Tourism boost as Llanidloes is voted one of UK's most desirable places to live

It is included in a table produced by the Royal Mail of the best places to visit or live, based on crime, jobs and health.

The study was commissioned to mark the 40th anniversary of the allocation of postcodes to every address in Britain, which the Royal Mail said "revolutionised" the way post was sorted and delivered.

Llanidloes, the first town on the River Severn, makes it on to the list – but there is no room for any of Shropshire's tourist favourites like Shrewsbury, Ludlow or Ironbridge.

Instead, the SP9 postcode of Tidworth in Wiltshire tops the list in England, followed by the Hampshire village of Yateley (GU46) and St Bees in Cumbria (CA27).

Brynteg in Anglesey (LL78) was said to have the most desirable postcode in Wales, followed by Llantwit Major (CF61) and Llanidloes (SY18).

The inclusion of the Mid Wales town will provide a welcome boost. It is already a popular destination for day trippers from Shropshire and boasts that it has some of the most welcoming inhabitants in the country, with great shopping and surrounded by some of the most beautiful countryside in the UK

Steve Rooney, head of Royal Mail's address management unit, said Llanidloes was included because it scored well on the variety of measures used to calculate the quality of life a town can bring.

The study by the Centre for Economic and Business Research calculated the most desirable postcodes based on factors including job opportunities, health, education, crime rates and housing affordability.

Mr Rooney said: "The invention of the postcode has revolutionised the way post is sorted and delivered. But it has also enabled us to carry out research such as this and compare one part of Britain to another."

There are about 1.8 million postcodes across the UK, covering 29 million addresses.