A BRADFORD district town has been voted in the top 10 worst places to live in England.

Keighley has been ranked the seventh worst place in a new survey by the satirical website I Live Here, with a total of 80,172 votes cast. 

The birthplace of the likes of former Labour spin doctor Alistair Campbell and Oscar-winning screenwriter Simon Beaufoy has been dubbed full of mums sporting “pineapple crown hairdos” and Peppa Pig pyjamas on the school run. Contributors add the town’s ladies have first names beginning with the letter K.

Is Keighley really one of the worst places to live? What YOU said

Keighley was also put on the map (in a positive way) when Peter Mayhew – the actor who played Chewbacca in Star Wars – lived in the town between 1987 and 2000.

The online contributors have been far from kind about Keighley, with some quite scathing comments left on the page.

The published quotes said: “I have never encountered such a depressing, unfriendly and dull place in my life. The more time I spent there, the more I felt I was trapped in some groundhog day loop of repeating misery.”

“A night out in Keighley is an experience especially as an outsider, they can almost smell you’re different and don’t belong.”

“Prepare to see your average 12yr old head to toe in an adidas tracksuit with their adidas man bag, vape in hand.”

“The Keighley Mum’s school run is a sight to behold. Rocking up to their child’s school with a pineapple crown hairdo and wearing their finest Peppa Pig and Co pyjamas.”

“All the lasses have the middle name Louise and their first name begins with K or C. For example you have the Kelsey’s, Kourtney’s, Kloe’s, Comfort’s and finally Keighley. WHO NAMES THEIR CHILD KEIGHLEY?!”

But Councillor Zafar Ali (Keighley Central), who was Lord Mayor of Bradford in 2018-19, has defended the town but he says it would be boosted by an increased in employment and education opportunities for residents.

He said: “There is good and bad about every town, I have lived here for 56 years.

“There is positive and negative thinking and some people only think about the negative.

“If Keighley had good employment, it would flourish.

“The government needs to put money into Keighley to make it a viable town. It has a proud history. Keighley is the best part of the Bradford Metropolitan Borough.

“This survey shows individuals’ information about their experiences in Keighley. That does not mean to say everything in Keighley is bad.

“It is a good place to live and a good place to work.”

Keighley was the only Bradford district town listed in the top 10. The closest other were Halifax (which came 10th), Wakefield, which was eighth and Huddersfield, which finished third.

Here is the top 10 of worst places to live in England in 2020 (according to ilive.co.uk): 10 Halifax 9 Stoke-on-Trent 8 Wakefield 7 Keighley 6 Nottingham 5 Rotherham 4 Rochdale 3 Huddersfield 2 Doncaster 1 Peterborough Unfortunately this is not the first time the town has come a cropper of public opinion.

The town was mentioned in the John Cooper Clarke poem, "Burnley": "I'll tell you now and I'll tell you briefly, I don't ever want to go to Keighley."

In the book, Crap Towns: The 50 Worst Places to Live in the UK, Keighley came in at number 40 when it was released in 2003.

The Telegraph & Argus’s sister newspaper, the Keighley News, reported the reaction of Councillor Andrew Mallinson, chairman of Keighley Town Centre Management Group.

He said: "On the positive side, it's nice to know that out of all the towns in the country, Keighley has got a mention. But on a serious note, as a group, we take any complaints or concerns seriously and are always striving to improve the town centre's image."

But surely this latest survey can’t be right? There must be far worse places to live than the home of Cliffe Castle and Timothy Taylor Brewery.

Come on people of Keighley, defend your town. Surely you have pride in where you live and don’t recognise the place from the comments left on the study.