The Big Talkers: Britain's Chattiest Taxi Drivers, Bakers and Booksellers, Ranked by You

Every town has someone who will talk to you. Not the awkward sort of talking — the proper sort, where an eight-minute cab ride turns into a full briefing on which chippy has gone downhill since it changed hands and why you should not, under any circumstances, attempt the ring road before half four.

We asked you lot to nominate the chattiest people in your everyday life. The taxi drivers with a captive audience. The bakers who know the gossip before the bread is out of the oven. The booksellers who physically will not let you leave with the wrong novel. The nominations came in thick and fast, and after a genuinely heated office debate involving two biscuits and a whiteboard, here are the ten we're crowning.

How we scored the chat

Every nominee went through the Sharman Shaw Small Talk Scorecard. Thirty points on offer:

• Chat Quality (out of 10): is the conversation actually good, or just loud?
• Local Knowledge (out of 10): which road floods, which pub does a decent Sunday roast, where the free parking actually is.
• Comedic Timing (out of 10): the pause, the eyebrow, the perfectly placed 'anyway'.

Bonus points are awarded for the Unsolicited Recommendation — the thing you never asked about but absolutely needed to know.

1. Big Sue — taxi, Glasgow — 30/30

The only perfect score we've ever handed out. Sue has worked the same patch for twenty-two years and runs her cab like a rolling community centre: she knows which hospital department is running late, which school gate is a nightmare at ten past three, and which of her regulars has just become a grandad. One nomination simply read: 'She told me my marriage was fine. I hadn't asked.' That is service.

2. Mags — bakery, Whitby — 29/30

Mags has the till by the door and, as one reader put it, 'the whole town's business before the first loaf is out'. She won't repeat what she's told, but she will lean across the counter and say 'now then' in a tone that means she already knows. Full marks for timing, and then she talked herself out of a perfect score by telling a customer his new haircut was 'brave'.

3. Delroy — taxi, Birmingham — 28/30

A five-minute journey that took eighteen because nobody in the car wanted him to stop. Delroy's speciality is ranking things — the best three takeaways within a mile of anywhere, in order, with reasons. Readers describe him as 'basically a satnav with opinions'.

4. Idris — bookshop, Cardiff — 27/30

The only bookseller nominated by three separate people for the same reason: he will not let you buy a bad book. 'He gently removed it from my hands,' one reader confessed. Idris loses a point for conducting the walk of shame back to the crime section in total silence.

5. Sandra — taxi, Norwich — 27/30

Sandra does the school run and the late-night runs, which means she has heard everything twice and has a face that gives nothing away. Readers praise her for 'never repeating what she shouldn't' — and for the emergency hair bobbles in the glovebox. Small thing. Big deal.

6. Priya — bakery, Leicester — 26/30

Runs the counter at a family bakers and has a knack for remembering your order from a visit eighteen months ago, which is either lovely or terrifying depending on your relationship with pastry. Loses points only because she refuses to be drawn into gossip. 'She just raises an eyebrow and hands over the sausage roll,' said one nomination form. Fair enough.

7. Kev — taxi, Blackpool — 25/30

Kev's gift is the drive-by tour. Any route is a route if you've got a story about the building you just passed. Illuminations season is his World Cup, and readers report that the meter keeps running and nobody minds a bit.

8. Aisha — bakery, Bradford — 24/30

Best chat in the queue. Aisha can hold three conversations at once, remembers everyone's kids' names, and once calmed an entire shop during a power cut with a tray of free buns. Comedic timing: good. Bakery diplomacy: elite.

9. Colin and Jean — bookshop, Falmouth — 23/30

A husband-and-wife operation in a secondhand shop where the till conversation comes free with the book. Jean handles romance and local history. Colin handles everything else, usually at length, occasionally from the top of a ladder.

10. Tomos — bookshop, Hay-on-Wye — 22/30

Loses points for being genuinely unbothered whether you buy anything. Wins them all back with the newsletter, which is better than most things on television. One reader wrote: 'I went in for a map and came out with a philosophy book and a recipe for cawl.' That's a good day out.

The ones who just missed the cut

Two honourable mentions worth raising a mug to: the barber in Stockport who delivers a full match report with every fade, and the pharmacist in Dumfries who has quietly talked half the town through its worst weeks. Neither made the top ten. Both would get a nomination from us.

Why this lot actually matter

Here's the proper point underneath the jokes. Every person on this list works somewhere that could have been replaced by a screen, a self-checkout or an app — and instead they made it somewhere you want to stand for an extra two minutes. The small talk isn't small. It's the thing that turns a high street into a place you live rather than a place you drive through.

Nominate for next year

Nominations for the 2027 scorecard open in the new year. Tell us who deserves a shout — the driver, the counter, the corner shop — and tell us what they say that's worth the journey. We'll bring the scoring sheet. You bring the stories.