What do you look for when seeking somewhere to settle down? Perhaps you’re after something close to family, or maybe a place as far away as you can get, or perhaps you choose where to live due to stuff like affordability, amenities and, crucially, vibes.
Wouldn’t it be great if someone did all that tedious research for you? Well, they have. The Sunday Times has revealed its pick of the 72 best places to live in the UK for 2024, based on stuff like schools, transport, culture, green spaces and even that all-important factor: broadband speed. And to make double sure that the each place deserved their spot, judges visited each town, city and village themselves.
And this year the seaside town of North Berwick was crowned number one, becoming the ranking’s first ever Scottish winner. Judges were into North Berwick’s easy connections to Edinburgh (just 30 mins by train), its thriving high street of independent shops and its community spirit.
Judges also loved NB’s beaches and how easy it is for locals to get some vitamin sea. One resident told the paper: ‘Whatever you do in North Berwick you get glimpses of the sea. If it is sunny you go to the beach, if it is windy you go for a walk, if there are waves you go surfing.’
But if you fancy settling down in North Berwick, it will cost you a pretty penny — the average house price there is £516,000, which is just slightly less than the average price you’ll pay for a house in London.
There are many other options though. As well as an overall winner, the Times editors also chose regional winners. They included the town of Abergavenny as the Welsh winner, West End in Dundee as the Scottish winner (after North Berwick, obviously) and Portstewart as the Northern Irish winner.
Here’s the full breakdown of the Sunday Times regional winners for 2024.
East of England: Wivenhoe, Essex
London: Clerkenwell
Midlands: Stirchley, Birmingham
North and North East: Leeds
Northern Ireland: Portstewart, County Londonderry
North West: Stockport, Greater Manchester
Scotland: West End, Dundee
South East: Folkestone, Kent
South West: Sherborne, Dorset
Wales: Abergavenny, Monmouthshire
You can see the full list of the 72 best places to live in the UK over on the Sunday Times website or read it in its Sunday magazine supplement this weekend.
Time Out’s favourite places
We make it our mission here at Time Out to share all the places across the world that are best for anything from a brief weekend visit to building a life in. If you’re after a cool neighbourhood, we’ll sort you out. If you’re looking for an exciting staycation, we’ve got that covered too. And each place has been carefully chosen by the people that know them best.
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