It's home to the largest arts festival in the world and a beacon for comedians, but it seems laughter is in short supply in Edinburgh.

The Scottish capital has just been named as the most miserable place to live in the UK.

Just 16 per cent of residents describe their lives as ‘happy’, favouring the word ‘anxious’ instead. Liverpool, Southampton and Glasgow could also be found near the bottom of the table for happiness levels.

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The Scottish capital has just been named as the most miserable place to live in the UK

At the other end of the scale, Brighton took the title of Britain’s happiness centre with more than a third of respondents describing their lives as ‘happy’.

The popular seaside resort beat Leicester and Portsmouth to take top spot. Oxford, Norwich and Bristol were also among the top ten happiest cities to live in.

The study – commissioned by healthy snack brand 9Nine Super Seed – asked 3,000 Britons to consider their general life satisfaction and rate how they feel on a scale of one to ten.

Oxford topped the life satisfaction stakes with a score of 6.72 out of ten. Edinburgh again found itself last with a life satisfaction average of 5.89.