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Llandudno named 'happiest' town in Wales

Estate agents Rightmove surveyed 25,000 homeowners for their Happy at Home index.

It took into account people's feelings of safety and neighbourliness as well as the quality of their own home.

Hotelier David Williams, chairman of the Llandudno Hospitality Association, said: "To be the best place in Wales is a real gift."

"So many people come to live here and work in the big stores from other parts of Wales, England and Scotland, and refuse promotion and stay here and retire here," he told BBC Radio Wales.

'Caring' town

"Many of our guests tell us it's very safe - they feel they can walk out at night without any problem unlike perhaps where they live," he added.

"It's the wonderful scenery we've got of Snowdonia, and obviously being by the sea ... there's plenty to do, it's a really caring town."

Despite the town's reputation as a place to go to retire there are also happy younger people living there.

Stacy Owen, 23, grew up in the town and she says it's the size of the place which makes it friendly.

"Here you always know someone who knows someone else," she said.

It is a good place to live, with job opportunities as long as no-one wanted to work in a factory.

She has no intention of leaving any time soon, she added.

"I can understand why people voted it a happy place," she said.

Carol Alden, the head chef at the town's Forte's Cafe said she was not surprised at the results of the
survey either.

"I think it's (happy) because of the fresh air, the clean streets... it's a lovely place to be," she said.

"I've lived in this area for around 20 years and worked at Forte's for 12 years and at the conference centre for 12 years before that.

"I'm really pleased it's come out so well in the survey," she added.

The Happy at Home index uses 12 measures to assess how people feel about where they live, from the size and decorative condition of their property to the feeling of neighbourliness and levels of safety within their local community.

Rightmove director Miles Shipside said: "Traditional property market measures, such as price trends and transaction volumes, are both valuable and fascinating, but both fall short of treating property as a home.

"This extensive study of over 25,000 people across the UK gives an insight into how happy at home we are as a nation and which factors provide us with the most contentment."

The top five locations were all in the north of England, with Carlisle in first place, while nine of the bottom 10 were districts of London or in south east England.

 

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This news story was published on: 16/02/2012