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Five of the least happy places to live in the UK are in the capital, a new survey has revealed.

London boroughs Hillingdon, Croydon, Newham, and Barking and Dagenham were named among the most unhappy places to live in Britain.

Brent, in north-west London, was rated bottom of a list of 159 areas compiled by property site Rightmove.

Barking and Dagenham, Newham and Croydon ranked second, third and fourth respectively while Hillingdon came in sixth.

Top 10 least happy places to live in the UK 1. Brent 2. Barking and Dagenham 3. Newham 4. Croydon 5. Bedford 6. Hillingdon 7. Crawley 8. Luton 9. Blackburn 10. Oldham

The survey asked 17,000 people to rate their area using 12 so-called happiness factors including how friendly neighbours are and access to green spaces.

A sense of belonging, how much people can feel themselves and good local amenities were also classed as desirable in areas people called home.

Leamington Spa, in Warwickshire, topped the list followed by Leigh-on-Sea, in Essex, and Wirral, in Merseyside.

Many of the bottom ranked areas saw living costs unfairly outweigh residents’ salaries.

Bottom-placed Brent has an average property price of just under £500,000 however those living there are paid on average just £31,000-per-year.

The leader of Brent Council Muhammed Butt hit out at the list and branded the survey “skewed”.

Top 10 happiest places to live in the UK 1. Leamington Spa 2. Leigh-on-Sea 3. Wirral 4. Harrogate 5. Tunbridge Wells 6. King's Lyn 7. Epsom 8. Richmond-upon-Thames 9. Poole 10. Chichester

He told the Standard: "Brent is a borough full of creativity, energy and potential. With food, fashion, music and arts from all over the world, we are one of the best places to live in London.

"Ofsted has rated 96 per cent of our schools as 'good' or 'outstanding', and in a recent attitude survey 84 per cent of residents said they were satisfied with their area as a place to live."

Leafy Richmond-upon-Thames was named the happiest place in London and ranked eighth on the list.