Liverpool wins Sunday Times Best Places to Live in the UK 2023 award

The city beat the likes of Manchester and Penrith to be named the best place to live in the North West.
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Liverpool has been named as one of the best places to live in the country - taking the number one spot in the North West. The city, praised for its social scene and grand projects, was given the title in the Sunday Times Best Places to Live 2023 guide.

A panel of expert judges looked at a range of factors from schools to transport, broadband speeds to culture, as well as access to green spaces and the health of the high street as they visited all the towns and cities on their shortlist.

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The Sunday Times said: "There are lots of reasons to be optimistic about Liverpool - not just Eurovision, but also the booming reputation for science and tech and grand projects such as the new Everton Stadium and new film studios.

"Good-value houses are the big attraction - this is one great city where you can buy a house without breaking the bank - but you also get a lively city centre and beautiful beaches close at hand."

Prime neighbourhoods: The experts picked out two ‘affordable’ areas of the city as their top districts. Waterloo for seaside, sunsets and independent shops, and Toxteth for its cultural and community vibe.

The competition: Liverpool beat Manchester, Penrith in Cumbria, Rawtenstall in Lancashire, Sale and Stockport in Greater Manchester and Tarporley in Cheshire to be named the best place to live in the North West.

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Overall winner: The full Sunday Times guide features 72 locations across the UK, with Wadhurst in East Sussex named as number one in the country.

Liverpool lowdown: The judges highlighted a number of sectors for special praise when awarding Liverpool with the best place to live accolade and here we take a closer look at a select few.

  • Ten Streets was given a clear mention. It is an area in the Northern Docks that is emerging as a creative district. Sometimes labelled as Liverpool’s ‘Shoreditch’, warehouses and industrial buildings are being transformed into waterfront apartments and a cultural hub.
  • Hollywood of the North - In 2021, multi-million pound film studios The Depot was opened, situated adjacent to the Littlewoods Building, off Edge Lane, with two purpose-built, 20,000 sq ft sound-proofed film and TV production units. The plan is to build on the host of films and TV shows already shot in the city.
  • Grand plans - do they come any grander than the £5.5billion Liverpool Waters project to transform over 2km of docks along the banks of the River Mersey? The scheme includes a New York-style Central Park and thousands of new homes.
  • Food and drink - Ten Merseyside restaurants feature in ‘foodies bible’ the Michelin Guide but the city offers much more than that, with a vast range of award-winning food halls, restaurants and street food venues serving up every type of global cuisine.
  • Science and tech - Liverpool helped lead the country out of Covid-19 with a series of pilot schemes and in September 2021 the world leading ‘end-to-end’ Pandemic Institute was opened in The Spine building in the city’s Knowledge Quarter. A new ‘Hemisphere’ building inspired by the human brain will soon provide another multi-million pound research and development facility.

Zoom in: For more information on Liverpool, check out our ultimate guides to the coolest and most affluent areas of the city, along with information on property and schools.