Cornish town in second homes row voted Britain’s most depressing place to live

A SEASIDE town in Cornwall where a row about second home owners broke out has been voted the UK’S most depressing place to live.

Falmouth, a coastal town near the Fal estuary, has been awarded the unwanted title of “most depressing” in the UK by ilive Here, which described it as a place which “saps the residents’ will to live”.

In a survey, which is the first of its kind, people voted for the most “bland, boring, soulless, uncultured middle-england municipalities of mediocrity, that imbue the inhabitants with an almost terminal case of ennui”.

Falmouth trumped Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, by 27 votes, while Aberdeen and Alloa in Scotland came third and fourth on the list.

The news comes after claims that residents of Falmouth were being “forced out” because of its popularity among holidaymakers, who were buying second homes and preventing them from getting on the property ladder.

Oliver Berry, a writer, said in the ipaper in March 2023: “It’s been four months, and I am still looking for somewhere to live in Cornwall.

“My partner and I spent six years in our Falmouth flat, but we’re moving on, reluctantly. An eye-watering rent increase (18 per cent) is driving us out.

“What’s holding back our move is simple: we can’t find anywhere to go.

“The competition’s fierce. Every property has dozens of applicants."

Property prices in Cornwall have soared more than 25 per cent in two years, according to Rightmove.

The average house in Cornwall costs almost 10 times the average wage, according to Cornwall Live, with the average home at £316,045 in 2023 and the average salary at £32,715.

Old Hill and Acacia were named by ilive Here as the “worst places” in Falmouth, with Old Hill being described as a “dumping ground, where most councils from outside Cornwall decide to release their unruly tenants”.