Merthyr Tydfil: 5th Worst Place To Live 2007 | 4Homes

Date Published:: 05/06/2008

Located within the historic county of Glamorgan, Merthyr Tydfil can be found in south Wales. At its heart an industrial town, reserves of coal, iron ore, limestone and water were all nearby, helping to make it a prominent place during the industrial revolution.

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Kirsty and Phil. Merthyr Tydfil: 5th Worst

Phil And Kirstie's View

Now we do need to tread carefully, we don't want to upset the residents who have high blood pressure. A colossal 58 per cent of the adult population are colossal - clinically obese. Which is a minor miracle given that over a third have only 21 teeth. Before you start counting, you should have 32.

But we're always after a positive slant and it comes in the form of the house prices. In the last year alone, they've risen by 15 per cent.

Area Guide: Merthyr Tydfil

Despite a post-war decline, Merthyr has still been the source of rather more other-worldly manufacturing and engineering, being the birthplace of Bill Roberts. The man who designed and built those metallic masters of intergalactic terror, the Daleks, from the television series Doctor Who, alongside creator and fellow Welshman Terry Nation.

Ironically for a town that enjoys such a strong bond with the smoke and twisted metal of the industrial world, Merthyr sits on the leafy doorstep of the Brecon Beacons National Park; the contrast between the natural and man-made worlds being particularly stark in this context, and this proximity is key to the tourism potential of the area.

The Taff Valley town - which was ranked the eighth least desirable place to live in the UK in 2005 and third in 2006 - has seen the value of its house prices rocket in recent years, climbing at one of the fastest rates in the country, although they are still modest in comparison with the national average for property in the UK. Five years ago they were merely a third of the national average, whereas now properties in Merthyr are worth around half of the mean value nationwide.

On the downside, unemployment among male workers is at 13.2 per cent, over twice the national average of 5.8 per cent. Those in employment don't fare too prosperously either - the hourly rate of pay in Merthyr workplaces falls around £2.70 per hour below the national average, with male workers being hit even harder at £3.20 per hour below the mean national rate of pay.