Britain's proudest town revealed as new poll shows exactly how many Britons have pride in their local areas

A new poll has revealed how many Britons feel proud of where they are from - and the proudest town in the country.

A survey has found that almost half of Britons are proud of where they live, and just 37 per cent of people feel their local area is thriving.

Naming some of the biggest reasons as to why their local area was not thriving, over half of respondents said the declining high street was to blame, while 44 per cent said potholes were the biggest annoyance.

Research released earlier this year by the Asphalt Industry Alliance found that only half of the country's roads are in good condition, with a total repair cost of £18.62 billion, despite an increase in highway maintenance funding.

Potholes have also caught out Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander, who admitted that her experience was that of "far too many people in the country".

And high streets, hit by taxes and financial strains, have seen two pubs a day shuttering their doors.

Eight out of 10 people feel they have not received any positive, tangible day-to-day benefits from investment and infrastructure projects where they live.

The poll of more than 8,000 people, conducted by JL Partners, found that people living in rural communities were more likely to be proud of their local area.

Some 46 per cent of Britons said they were proud of where they live, more than twice than the 17 per cent who are not.

The researchers then calculated a "net pride" score, by subtracting the number of people proud of their area from those who are not.

They found that Britain's proudest area was Tewkesbury in Gloucestershire.

The historic market town, famous for playing host to a pivotal battle in the Wars of the Roses, took home a net pride score of +69.

This was followed by Mid Leicestershire with a net pride of +65, Sussex Weald at +64, and Stirling and Strathallan at +63.

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The area where people had the least pride was Peterborough, in Cambridgeshire, with a net pride score of -4.

Following Peterborough, areas of low pride were Bermondsey and Old Southwark with +11, Manchester Central at +15, Erith and Thamesmead at +18, and Tooting at +18.

Londoners were most likely to feel that their area is thriving with a "net thriving" score of +28.

But those in Scotland and Wales, however, feel like their areas are not thriving, with scores of -2 and -5 respectively.

Guy Miscampbell, director at JL Partners, said: "It's clear that Brits feel proud of their local area, even if they're well aware of its shortcomings.

"The good news for the Government is that they are clear about what would improve their local areas, and there is a lot of low-hanging fruit.

"The question is how they can make sure that local investment best goes to the places people think it is needed, such as potholes and local services."

The poll of 8,025 adults across the UK was carried out for the Social Value Commission, an independent group of UK companies including E.ON UK, Heathrow Airport, Premier League and VodafoneThree.