7 days ago
Scottish island town with just 3 hours of daily sunshine named UK's unluckiest place to live
A new study ranked 121 UK postcode areas by luck, using data on lottery wins, sunshine, tax rises, and flat tyre searches
A new study has named the UK's 'unluckiest' place to live - and it's bad news for residents in one of our island's capitals. Locals living in Kirkwall in Orkney have the dubious honour of being the most unfortunate in Britain.
Kirkwall, which was established by Viking settlers in the 11th Century, has officially been ranked bottom of the list in new research by SlotMatrix, which analysed 121 UK postcode areas using a variety of 'lucky' indicators.
These included the number of lottery and game show winners, council tax rises, sunshine hours, and even Google searches for flat tyres. Kirkwall, which has a population of around 10,000 people, came out with the lowest overall score of just 28.5 out of 100.
Kirkwall's average daily sunshine is just three hours and ten minutes, a full 52 minutes less than the UK average of four hours and two minutes. On top of that, the town has seen the second-highest council tax increase in the UK this year at a whopping 15 per cent, far above the national average of 5.7 per cent.
When it comes to luck on the lottery, the town fared little better. Kirkwall had the fourth-lowest number of People's Postcode Lottery winners in the country, with only 60 locals taking home a prize.
Scotland overall has performed well on the lottery front, with 692 National Lottery Millionaire winners and 3,859 people winning more than £50,000, placing it fifth and sixth, respectively, in those categories.
But despite this, Kirkwall's individual stats dragged it down in the overall rankings. Orkney's capital also had no Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? winners, something that it has in common with the rest of the towns in the unluckiest list.
Coming in just ahead of Kirkwall was Llandrindod Wells in Wales, ranked second-unluckiest with a score of 28.9. Despite having more sunshine than the UK average, the town only has 52 Postcode Lottery winners, and Wales as a whole trails behind in National Lottery success with just 2,698 winners.
Third place went Lerwick in Shetland, with a score of 29.8 out of 100. It's the darkest place in the UK, which is unsurprising given its location far north of the mainland, with just three hours and five minutes of sunshine on average.
The UK's most northerly town also had just 17 Postcode Lottery winners, the second-lowest in the country. But the fact that the latest council tax rise was 10 per cent ensured it didn't drop below its Orcadian neighbour in the rankings.
Belfast ranked fourth with a score of 31.5, partly due to the fact that the Postcode Lottery is not available in Northern Ireland. The nation also has the fewest National Lottery winners of all UK regions.
Completing the top five was Galashiels in the Scottish Borders, with a score of 32.5. The town was hit by a 10 per cent council tax rise and averages just three hours and 35 minutes of sunshine each day.
Durham took the title of the unluckiest place to live in England, placing sixth in the overall UK rankings. It was followed by Motherwell, Sunderland, Perth and Llandudno.
At the other end of the scale, Birmingham was crowned the luckiest place to live in the UK, scoring 73.6 out of 100. The B postcode boasts the highest number of Postcode Lottery winners, with 1,414, and the most National Lottery Millionaires at 205.
Glasgow also performed well, coming in as Scotland's luckiest location and ranking 28th in the UK overall with a score of 55.2. The city has produced 158 National Lottery Millionaires, the third-highest in the UK, and 1,004 Postcode Lottery winners.
A spokesperson for SlotMatrix said: 'It's fascinating to see how factors like sunshine, lottery wins, and even flat tyres can paint a picture of how lucky or unlucky different parts of the UK are.
'While luck means something different to everyone, Kirkwall's little sunshine, lack of Postcode Lottery wins and hefty increase in council tax really does stand out. We hope this research sparks a bit of fun debate about which UK location is truly the luckiest.'
The top 10 unluckiest places to live in the UK
Rank
Location
Council tax rise
National Lottery winners
Postcode Lottery winners
Average sunshine per day
WWTBAM? winners
Average 'flat tyre' searches
Total score
1
Kirkwall
15%
4,551
60
3h 10m
0
10 a month
28.5/100
2
Llandrindod Wells
8.9%
2,698
52
4h 13m
0
10
28.9
3
Lerwick
10%
4,551
17
3h 5m
0
10
29.8
4
Belfast
5.44%
1,170
0
3h 30m
0
20
31.5
5
Galashiels
10%
4,551
160
3h 35m
0
10
32.5
6
Durham
4.99%
2,717
279
3h 52m
0
10
33.9
7
Motherwell
10%
4,551
389
3h 17m
0
10
35.3
8
Sunderland
4.49%
2,717
254
3h 52m
0
10
35.5
9
Perth
9.5%
4,551
225
3h 41m
0
10
35.6
10
Llandudno
8.95%
2,698
643
3h 41m
0
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