Hip hotspots: Frome in Somerset tops list as UK's most stylish town

Home to Soho House's first out of London hotel, Babington House, a legion of celebrity London dropouts and a regular A-list stop-off on the way back from Glastonbury, it's no wonder that Frome in Somerset has been named the UK’s most stylish town.

The small market town near Bath in the south-west of England takes top spot thanks to its "vibrant culture and thriving independent scene", in a new report that tracks art galleries, museums and boutiques in search of the most "stylish" areas.

Online platform for independent boutiques Trouva.com, who compiled the research, found that Frome has an award-winning independent street market and a night school that showcases craftspeople, designers and food traders.

The 50 independent boutiques account for more than two-thirds of the overall offering in the town.

But unsurprisingly given the glamour on the doorstep, it will cost a little more than average to decamp to the UK's style capital.

At £291,000 house prices in Frome, a half an hour drive from Bath, are £66,000 above the national average and they have risen by 10 per cent over the past year.

SCOTLAND TO MARGATE

Glasgow's trendy neighbourhoods Finnieston and Partick, on the north bank of the river, came a close second in the top 10 list, with more than 20 art galleries serving an area with a population of 16,000 people.

House prices in Finnieston are the cheapest on the the top 10 list, averaging £158,000. The neighbourhood was recently recognised as one of the top five areas with the highest house price growth in the UK in the Barclays Mortgages Postcode Property Index. It was the only Scottish town to make the list.

The once run-down seaside town of Margate takes third position. Home to the Turner Contemporary gallery and the resurrected amusement arcade Dreamland, house prices have increased by around 30 per cent over the past five years to an average of £205,000.

With creatives priced out of east London flocking there, the transformation of arty Margate looks unlikely to stop, driven by the burgeoning Creative Quarter with independent coffee shops and vintage boutiques.

London commuters buying in Margate now make use of the high-speed trains to St Pancras that take as little as one hour and 26 minutes, with an annual season ticket costing £6,544.

LONDON TO BRIGHTON

Peckham is the only London region to make the the index, coming in at number four.

There’s a huge range of independent cafés, bars and restaurants and districts with a distinct feel — Bellenden Road is the posher end of town, Rye Lane is still gritty, whlie the Bussey Building is offers arts events and gigs.

House prices have risen by 7.6 per cent to £533,000, more than £60,000 higher than the London average, due to regeneration and rising popularity with homebuyers.

Unsurprisingly Brighton and Hove, also known as 'London by the Sea', and neighbouring Lewes on the south coast also make the list.

Brighton hasn’t always been a hipster magnet, according to Harvey Gee, sales negotiator at Brighton estate agent Bonett’s, but the seaside city’s reputation for alternative lifestyles as well as its universities and art school have long been attracting young arrivals – who tend to settle.

He says: “A lot of people moving to Brighton are coming down from London. The most hipster area is North Laine where all the independent shops are. It’s an expensive part of town with two- or three-bedroom houses for between £500,000 and £700,000 predominantly bought by London people because you’ve got the station on your doorstep so it’s an easy commute."

Completing the top 10 are Falmouth, a Cornish town with an art school that draws artists, designers and creatives to the coast; Clifton Village in Bristol, the leafy, stylish suburb, filled with delicious foodie fare and independent shops; the Baltic Triangle in Liverpool, the city's creative and digital quarter; and Altrincham, the historic and foodie market town a few miles south-west of Manchester.