Colchester has been rated the UK’s most miserable place in the Government’s latest ‘happiness index’.
It was a crucial outpost for the Roman Empire almost 2,000 years ago, but locals in the historic Essex town are now some of the nation’s unhappiest, according data from the Office of National Statistics (ONS).
People across the country were asked how ‘happy did you feel yesterday’ for the survey, measuring their mood on a scale from 0 to 10.
Residents in Colchester had an average happiness score of 6.8, some way below neighbouring Babergh at 7.8 and Briantree at 7.7.
Redditch in Worcestershire is the second unhappiest place, followed by Norwich whose residents also have the highest level of anxiety in the country.
Located just south of Birmingham, Redditch also came in the bottom five for life satisfaction and whether they consider life is worthwhile.
Perhaps surprisingly, the upmarket Kent town of Tunbridge Wells is the fourth unhappiest.
Fear not miserable Londoners, the capital city does have some representation on the miserable map – the borough of Lambeth came fifth.
At the other end of the scale, there must be something in the water in Torridge, north Devon, which is rated the UK’s happiest place.
Picturesque Pendle in Lancashire and Lichfield in Staffordshire followed in second and third, respectively.
The ONS survey was compiled from responses taken at different points from April last year to March this year.
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