It has some of the finest homes in the land and more millionaires per yard than anywhere else in Britain.

But if you live in Kensington and Chelsea and need a tap fixing in one of your palatial bathrooms, you may have a problem: for every 6,137 residents of the royal borough, there is one plumber, and nowhere in Britain are they rarer.

There is also only one electrician per 5,260 residents, one tenth of the national average. It may be some comfort that there is no shortage of antique shops in that part of West London, one for every 722 people, nor of estate agents.

The trade map of Britain was drawn up by Barclays to show the spread of trades and services across the country. Barclays provides banking services for 20 per cent of small businesses.

Doncaster was found to boast one plumber for every 1,606 citizens, more than twice the national average. Barnsley, meanwhile, emerges as the hairdressing capital of Britain, with one salon per 725 of the population.

Camden is the most popular spot for accountants to set up shop, with one per 66 residents. They are thinnest on the ground in Great Yarmouth.

It may be hard to find a dentist in Islington, spiritual home of new Labour, but you'll have no trouble getting a filling done in Exeter, Cardiff or Darlington, which each have three times more dentists than the national average.

The study found that Essex had lost its claim as the used-car capital of Britain. Doncaster has seized top spot, with almost three times more second-hand car dealers than the national average, with Gateshead in second place.

Slough has the highest concentration of travel agencies, with four times more than average, and the highest number of taxi companies, with one minicab firm for every 905 people. The Black Country is not quite Florida, but anyone planning ahead for their old age would do well to consider Wolverhampton, which has the greatest proportion of care homes in Britain, six times the national average, pushing Southend and Bournemouth into second and third place.

As for the longer term, Darlington has eight times more undertakers than the national average.

Barclays said that the survey showed why people often struggled to find the tradesman or service they needed — in particular, the dearth of tradesmen in inner London, with plumbers, electricians and builders driven out by high rent and rates.

“It is slightly ironic that you buy a great big house and then can't find someone to come and fix your leaking tap,” said Andrew McDougall, retail banking manager at Barclays.

Kevin Wellman, operations director at the Institute of Plumbing and Heating Engineering, said that the parking situation in inner London had led to many plumbers giving up work there.

“First it is difficult to find a parking space, then you end up having to carry your bag of tools half a mile down the road to the job. When you start work you cannot guarantee when you'll finish, so you end up running back and forth to the vehicle,” he said.

“The congestion charge is another factor putting plumbers off, and the heavy traffic generally makes it difficult to get around from one job to another. Plumbers have just said, 'We don't want to work in London any more'.”

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