Queen's home on list of worst towns

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It may be good enough for the Queen, but Windsor has suffered a public insult.

It has been nominated among the 100 worst places to live, a bestselling alternative guide to Britain reveals today.

Kew, Winchester, Oxford, Reading, Ascot, Harrow, Brighton, Oxford and Guildford are also in the running, rubbing shoulders with Hackney, Tottenham, Eastbourne, Port Talbot, Stockport, Swansea and Scunthorpe.

Thousands of nominations were received. Now the public will vote again - this time for the top 50 least desirable locations.

The results will be published in October in Crap Towns II: The Nation Decides. The first book was a surprise hit last year when Hull won, and the second book publishes readers' suggestions.

Windsor is popular for its castle, which is an official residence of the Queen, Legoland and Eton. Famous residents include Sir Elton John, Jimmy Page, Natalie Imbruglia, Rolf Harris and Anna Friel.

Co-author Sam Jordison, 27, who lives in Minehead, has been travelling around the country to investigate the claims. He said: "Windsor has been nominated for its snobbery and conspicuous wealth. People wrote in about old ladies walking around thinking they're the Queen, the high price of beer and the fact you are constantly tripping over tourists."

Kew is claimed to be over-priced, conservative and populated by ladies who lunch. Mr Jordison added: "Kew is a similar case to Windsor. The cafés have big piles of the Daily Telegraph and are incredibly expensive. One person told us about an overheard conversation in which two young women were saying 'Wouldn't it be awful to have to work?'"

Hay-on-Wye in Herefordshire is an international attraction thanks to its bookshops and festival. But, for some, tourists and literary types make it well worth missing.

Stratford- upon- Avon gets the nod for its tourists and Shakespeare obsession. Mr Jordison added: "It was Morecambe that inspired it all because I used to go there as a teenager. I was in fear of my life in the evenings and completely bored in the afternoons.

"The book has clearly hit a nerve but I don't think we've influenced house prices."

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