Kingston named happiest place in London (From Surrey Comet)

Kingston named happiest place in London

8:00am Wednesday 15th February 2012 in Top stories By Martin George

Kingston residents had the last laugh when a survey named it the happiest part of London.

The borough’s high house prices, thriving arts scene and low crime rates helped lift it above Croydon, which came second despite last summer’s riots.

Kingston is home to TV funny man Jimmy Tarbuck, children’s author Enid Blyton and England rugby captain Chris Robshaw, and gave the world suburban downhill skiing and goat boy Lefi Ganderson.

The news brought a smile to the face of Mayor Patrick Codd, a former entertainment reporter.

He said: "The bottom line is the friendliness of people, and the fact people feel part of a community that will look after them whatever the times are."

Rightmove’s survey of 25,340 homeowners nationwide asked 12 questions, with Kingston scoring above average on house prices, feeling relaxed at home, safety, amenities and recreation.

Bona Shin, director of New Malden charity Theatre for All, and who moved from South Korea 15 years ago, agreed with the results.

She said: "We do have a lot of cultural events going on in Kingston if you look at the recent decade. We had the Rose Theatre and the river festival.

"As a minority person I don’t find any difficulty communicating. People here in New Malden are very happy to experience this Korean culture."

Old Malden pensioner Maureen ‘Granny Mo’ Hawkins, who knitted her 800th children’s blanket for babies at Kingston Hospital just before Christmas, highlighted charitable work in the borough.

She said: "There’s a very nice knitting group in All Saints Church on Tuesday mornings. They make blankets to go abroad. There are quite a lot of people going about doing things like that.

"We are really lucky. We have the river and some fantastic walks and some parks where you can just lose yourself."

It wasn’t all smiles, however, and most people were unhappy about the size of their home.

Things were grimmer in the rest of south-west London, which languished in a gloomy fifth place.