There are many surveys about which place is the best to live and they don't seem to agree in a place that can be considered as "the best in the UK".

There are many factors to consider in order to nominate a city as the best. You might be looking for the best university city, the best place for a family or which city is more fun and have more cultural events.

For example according to a survey carried out by Savings provider Family Investments, the village of Winkleigh, between Dartmoor and Exmoor, has been considered as the best location for young families. Winkeleigh is closely followed by the towns of South Petherton in Somerset and Galgate in Lancashire.

Some of the factors that have been considered to reach this conclusion are low crime figures, high salaries, good schools, house prices and green spaces. You can read more about this survey here.

However, in the annual survey by The Economist Intelligence unit, London ranks 54th in the World, being the UK's best city to live. The same survey places Manchester as the second best in the UK ranking before the 140th score.

These rankings have been made by comparing "liveability" factors such as stability (eg.: Crime rates and terrorism), culture, health system, education and infrastructure.

You can read more about this here.

Surveys of the best places to live usually find that smaller towns, rather than cities, have a better quality of life. However, there are two exceptions: Edinburgh and Winchester feature at or near the top of a number of 'best place' lists.
Edinburgh is known for its thriving arts scene, especially the Festival, lively night life, top class university and generally high quality of life. It's also not too expensive to live in.
Winchester is also an ancient city, full of history but again with plenty to do. It's also small enough to be quite cosy while having everything you need in a city; and being in the south of England, the weather is better than in Scotland. On the other hand, it is expensive.
On the other hand, according to another poll the happiest people live in Carlisle. Among cities, one of the highest on the happiness index was Norwich.