“Cool, classy and supremely creative.” That’s how The Sunday Times sums up Bristol today as it names our city the best place to live in Britain.

The Sunday Times Best Places to Live guide praises Bristol for being “a small city that feels like a big city, handily placed for seaside and scenery, but hardly cut off from the rest of the country”.

In addition, “there are jobs – lots of them glamorous, creative, hi-tech and professional – the food and drink are great, and it crams in all the culture you could wish for”.

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The accolade comes only a few days after St Paul’s was named by The Times as one of the coolest places to live in the UK, and continues a year which began with Rough Guides recommending Bristol as one of the 10 world cities to visit in 2017.

“Bristol faced stiff competition from many wonderful places to live across Britain,” said The Sunday Times home editor Helen Davies.

“But the city is a worthy winner thanks to its ideal combination of extraordinary culture, impressive schools, buzzing culinary scene, exciting redevelopment and community spirit.

“We sum the city up as cool, classy and supremely creative.”

The Best Places to Live supplements in The Times and Sunday Times assess a range of factors, from jobs, exam results and broadband speed to culture, community spirit and local shops in order to compile its top locations, with the methodology relying on statistics on crime and education as well as expert knowledge from the judging panel.

Judges combine the raw data with their own experience – such as local pubs, ease of transport and the range of attractive property – when making their choices.

Main photo of houses in Totterdown by Sichan He

Read more: 17 times Bristol was named best in the UK