BRIDPORT has been named among the best places to live in Britain.

The Sunday Times included the market town as part of its Best Places to Live guide.

Bridport and Mudeford were the only Dorset representatives to feature alongside 13 other South West locations.

The locations were selected for offering the best quality of life to the widest number of people.

Chosen locations also displayed a strong, positive community spirit, good local shops and services, plus attractive outdoor spaces.

Local businesses and community figures welcomed the news, saying it was well deserved.

Ali Pember, general manager of The Bull Hotel, said she agreed with Bridport’s inclusion.

She said: “I feel Bridport has the best of it in terms of local community spirit as well as fantastic areas of interest and natural beauty for visitors.

“It combines the beautiful Dorset countryside as well as the historic and fantastic Jurassic Coast.

“We are very proud to be part of that community.”

Fundraiser Crystal Johnson, who has secured millions of Lottery funding for the Town Hall and the Literary and Scientific Institute said: “There’s a lovely countryside, lovely coast, a good town full of exciting things that are happening.

“[The community] comes together and makes things happen.”

The Revd Pete Stone, from Bridport Team Ministry, recently moved to the town, although he has known the area a lot longer.

He said: “I’ve been visiting here for 25 years and living here for 18 months.

“It’s a very vibrant place to live, full of different things to see or taste.

“We settled here as a family. They have been welcomed. It’s a lovely place to come and live.”

Anyone who reads the Memories of Bridport Facebook page knows that once the town is in the blood it stays there - even when people move to the other side of the world.

Emma-jane Halman said: “Wherever I live I always call Bridport home.”

Lesley Tanner from Camberley said: “Bridport has been part of my life since I was eight and I have been going to Freshwater since then, for most of the summer.

“That’s 55 years this year.

“My kids have grown up there and treat it as their second home.”

Discussing locations included which made the list, Helen Davies, home editor at The Sunday Times, said: “Each place truly deserves its inclusion on the list, as we carefully consider each one, combining key statistics with our writers’ informed knowledge to produce a truly authoritative guide.”