RESEARCHERS have finally proved that the South is not the best place in Britain to live.

Nearly half of the areas of England and Wales where people have the highest standard of living are in the North, with Newcastle and Harrogate, North Yorkshire, named as two of the wealthiest.

Researchers combined salary and the cost of living to establish the actual value of disposable incomes across the region.

Hexham, in Northumberland, which was recently voted the best market town in Britain, and Knaresborough, in North Yorkshire, also made the top 50 areas.

Analysts said there would have been more northern areas in the top 50, but an increase in house prices in the past two years had pushed up the cost of living.

Mark Till, marketing director of Barclays Premier Banking, which carried out the research, said: "Simply looking at earnings would tell you that it is London and the South-East that are paved with gold.

"If the cost of living is factored into the equation to give a more realistic measure of purchasing power, the wealth map of England and Wales changes dramatically."

A spokesman for York and North Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce said: "Really, these findings confirm what we in the North have know all along, that Yorkshire, and particularly North Yorkshire, is a great place to live and work, and an exceptional place to do business.

"This is a testament to the fact there is life north of the Watford gap."

Chris Lines, of regional development agency One NorthEast, said: "The news that almost half of the top 50 areas with the best standard of living are in the North is partly a testament to the great progress that North-East England has made in recent years."