This Gloucestershire town is one of England's most popular retirement hotspots
Tewkesbury is one of England's favourite retirement hotspots, gaining an extra four pensioners a week in search of a new life. In the year ending in June 2019, Tewkesbury gained an extra 191 people aged 65 or older - one of the top 20 biggest net increases seen in England, according to the analysis by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Over the same period, the pensioner population of Cheltenham grew by 177, the second highest net increase in the area. According to the ONS, the trend in migration for people of retirement age is away from major cities to rural and coastal areas.
England’s 10 largest cities all saw more people aged 65 and over leaving than arriving in the year ending June 2019.
Of the local authorities in England classified as Major Urban (districts with either 100,000 people or 50 per cent of their population living in an urban area that has an overall population of more than 750,000 residents), 87 per cent experienced net departures of those aged 65 years and over.
London saw the biggest decrease (down by 11,366), followed by Birmingham (1,145) and then Bristol (428) and Manchester (427).
On the other hand, Dorset, Shropshire and Wiltshire are areas seeing the biggest increases in the number of people aged over 65 and over living locally.
Generally, the ONS found areas seeing more pensioners arriving than leaving were more rural, often by the coast, and near Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) or National Parks.
These areas also have considerably higher average ages and percentages of the population aged 65 years and over than the country as a whole.