A MARKET town in Denbighshire has been unveiled as one of the best places to live and work in Wales.

Denbigh has been recognised as one of the best market towns to live and work in the UK in a new study commissioned by Royal Mail, Britain’s oldest postal service and cultural icon.

Denbigh took the top spot for Wales in the study, which based its findings on a number of categories that measured work-life balance, including average earnings, house prices, access to services, crime figures, population skill level and unemployment figures.

The historic market town scored consistently above average across these categories, particularly for short commuting distances and working hours.

A spokesperson for Royal Mail said: “This new study demonstrates the breadth of market towns providing attractive places for people across the UK to live and work in.

“For people who value a good work-life balance, there are plenty of market towns to choose from."

Denbigh grew as a market town around the glove-making industry in the 1600s, alongside weavers, shoemakers, saddlers, smiths, tanners and furriers which survived until the 19th century.

Also appearing in Royal Mail’s study, Mold took second place, where low unemployment and short working hours make up for weaker school scores, while Ruthin finished sixth out of the top 10.

Royal Mail, established in 1516 under Henry VIII’s reign, is today regarded as a British cultural icon, with an estimated 100,000 post boxes and delivering to 30 million homes across the UK.

Topping the study elsewhere in the UK was Egremont, Cumbria in England, Langholm in southern Scotland, and Carrickfergus, near Belfast in Northern Ireland.