North Berwick is best place to live in the UK

The Sunday Times has named North Berwick the overall winner of the Best Places to Live in the UK, with Leith names on the shortlist for the best area.

This is the first time that any town or city in Scotland has been named the Best Place, with seven areas in Scotland also named. The West End Dundee was the area winner.

North Berwick is named because of its easy connections to Edinburgh, the beaches and outdoor life, the independent shops on the high street and the great school.

And the judges said about Leith: “After years of disruptive tram works, sunshine is back on Leith as the innovative and inventive former industrial port returns to its chilled-out hipster self. Unlike much of Edinburgh, rightly criticised for becoming hollowed out by Airbnb and rampant tourism, the spirit of Leith endures. The council-owned Leith Theatre is being (slowly) restored and is home to Fringe gigs and festivals. Constitution Street, one of the worst-affected thoroughfares in the tram disruption years, is jumping again because alfresco pavement dining is back on the menu.”

Helen Davies, editorial projects director and Best Places to Live editor, says: “This guide is a celebration of towns, cities and villages that are each a fantastic place to live in 2024, from Dunkeld to Knutsford, Falmouth to Leeds. Wherever you are on the property ladder, there will be somewhere to suit you. 

These are all places where you can feel grounded as well as upwardly mobile: they have a mature sense of community, lively, supportive high streets and an eye to the future, whether that is eco-friendly measures, transport and regeneration, or imaginative inclusion of new housing.”

The Sunday Times’s expert judges have visited all the locations and assessed factors from schools to transport, broadband speeds to culture, as well as access to green spaces and the health of the high street.