MARLBOROUGH has made it onto the Sunday Times' 100 Best Places to Live in Britain and the top 15 in the South West.

The town made it onto part two of the paper's best places to live guide, as it scored highly when it was assessed for its jobs, exam results, community spirit and quality of local shops.

The judging panel also looked at statistics on crime and education but also took into account their own experiences of the places, such as local pubs, ease of transport and the range of attractive properties on offer.

Deputy Mayor Mervyn Hall said: "It is quite an honour for the town to be picked for something like this. I am a huge fan of the town. It is a lovely place to live. Hopefully this won't make people flock here and as a result drive up house prices."

The second part looked at the best places to live in the South West, East, London, Scotland and the North West and the first part was for the North, North East, Midlands, Northern Ireland, South East and Wales.

Commenting on The Sunday Times Best Places to Live, Home Editor Helen Davies said: "This is the fifth year we have compiled the list, and this year’s is even bigger and better - the guide is more personal, more detailed and more comprehensive than ever before.

"The list weighs up everything from considering the likely impact of the local plan, to whether the post office is still open, the range of housing, and the quality of the coffee.

"Numbers on a spreadsheet can only tell us so much, so we carefully balance statistics with our writers’ decades of knowledge and expertise to create the definitive list of the best places to live in the UK."