Salisbury tops list of best places to live in the UK

Salisbury has topped the Sunday Times’ list of the best places to live in the UK, just a year after a novichok poisoning attack hit the city.

In its annual run down of the best places to live, the Sunday Times said that the Wiltshire city had a “real collective spirit” in the wake of the poisonings, which thrust it in to the global limelight last year.

Former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia both survived the attack, which was blamed on the Russian intelligence agency the GRU – an accusation it denied.

However, Dawn Sturgess did later die as a result of the incident, after she came into contact with a discarded perfume bottle which was thought to have been used in the attack.

Responding to the poll, home editor for the Sunday Times Helen Davies said: “Salisbury has shown real collective spirit in dealing with a chemical attack that saw the cathedral city become the centre of world headlines for all the wrong reasons.

“There are still parts of the city where the clean-up continues, but to bounce back and be even stronger is a sure sign of a very special community, which is one of the reasons we have chosen Salisbury as the best place to live in Britain in 2019.”

“It remains a divinely attractive and welcoming place. It’s handy for coast, countryside and London, has some of the best schools in the southwest, a great market and it’s very strong culturally, too.”

Elsewhere in the list, the Isle of Dogs in the London borough of Tower Hamlets is named as the best place to live in the capital, with Dundee the best spot to live in Scotland.

Crickhowell in Powys was top destination in Wales, while Holywood in County Down came out in front in Northern Ireland.

The judging panel used its own knowledge, alongside data such as house prices, to compile the list.

::Here is a list of the best spots in the UK to make this year’s The Sunday Times Best Places to Live 2019:

(c) Sky News 2019: Salisbury tops list of best places to live in the UK