Worcester is the UK’s happiest city

It’s official! Worcester has been named the happiest city in the UK.

The stunning result is revealed in the latest Unbroken Britain survey, compiled by Provident Personal Credit.

And the West Midlands city has also scored highly for the up-keep of its streets, levels of safety, how welcoming it is and how much its people trust each other.

The result has come as no surprise to the city’s Mayor, Councillor Paul Denham, who says: “Worcester is a great place to live and it’s getting better. We have low crime rates, high employment, and an excellent offer for sport, shopping, leisure, arts, heritage and dining.

“We’re going from strength-to-strength. We’ve just opened a competition-standard swimming pool at the new £10.5m Perdiswell Leisure Centre, and the new £20m Cathedral Square shopping and leisure development will bring a massive boost to the city centre later in the year. We’re also making the most of our reputation for heritage with a half-a-million pound revamp of one of our oldest buildings, The Commandery, to turn it into a national Civil War-themed tourist attraction.”

Surrounded by beautiful countryside, Worcester is built around the river Severn and has been a thriving and successful city since medieval times. It looks out to the dramatic Malvern Hills and today is home to many high tech employers, including Bosch, Mazak and data company PCA Predict.

Worcester has a growing reputation as a sporting city. Thousands of people pound its streets every year in the Worcester City Run, national and international cycling events – including the Tour of Britain – are regular fixtures and it is home to top teams including Worcestershire County Cricket Club, Worcester Warriors Rugby Club and Worcester Wolves Basketball Club.

As well as coming top for happiness, Worcester scored highly across all the categories in the Unbroken Britain survey. The city is rated as the third best in the UK – and the second best in England – for its upkeep, fifth for the level of trust between its residents and for being welcoming, and ninth for its level of safety. Worcester also scores top 20 places in the survey for being friendly and polite. But it’s not a great place for gossip, only coming in at number 21 in the national survey.