Is Rotherham really the UK's fifth worst place to live?

Noted as the town that gave the world the Chuckle Brothers and Jive Bunny & The Mastermixers, Rotherham was ranked at number five in a vote to find the UK’s biggest grot spots.

Yorkshire in general came out of the poll pretty poorly, with Huddersfield and Doncaster also joining Rochdale and chart-topper Peterborough in the top five.

Those nominating Rotherham for infamy overlooked the delights of Clifton Park, Wentworth Woodhouse, Parkgate Shopping, Magna and numerous historic churches and country parks, with one instead hailing it as “an un-flushed toilet of a town”.

One voter in the survey by alternative travel site I Live Here, which said more than 80,000 people had voted for the top ten, said: “I highly recommend a visit to anyone lucky enough to be passing by on the M1, junction 33. Just ten minutes there will leave you feeling much better about your own s***** city.”

Another said: “Regional attractions include mullets! You thought they came and went in the 80’s? Not in Rotherham they didn’t.”

The Advertiser even merited a mention, with one website visitor saying: “After a year of reading headlines in the Rotherham Advertiser like ‘Chip Pan Fire Guts House’, ‘Body found outside takeaway’ and ‘Asbo Grandad at it again’, I decided I somehow didn’t fit in and moved away.”

Given the opportunity to fight the town’s corner, Rotherham Council declined to comment.