Greater Manchester town named one of the worst places to live in England

The votes are in for the annual ‘worst places to live’ in England survey, and it’s bad news for one Greater Manchester town.

The annual survey, carried out by ilivehere.co.uk, received a record 110,172 votes this year, giving the leaderboard a serious reshuffle.

For the last couple of years, Peterborough has reigned supreme as the worst place to live in the UK, mainly thanks to the fact it is apparently ‘totally isolated from the rest of the world and life in general’. Fair enough.

But this year, Peterborough has finally been knocked out of its number one spot, with one of Greater Manchester’s very own towns also making the top ten.

David Dixon / Geograph

This year, we can reveal that – somewhat surprisingly – Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire is officially the worst place to live in the UK.

And the news wasn’t much better for one Greater Manchester town.

Described as ‘the worst possible assault on the eye and mind possible in Britain’, Bolton didn’t fare too well in the ranking this year, coming in as the sixth worst place to live – twenty-two places higher than it was in previous surveys.

Read More: American claims Oldham and Rochdale are two of the worst places to live in England

Factors included one star takeaway ratings and the ‘seemingly endless rain’, which ‘exacerbates greatly the feeling of sadness, generalised grubbiness and pointlessness of this place’.

Though it wasn’t just Bolton in the firing line this year, with several other Greater Manchester and North West locations finding themselves on the top fifty list.

Bill Boaden / Wikimedia Commons

Rochdale, which was described as a ‘complete abomination occupying the map of Greater Manchester’ came in at sixteenth, while Blackburn was ranked as fifteenth, mainly thanks to its estates that ‘make Syria look calm’.

Neighbouring Blackpool and its loveable Pleasure Beach couldn’t even be saved, with the seaside town coming in at fourteenth on the doomed list.

Other locations to make the list were Leeds (thirty-eight), Burnley (twenty-five), and Oldham (thirteen).

Though it is worth noting that the list, however definitive and official it seems, is constructed from the opinions of ilivehere.co.uk members, so try not to be too offended if your hometown made the cut.

Here’s the top ten worst places to live in the UK 2022:

10) Bradford, West Yorkshire
9) Slough, Berkshire
8) Jaywick, Essex
7) Corby, Northamptonshire
6) Bolton, Greater Manchester
5) Peterborough, Cambridgeshire
4) Liverpool, Merseyside
3) Luton, Bedfordshire
2) Huddersfield, West Yorkshire
1) Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire 

You can see the full list here.