Chichester

Chichester is the cathedral city the rest of Sussex measures itself against and quietly cannot afford. The Romans drew the streets, the Normans dropped a cathedral on top, and the planning department has spent nine centuries making sure nothing has moved since. The version sold to outsiders is genteel and faintly smug. The version that lives here knows the centre gets noisier on a Saturday night than it likes to admit, and that owning a Grade II cottage means filing paperwork before changing a doorknob.