Barrow has been named the most working-class place in the UK after a survey, by the local directory website locallife.co.uk.

The town has a fish-and-chip shop (pictured), workingmen's club, bookmaker, greyhound track or trade union office for every 2,917 people.

Mayor Dave Roberts said “It does seem to depict us in flat caps with whippets coming out of the betting shops but I've yet to see one flat cap - or a whippet.”

Clearly the title has not been earned through its historic past at the heart of the Industrial Revolution.

Val Holden, Barrow's regeneration officer, “Anybody looking for flat caps might be disappointed. Years ago, when the Vickers shipyard buzzer went, 14,000 flat caps used to pack the bridge from Barrow island into town, and it was a sight to see. Now the flat caps have gone, along with most of the shipyard workers.

In it’s article on the survey, the Guardian spoke to philosopher Dr Julian Baggini, author of Welcome to Everytown, a study of cultural England.

He said:  'It is difficult to define working class. Chip shops are usually regional. Gambling is widespread, though the working class are more likely to visit a traditional bookies than gamble online. Workingmen's clubs? That's quite a crude measure. Some industries, like iron, steel and shipbuilding, are much more unionised so have more clubs, but that doesn't make them more working-class.

'I think it's really defined by a sense of being of a community, of a background, being a respectable, hard-working, no-nonsense person with no time for pretensions. Essentially, people are now still working class, but with more money.'

The Guardian says that Barrow used to boast more wealthy aristocracy than most places. Its riches-to-rags story began when, in the 1870s, the Furness Railway allowed iron ore to be transported for smelting and the export of steel.

Its deep harbour allowed the locally produced steel to be put to another use - shipbuilding - and it became a significant producer of naval vessels. But the end of the Cold War and defence cutbacks led to high unemployment.

Today the health authority is the largest employer and regeneration grants have transformed the town. A £200m waterfront development will incorporate marina, business park and housing scheme, marking Barrow out as one of the most progressive towns in the north-west.

According to Mayor Roberts: “There's a lot more to Barrow than fish and chips and we don't have a greyhound track.”

Tony Martin, chairman of locallife.co.uk, admits: “It's not an entirely serious study. We felt these were the categories that would give a steer in terms of the interaction of working-class life.”

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