The Purge
  • Belfast - The Purge
  • Nottingham - The Purge
  • Southampton - The Purge
  • Portsmouth - The Purge
  • Reading - Cat
  • Brighton - Cat, Devil, The Purge, Pirate

Gilson Pereira from Zendbox said: “It’s interesting to see that across the years, one Halloween costume reigns supreme across the UK, excluding Brighton - who appear to change their mind each year.

“Our research found that The Purge is currently the country’s most popular Halloween getup, which is reflected across the regional data.

“It is interesting to see the clear outliers who are marching to the beat of their own drum, such as the Tinkerbells in Liverpool and the cats of Reading.”