Anglia Consumer

Wellingborough in Northamptonshire has the fastest rising house prices in the UK, say new government statistics. Prices there soared 15% in the year to August 2017, with the average costing £215,000.

In both the East of England and the East Midlands prices were up 6.4% from last year, more than double the rate of inflation. However, several areas including Mid Suffolk, East Northants and Peterborough were hit with house price rises of over 10%.

House prices in the region are now the highest in the UK outside of London and the South East. The average UK house price was £226,000 in August 2017. In St Albans, where house prices are the highest in the region, the average was £526,216.

Welwyn Hatfield was the only place in the region where prices dipped and the lowest average house prices were seen in Great Yarmouth (£161,992), Corby (£178,131), and Fenland (£179,984).

New research by the University of East Anglia (UEA) shows Tweets can help predict the outcome of football matches. The study found the tone of Tweets can show when soccer bets are mispriced.

Researchers examined 13.8 million Tweets during the English Premier League 2013/2014 season. These compared prices generated during matches on gambling site Betfair. They found if the tone of Tweets in any given second was positive then the team was more likely to win than bookies predicted.

The study says Tweets are most helpful after goals and red cards. Researchers think this is because social media is particularly good at analysing new information as it comes in during matches.

Social media is already being used as a forecasting tool by a number of companies and agencies but this study has shown its accuracy.

An independent coffee merchants based in Suffolk has come up with a unique way to help customers contribute directly to the farmers who produce their coffee in Kenya.

Paddy and Scott's are giving people the chance to buy their own coffee tree at a farm in the East African country.

Money will go direct to the farmer. Extra revenue will also help a community school, which is situated on the farm.

Aldi is to create 400 jobs with plans to build a new distribution centre in Bedford, despite recently unveiling falling profits.

The German supermarket has submitted a planning application for an 88,000 square metre warehouse that will serve its network of stores across Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire.

It comes after Aldi's UK chief Matthew Barnes outlined aggressive expansion plans that could see the grocery chain open more than a thousand new stores.

Aldi currently has around 700 British outlets. New distribution centres in Sheppey, Kent, and Sawley, Derbyshire, are also under development, with the Bedford warehouse its twelfth in the UK.