Harrogate keeps its smile as it is voted Britain's happiest place to live – again

http://www.theguardian.com/money/2014/may/21/harrogate-voted-britain-happiest-rightmove

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When the peloton pedals into Harrogate this summer at the end of the first leg of the Tour de France, cyclists can expect to meet with a sea of smiles – because the town is apparently the happiest place to live in Great Britain.

"There's a unique combination of an elegant Georgian town with a very cosmopolitan mix of shops and a cafe culture, and lots of open spaces," said Helen Suckling, from the local council's tourism service, who sounds cheerful when the Guardian calls. "Most people are very happy to live here."

The popular Yorkshire spa town has been crowned the country's happiest in a survey by property website Rightmove, which quizzed almost 50,000 people on their feeling about 12 aspects of their home life, including how much space they had, how content they were with their home and how safe they felt. Harrogate came top for safety, neighbourliness and how much residents enjoyed spending their spare time in the area, and top overall when all factors were considered. It is the second year running it has topped the chart.

Wallace Sampson, Harrogate borough council's chief executive said the result "confirms what we already know, that Harrogate is a fantastic place to live", while local estate agents agreed.

Paul Baxter from Harrogate estate agent Dacre Son & Hartley said it had a lot to attract buyers from far and wide. "A huge number of our clients are in property or financial services. We have great road and rail links and some people even live here and commute to London every Monday, coming back on Friday to spend the weekend with their families", he said.

However, happiness comes at a cost. Baxter said that while two bedroom homes are available from £150,000, "it's as expensive as it gets in the north of England with the exception of footballers' row in Manchester".

Languishing at the bottom of the survey is east London, where the "feelgood" legacy of the Olympic Games in 2012 and the accompanying regeneration does not seem to have brought a smile to the locals' faces. Overall, despite the strength of demand in the London property market and the average price tag around £459,000, the 10 places where people reported the lowest levels of satisfaction with where they live were all situated within the capital.

East London was the place where people are least happy out of all 111 places ranked, with Ilford, Croydon, east central London, Twickenham, Harrow and west London also lurking in the bottom 10 list. East Londoners rated their area bottom for neighbourliness and were also the least satisfied with their home decor, while residents of Croydon voted their area the least safe place to live.

A spokeswoman for Hackney council said: "Last year, an Ipsos Mori survey showed that 89% of the people who live here are happy with the area, and 91% feel that people from different backgrounds get on well together. Excellent schools, public transport and services mean that the area is rapidly increasing in popularity and population. This brings its own pressures, but the Mori figures would suggest that in this corner of east London at least, most people are very happy to be living here."

Further out, the popular London commuter belt areas of St Albans and Guildford came in at 12th and 13th place respectively in terms of the happiest places to live. Oxford made 44th place in the happiness rankings and Cambridge 59, putting both cities behind Newport in south Wales at number 42.

Harrogate will host the end of the first day of the grand depart, and Suckling said competitors in the world's oldest bike race could expect a warm welcome – especially last year's winner. "People will be lining the streets to cheer them on – we're really hoping that Mark Cavendish wins the yellow jersey as Harrogate is his mother's home town." If that happens, Harrogate could be even happier come 5 July.