The ATR boards from the back right? So makes sense to have biz class closest to the door.

As other posters have mentioned, in prop aircraft it is also much quieter towards the rear - so F used to be at the back (when F was even offered on those planes).

According to Ansett Australia reservations they used to offer F class on their F27s out of MEL to Burnie and Wynyard. I don't know what the seating looked like (and they coudln't tell me) but they said it was in the last row. (Still seems a bit odd to me but I rang them about three times to confirm (I was 12 at the time!))

With jets F is tradiationally at the front because it is quiet and get a better ride - the only two exceptions I can think of is Air China which has moved its F cabin out of the nose of the 747 and put it between doors 1 and 2, and of course lufthansa that has F upstairs.

Regards

lme ff