Kentish Express Ashford & District
Our town is not so happy
A new survey has revealed the happiest place to live in Kent – and it is not Ashford.
In fact, according to the annual Rightmove Happy at Home survey, Tunbridge Wells is supposedly full of the cheeriest residents and Ashford folk are seemingly quite miserable.
The borough’s residents came just second from last on the happy list for the county and ranked pretty poorly on the national scale.
Tunbridge Wells topped the list for the county and was also named the third happiest place to live in the South East, behind Shepperton in Surrey and Horsham in West Sussex.
The second cheeriest place to live in Kent is Canterbury followed by Folkestone, which came in third and is officially the 20th happiest place to live in the South East.
Next is Maidstone in 25th place, Rochester in 30th and then Ashford (34th).
The lowest ranked Kent town was Gillingham, which was the 38th happiest place in the South East and 163rd cheeriest part of the UK.
More than 24,000 people were quizzed for the online estate agent portal’s Happy at Home survey.
They were asked to rate their home town based on 12 factors, ranging from how friendly their neighbours are to what the local services are like.
The happiest place in the entire country was Leigh-on-Sea in Essex.
What do you think of the results? Is Ashford a happy place to live? Write to Kentish Express, 34-36 North Street, Ashford, TN24 8JR or email kentishexpress@ thekmgroup.co.uk