Happiness is … living in the West Midlands

ALL 10 of Great Britain’s happiest places to live are in England, a study has found.

The data collected by Rightmove found that the happiest place to live is Royal Leamington Spa, with the West Midlands town beating last year’s winner Leigh-on-sea to the top spot.

For only the second time since the study began the top 10 towns all had one thing in common – they are all in England. And four are spa towns.

Last year Troon on the west coast of Scotland was second on the list but it has now dropped out of the top 10 completely.

Only two places from the north of England made the list, the Wirral, near Liverpool in the North West, and Harrogate, in North Yorkshire, which was top for several years but slipped to third in 2016 and fourth this year.

More than 17,000 people across Britain took part in the Rightmove study, which asked residents how happy they are where they live, and also asked them to rank 12 happiness factors.

Brent was the least happiest location, followed by Barking and Dagenham, Newham, Croydon and Bedford.