Hundreds of complaints were recorded in Reading as noisy neighbours caused a headache during the first year of the coronavirus pandemic.

The area's council recorded 365 noise complaints linked to neighbours between April 2020 and March this year, according to new figures - or one in 439 people.

Steven Williams, from Churchill Home Insurance, said: "The pandemic has seen us confined to our homes which means we’ve probably all become very aware of noises around us.

"As we go into more of a ‘new normal’, many of us will carry on working from home, at least part of the time, so noisy neighbours will continue to be really disruptive.

“It may be the case that neighbours don’t realise they are being noisy, so the first step should always be speaking to them and explaining the problem.

"If that doesn’t work and they carry on, then keep a record of the type of noise and time of day and speak to your local council about raising a potential noise complaint.”

The Local Government Association, which represents local authorities, said councils were working to tackle the problem.

Nesil Caliskan, from the LGA, said: "With many people living in high density, urban areas, complaints about noise nuisance are common.

"Councils are doing what they can to respond to noise complaints in communities, and to tackle persistent behaviour that makes peoples’ lives a misery."

Based on the number of statutory nuisance complaints linked to neighbourly noise, the figures suggest the place with the noisiest neighbours in the UK was Kensington and Chelsea, where more than 15,000 complaints were made, roughly 9,900 for every 100,000 people.