- Survey finds neighbours are more likely to invite you for tea and lend tools
- Potential homeowners would pay up to 20% more to buy a home on one
- Those who live on a main road in the UK are the most unhappy
By Martin Robinson
Published: | Updated:
Cul-de-sacs may not be quite as popular as they once were but people lucky enough to live on one are the happiest people in Britain, a survey has revealed.
Neighbours on the dead-end streets are more likely to know eachother's names, enjoy cups of coffee together and lend tools when compared to any other community.
The good life found on a cul-de-sac, long considered the epitome of middle class suburban Britain, is so sought after by homebuyers that people will pay up to 20 per cent more just to secure a property, experts say.
The good life: Four out of five people living on British cul-de-sacs say they are happy, more than any other type of street
Friendly: Householders living on streets like this one, in Becontree, east London, are more likely to pop next door for a coffee and lend tools, a survey found
A poll by conducted by online community organisation Streetclub and B&Q found four out of five people with a house or flat on one say they are happy to be living there, making them more cheery than people on any other type of street.
That is, of course, as long as they don't live somewhere like TV's Brookside Close in Liverpool, where character Trevor Jordache was murdered and buried under the family home's patio.
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Despite their high happiness rating in the survey, the dead-end streets have suffered from negative perceptions because of problems with crime and anti-social behaviour.
Yet eighty-eight per cent of people identified homes in such streets as a joyous place to live.
Living on a main road scored the lowest happiness rating, of 73 per cent, followed by those around a communal green on 74 per cent.
Culture: The cul-de-sac is so entrenched in Britain that life in one was depicted in Brookside, which ran for 21 years until it was axed in 2003
Versions of the cul-de-sac were first used in ancient Egypt, as archaeologists found up to 15 dead-end streets built for workers constructing the Pyramid of Senusret II at El-Lahun, which went up in 1878BC.
CUL-DE-SACS: AN ANCIENT IDEA THAT BECAME A UK INSTITUTION
The first cul-de-sacs were actually built by the ancient Egyptians, who created rows of the closed-off streets to house workers building the pyramids in around 1900BC.
They were also used by the Greeks and Romans, who created them as a way to defend their towns and cities from attack.
Thousands of years later the cul-de-sac, which is French for bottom of the bag, became commonplace in Britain.
They were banned in the UK until 1875, but a change in the law meant that they became a favoured design for urban planners.
Cul-de-sacs became central to the garden city movement in the early 20th century, with the small closed-off streets used across new towns like Welwyn Garden City because it maximised the use of land.
The idea spread and they were also built widely across the United States, Canada and Australia.
Experts at the time believed they would protect residents from the motor car and also make them happier and healthier because they were away from main roads.
They had a cultural impact on Britain shown in AA Milne's Winnie-the-Pooh, which was set on one, and became a symbol of middle class suburbia.
After a boom in the inter-war years and then in the 1960s and 1970s, they have become less prevalent in modern developments.
Police had admitted they had become hotspots for crime and anti-social behaviour.
Despite this a new survey has found that people living on one are happier than any other community, because the small dead-end streets encourage residents to get to know eachother better.
They also appeared in Greek and Roman communities, but these were not to foster friendly neighbourhoods, the closed off roads would help form a defence during an invasion.
In the modern era, the cul-de-sac was actually banned in Britain until 1875 and first used with regularity in the early twentieth century.
Planning pioneers Raymond Unwin and Barry Parker successfully argued that new homes should be built away from the main road on separate small streets, to make life more pleasant for people and also safer for pedestrians.
Their idea was included in the Hampstead Garden Suburb Act 1906, and led to the creation of towns like Welwyn Garden City, which was filled with them because planners said it made the best use of land.
After blossoming in the inter-war years and in the 1960s and 1970s, cul-de-sacs suffered a decline in popularity and were identified as hotspots for crime by police and councils.
Scientists have also said that people in cul-de-sacs cycle and walk less than those in other streets, as their location, generally away from a main road, encourages people to drive shorter distances.
But the survey found that potential homeowners would today still pay a premium of up to 20 per cent to buy a home in a cul-de-sac.
Lawrence Hall, of Zoopla.co.uk, said: ‘Many aspirational homeowners have been drawn to the cul-de-sac as these streets often denote exclusivity and provide the opportunity to purchase bigger plots.’
Britain’s most famous cul-de-sac, meaning ‘bottom of a sack’ in French, is Downing Street.
Author AA Milne penned children’s classic Winnie-the-Pooh while living in a Chelsea cul-de-sac, while Harry Potter author JK Rowling owns a home on one in Edinburgh.
Fictional Cul-de-sacs include Wisteria Lane, home of the Desperate Housewives, Bag End, Bilbo Baggins’ home in the Hobbit and Brookside Close, setting for the discontinued Liverpool soap opera.
Celebrities such as Vanessa Feltz have described their liking for the streets, with the presenter once describing their ‘womb-like shape in which all life flourishes’.
Peter Frankum, director of master planning and urban design at Savills, said: ‘The cul-de-sac is not dead.
‘There are still some being created. It is just you won’t find a development led by the idea of creating dead-end streets any more.’
Traditional: This cul-de-sac in Reading is one of many built in the past century because urban planners believed they were healthier and safer for residents
Vision: This estate in Nottingham shows how planners wanted safe streets running off main roads, but cul-de-sacs later became problematic for anti-social behaviour and crime
Friendly: Neighbours on cul-de-sacs know each other's names, enjoy cups of coffee together and are more likely to lend tools
The survey found that while cul-de-sacs were the happiest places to live, they were not considered the nicest.
The most popular location for housing was on a country lane, achieving a rating of 93 per cent.
- Feeling blue may not be all bad when it comes to enjoying a good night’s sleep. Those with bedrooms this colour tend to get the best rest – nearly eight hours a night – and wake feeling happy and positive. According to a survey, it is linked to calm, soothing feelings and is thought to slow the heart rate and even reduce blood pressure. Green and yellow are also winners, with those choosing these colours clocking up roughly seven hours and 40 minutes of sleep.
