A tiny market town has been named as one of the top happiest places in the UK to live. Located in East Lancashire, Greater Manchester, this market town came third in the Northern England list, following York and Durham, in a report by The Guardian. Padiham’s closeness to nature and strong community were listed as reasons for highlighting the small town, adding that the locally shared sense of dry humour was an important and charming feature.
Annette Shuttleworth, who works at Jack Jones barbers, said: “It’s absolutely true what we say. Come to Padiham, it’s wonderful and the people are great”. She added that what makes the town “so wonderful is the community. Everybody has a smile on their face, when they walk past you there’s always a ‘hello'”. Anette insisted the key to Padiham’s happiness was simply being a “friendly northern town”. She insisted businesses “invest” back into the town, which makes it “look absolutely wonderful. “We’ve got great places for people to eat, to visit, to shop,” she said.
Viv Storey from drop-in centre, Padiham Hub, on Burnley Road, supported her claims, encouraging visitors to “just come in and have a cup of tea and you’ll know what it’s like to have a laugh”.
She said: “This is Padiham, we’re funny people, we have so much fun. It’s such a happy place and the community always comes together if anyone’s in need.”
Here she referred to the severe flooding in 2020, where Padiham’s River Calder flooded its town, damaging thousands of homes and businesses. Suffering from Storm Desmond five years earlier, the people of the small northern town show resillience to terrible instances of extreme weather.
Annette said: “It was horrific being in the middle of the floods at the time, however, the community absolutely came together. People were doing sandwiches, bringing coffees down, coming from all walks of the area to help and that just speaks volumes.”
In a moment of need, she recalls: “There were dozens of people in my shop helping us clear out. They were absolutely fabulous – and that’s why Padiham is what it is today, because of the people,” reports the BBC.
The small market town is just three miles West of Burnley and South of Pendle Hill.
An official part of the Borough of Burnley, Padiham comes under its own town council and was initially a rural village at the River Calder. Cocooned by green countryside, it can be found by the hill-path of Pendle Hill.