"We are thrilled about it!" - Stourbridge ranked one of the happiest places to live in West Midlands

According to a recent study by real estate giant Rightmove, Stourbridge is the eighth happiest place to live in the whole of the West Midlands, for the second year in a row. 

I went down to The Crown Centre - right at the heart of it all - and was met with smiles from passing strangers and college kids having a laugh with each other.

The first person I spoke to was one of the college students. Isla Nalbant studies drama, maths, and physics at Stourbridge, but was surprised to hear that it was ranked one of the happiest places in the county - although she does like the charity shops. 

The 17-year-old said: "I'm very surprised. On college days, I spend most of my free time out and about in town, and it's not fabulous. There's not much colour in the town, when you walk around you're faced with boring and monotone, it feels like a slug of a day. No offence Stourbridge. The only thing that keeps you up is probably all the charity shops around here!"

I asked Isla if the Stourbridge people generally seem happy to her. 

"No, and they're slow walkers too. I feel like everyone has somewhere else to be and not in Stourbridge - they're walking through here to go somewhere else."