Hello everyone

I'm planning on going over to the UK to do a working holiday in a bit over a year. I'm been before but have only been to London and was not really impressed with it, and just found it a little bit overwhelming in general. Which of the smaller cities do you guys recommend? The gay scene is a factor but not a huge one for me, just somewhere that's pretty friendly, that still has bit of a city lifestyle but not too huge. Any help would be very appreciated.