'Nerdy' town the key for geeks

The borough is second only to London city centre for the number of computer game shops per head of population, according to research by internet directory firm Locallife.co.uk.

The company surveyed more than 300 British towns and cities to calculate their "nerd" factor.This was on the basis of the number of facilities like model shops, stamp collecting services, computer games outlets, libraries, and online dating agencies.

Although Telford finished way down the overall table - where neighbouring Wolverhampton was the sixth most nerdy town in the UK - it took second place in the computer games section.

The results showed that southerners were generally far geekier than their northern counterparts. Seven out of the top 20 nerdiest towns are on the south coast.

Bournemouth was crowned the nation's nerdiest town, boasting the most stamp collecting services per capita for any UK town, and 25 libraries. Reading was second, followed by Poole, Southampton and Ports-mouth.

Tony Martin, chairman of locallife.co.uk, said: "It is no great surprise to see Bournemouth named as the geekiest place in Britain.

"Anyone who's familiar with Bournemouth's nickname - God's Waiting Room - will already know that it's far from the most exciting place in Britain."

"Reading took our runners-up prize. The simple explanation for this is that it's full of people who work in the IT industry who probably do not lead the most interesting lives outside their offices."

He added: "Hastings, home of older people who enjoy re-enacting battles, is apparently also a good place to go for model enthusiasts or those who enjoy a good game of chess.

"As time goes by, I think we can expect to see the nerd ratings go up as the internet and technology play an increasingly important part in people's lives inside and outside of work."

By Carl Jones