A not-so-fond farewell to the annual survey that saw Peterborough named as the worst place to live in England - it won't be missed

For seemingly countless years now, as the calendars change and the Christmas decorations come down, there is one thing that is published that many in Peterborough have dreaded – the publication of the ‘iLiveHere’ worst place to live in England list.

In recent times, Peterborough has almost always placed in the ‘top’ three, and has regularly been named as ‘the worst place to live in the country’ by the poll.

The iLiveHere website is known for the satirical ‘reviews’ of towns and cities across England – there is not a place in the land that has not received a less than flattering description in the 18 years since the website was set up – all tongue in cheek, of course.

List has become a stick to beat our city with

In recent years, The Peterborough Telegraph has chosen to ignore the list when it is published – even doing so when the iLiveHere website listed the city as the fourth best place to live in the country.

However, that has not stopped scores of people referencing the survey on our – and other prominent – social media accounts over the years. For some, the list has become a stick to beat our city with – despite factors such as crime, employment, health and education not playing a prominent part of the list’s rankings – and the website even saying the content is satirical.

Normally, the results of the list are decided by a public poll on social media or the website.

However, the 2025 list came with more of an explanation, with the team at iLiveHere saying that as a result of 70% lower web traffic to their site – blaming algorithms for the decline in visits – this year’s would be the last it would publish the list.

This year’s ‘results’ were not decided by a public vote, by the team at the site putting together their ‘definitive’ list from their 18 years running the feature.

For the sake of completeness, Peterborough was ranked as the fourth worst place to live in England in the ‘definitive’ list – ‘beaten’ by Portsmouth, Blackpool and Clacton-on-Sea.

When The Peterborough Telegraph published the news on Monday, there was a more positive than normal Facebook comments section, as some people came to defend the city. Others in the thread were less complimentary.

While no-one would say Peterborough is perfect – most of our readers will be well aware of some of the issues that do impact our city – many of those issues and topics are repeated in towns and cities across the land, and even further afield.

The news that the survey will no longer repeated will not, we are sure, stop people bringing it up on a regular basis – but it will not be missed.

“I hope the people of Peterborough will step up against the 'keyboard warriors' who seem to take great delight in putting us down.”

Peterborough City Council leader, cllr Dennis Jones said: “I see the satirists are, once again, out in force to malign a number of towns and cities across the country including ours.

“The poll is not an official survey and indeed, on the survey's website it says all content is satirical. Peterborough is a wonderful place to live for several reasons:

“Our university, ARU Peterborough, was voted the University of the year and a huge step forward from the unloved car park and space I saw when I came to live here many years ago.

“I took a visitor on my regular dog walk to Ferry Meadows and they were really impressed by the park and the green space around us.

“A growing number of festivals and events such as the beer festival and the Great Eastern Run.

“And whilst we have lost some major employers and shops in recent years, we have seen the opening of a new Odeon cinema, we are about to welcome Fraser's department store. If you haven't been into the Up The Garden Bath shop in Peterborough, you are really missing a real opportunity to support a number of local enterprises.

“As for employers, Perkins celebrates its centenary this year. There are a number of other nationally known brands such as Amazon, Ikea, BGL and Yours Clothing, to name a few.

“Peterborough is a great place to live and work and I hope the people of Peterborough will step up against the 'keyboard warriors' who seem to take great delight in putting us down.”

“These surveys have always been about knocking places down"

Peterborough MP Andrew Pakes also said the future was bright for the city. He said: “These surveys have always been about knocking places down. We’ve had our fair share of challenges in recent years but I couldn’t be more optimistic about our future.

“In the last year, we’ve seen the opening of the new Odeon cinema, next steps in the Station Quarter regeneration and official opening of the new Living Lab at ARU Peterborough.

“There’s a lot more to be done, with a new vision for the city centre, investment in jobs and boosting our public services.

“These are just a few things show that things can improve in our great city. If we can get the council, police and other partnerships all pulling together, I’m confident in Peterborough’s future.”

“The ILiveHere website is an unwelcome intrusion and annoyance and should, in my opinion, be ignored.”

But perhaps Toby Wood, former Peterborough Poet Laureate and member of the Peterborough Civic Society said it best – so we will give him the final word: “There should be a poll to decide if the ILiveHere poll is irrelevant, harmful, unnecessary or not worth spending breath or printed words on. It is about as useful as Elon Musk suggesting that “America should liberate the people of Britain from their tyrannical government.”.

“The good people of Peterborough need to concentrate on the two important issues of the day - a) responding to the City Council’s online Budget Consultation document and b) debating what players should come to/leave Posh during the transfer window.

“The ILiveHere website is an unwelcome intrusion and annoyance and should, in my opinion, be ignored.”