Greater Manchester town named one of the happiest places to live in Britain

If you thought Mancs were a happy bunch, I’ve got some bad news for you – it turns out we’re really not.

According to new research, the city of Manchester is one of the unhappiest places in the UK, with most other parts of the region faring just as badly.

However, one Greater Manchester town has bucked the trend, earning itself the title of one of the happiest places to live in Britain in 2019.

Anthony O’Neil / Geograph

And that town is Altrincham, which was ranked the sixth most happy place to live in the country by Rightmove’s 2019 Happy at Home Index.

The survey asked more than 22,000 people how happy they are, going off 12 factors, like how safe they feel, the quality of local services and amenities, community spirit, schools, and how friendly their neighbours are.

In total the research covered 194 places across the UK, with the North taking a good share of the top spots – Altrincham (6) was joined by Hexham (1), Harrogate (2), Skipton (4) and Southport (10) in the top ten.

That didn’t translate on a local scale, unfortunately, as Altrincham was the only place in Greater Manchester to make it into the top 100 happiest places.

David Dixon / Geograph

Bury was next to make the rankings, with a lowly 101st spot, followed by Stockport (104), and Manchester itself (154).

Down at the bottom of the scale for the region, Wigan came in last with a 184th place ranking, making it one of the unhappiest places in the UK, with Oldham (175) and Bolton (170) not far behind.

The happiest/unhappiest places in Greater Manchester and how they ranked out of the 194 national areas:

1) Altrincham (6)
2) Bury (101)
3) Stockport (104)
4) Manchester (159)
5) Rochdale (161)
6) Burnley (165)
7) Bolton (170)
8) Oldham (175)
9) Wigan (184)

Are we really as unhappy as this list says? What are the things you love or hate about living in our region?