There will be relief in Peterborough in 2026 – as the annual iLiveHere list, naming the ‘10 worst places to live in England’ will not be published.
Despite there being no scientific methodology behind the list, many people – including Peterborians – used the list as a stick to beat our wonderful city with.
While everyone who lives, works or studies in Peterborough will be the first to admit the city is far from perfect, most would agree it is not the worst place to live in the country.
However, the annual list has regularly placed Peterborough as the worst place to live in England – and if not the worst, normally in the top two or three.
That lack of scientific reasoning behind the list was memorably shown in 2023, when Peterborough was ranked both the second worst place to live, and also the fourth best place to live.
At the beginning of 2025, after 18 years, the team behind iLiveHere have said they are finally ending the list after traffic on their website fell by 70%.
Traditionally, the website has relied on ‘public votes’ to decide the ‘winners’ – but for the final poll, they have said there was no voting for the ‘definitive’ list.
Despite Peterborough ranking ‘highly’ throughout the years, in the ‘definitive’ list, it does not even make the ‘top’ three – coming in fourth place.
For their description of our fine city, the iLiveHere team said: “We could not have a definitive Top10 without featuring ‘Pe-borough’ to use the local parlance. The anti-fan favourite has won the public vote god knows how many times and has come close most other years. This Cambridgeshire carbuncle on the English landscape seems to be everyone’s place they love to hate and who can blame them. A 1960’s new town that on the superficial surface has everything a resident could want except a cultural soul. There are some towns where the residents make it, but for Peterborough they absolutely break it… and then vote for it year after year after year!”
In reverse order here is the ‘top 10,’ counting down to the ‘prestigious’ number one spot last.
