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'NO HOPE'

Inside one of UK’s unhappiest cities – as locals moan about no good restaurants, dead nightlife & dangerous streets

WOLVERHAMPTON is one of the unhappiest places in Britain, a survey has found.

Some residents bemoaned a lack of amenities and "dangerous streets" as reasons for their apparent misery in the city.

One resident branded life in Wolverhampton - home of Wolves football club - as 'abysmal'
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One resident branded life in Wolverhampton - home of Wolves football club - as 'abysmal'Credit: BPM
Wolverhampton residents bemoaned the lack of amenities and dangerous streets as reasons for their apparent misery in the city
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Wolverhampton residents bemoaned the lack of amenities and dangerous streets as reasons for their apparent misery in the cityCredit: Alamy

It followed a study by the Office for National Statistics which asked Brits to rate their happiness out of ten through the Covid pandemic.

Asked how jolly they felt between April 2019 to September 2020, April 2019 to March 2020 and January to March 2021 - Wulfrunians gave average scores of 7.3, 7.3 and 6 respectively.

It plunged the West Midlands city - home of One Direction's Liam Payne and popstar Beverley Knight - near the bottom of the happy list with an average score of six.

One resident branded life in Wolverhampton - home of Wolves football club - as "abysmal".

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But others gave a more balanced review, stressing that while some parts have fallen behind, the city is bursting with salt-of-the earth folk.

Speaking to BirminghamLive, an anonymous resident said: "Life is just abysmal. There's nothing for young kids to do, just look at it."

Another bemoaned how there is "nothing here" and accused the city of not having "a single good restaurant".

"As far as the nightlife - forget it, unless you are a teenager in a nightclub", they added.

While Mrs Bagri, 67, said she wouldn't her grandchildren walking the streets at night nowadays.

Pictures from the city - which received the same score as Stoke-on-Trent - show one shop daubed in graffiti reading 'no future, no hope'.

And one gloomy mural reads: 'Good luck paying off your student debt before your kids go to uni.'

But one man who works in a boozer rubbished the negativity, saying: "I disagree, it depends on what part of Wolverhampton you go to."

The study by the ONS found an increase in anxiety and a reduction in life satisfaction during the Covid pandemic in both men and women.

Feeling that things done in life are worthwhile and happiness also dropped significantly, but rose when lockdown restrictions were lifted.

The study found happiness scores across Britain dropped to some of their lowest during the first week of lockdown at the end of March 2020.

A study by the Office for National Statistics which asked Brits to rate their happiness out of ten through the Covid pandemic
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A study by the Office for National Statistics which asked Brits to rate their happiness out of ten through the Covid pandemicCredit: BPM
One Direction superstar Liam Payne is from Wolverhampton
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One Direction superstar Liam Payne is from WolverhamptonCredit: BPM
One gloomy mural in Wolverhampton reads: 'Good luck paying off your student debt before your kids go to uni'
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One gloomy mural in Wolverhampton reads: 'Good luck paying off your student debt before your kids go to uni'Credit: Alamy
Asked how jolly they felt between April 2019 to September 2020, April 2019 to March 2020 and January to March 2021 - Wulfrunians gave average scores of 7.3, 7.3 and 6 respectively
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Asked how jolly they felt between April 2019 to September 2020, April 2019 to March 2020 and January to March 2021 - Wulfrunians gave average scores of 7.3, 7.3 and 6 respectivelyCredit: BPM
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Credit: Alamy
Feeling that things done in life are worthwhile and happiness also dropped significantly, but rose when lockdown restrictions were lifted in Wolverhampton
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Feeling that things done in life are worthwhile and happiness also dropped significantly, but rose when lockdown restrictions were lifted in WolverhamptonCredit: Alamy
Wulfrunians gave an average score of six out of ten for how happy they were over the pandemic
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Wulfrunians gave an average score of six out of ten for how happy they were over the pandemicCredit: Alamy
The study by the ONS found an increase in anxiety and a reduction in life satisfaction during the Covid pandemic in both men and women across the UK - with the lowest scores recorded in Wolverhampton
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The study by the ONS found an increase in anxiety and a reduction in life satisfaction during the Covid pandemic in both men and women across the UK - with the lowest scores recorded in WolverhamptonCredit: Alamy
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