Weston-super-Mare is well known for its sandy beaches and impressive pier, but it has now achieved a less-wanted claim to fame after being named the country’s divorce “hotspot”.
Ministry of Justice figures released as part of a push to encourage couples to use new public-funded mediation services showed that Weston was only topped by Birmingham, which has 10 times the population, in divorce applications.
There were 2,437 applications at Weston-super-Mare County Court in the year up to September 2012, compared with 2,799 at Birmingham’s civil justice centre.
Weston lawyer Morwenna Homewood was surprised by the results.
“It may be that there are people who move down looking for a new life and it doesn’t work out,” she told the Daily Telegraph.
“There are a lot of people who move down from Birmingham and the Midlands and settle down here — it is idyllic when the sun is shining.”
Leicester came in third, followed by Romford, Norwich, Bristol and Croydon although central London courts were not included in the figures.
Weston-super-Mare is divorce 'hotspot'
