Yahoo Finance Revealed: The best place to retire in the UK
Bangor, a cathedral city and community in Gwynedd, North West Wales, has been voted the best city in the UK to retire, new data revealed.
Financial planning and investment management firm Gale and Phillipson looked at a variety of different data points to determine where in the UK tops the charts when it comes to deciding where is the best place to retire.
This included the cost of restaurants, transport, utilities, leisure activities as well as clothing. It also took into consideration crime rate, health and pollution levels. Overall the data showed that the northern parts of the UK beat the south.
Bangor also had the cheapest cost of living and low crime rates.
According to Rightmove's house price data, the average house costs £181,752 ($242,420) in Bangor, 5% higher than 2020.
Next on the list was Dundee, a coastal city in eastern Scotland, followed by Newcastle-Upon-Tyme, Sheffield and Norwich.
London topped the list of the worst 10 locations to retire, followed by Southend-On-Sea, Norfolk, Worcester, Rochester, Boston, Halifax, Windsor, Surrey and Perth.
The list comes as the state pension triple lock has been temporarily shelved for a year by the UK government.
Read more: The happiest place to live in the UK revealed
The trip lock is a guarantee that pensions grow in line with whichever is highest out of earnings, inflation or 2.5%, introduced to give pensioners a decent minimum level of income which would keep pace with growth in workers’ earnings.
The triple lock will be temporarily suspended next year, to avoid the government having to hike payments by 8%. The government said that sticking to the triple lock would be unfair, given that wages were increasing at a rate of more than 8% a year.
Caroline Abrahams charity director at Age UK said that "if suspending the triple lock for a single year helps get a government deal on social care over the line then I believe it’s a price worth paying, but only if it really is just a one-off measure and not a sneaky way for ministers to ditch the triple lock altogether.”
But TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said the suspension sets a dangerous precedent.
"If the government is allowed to pick and choose when to apply the triple lock, the result will be lower state pensions for future generations and more pensioners experiencing hardship."
“This decision will hit old and young alike.”
Watch: When should I start paying into a pension?
