FIGURES released today revealed that Harlow residents seem to be somewhat reluctant to get married new statistics from the Essex County Council Registration Service reveal.

6,571 couples tied the knot in Essex last year compared to 7,434 a year before, across the county registration offices and ceremonies in licensed premises were down by 9.3 per cent on last year and ceremonies in churches were down a further 17.7 per cent .

Over the region, Brentwood had the most registration office weddings (418), closely followed by Colchester (390), whereas Castle Point/Rochford had just 28. Harlow had 77 registry office weddings down from 109 in the previous year.

Chelmsford topped the poll for ceremonies in a licensed premise (779), closely followed by Braintree (763), yet Harlow came bottom with just 22. Down from 35 in 2012-13.

Chelmsford also topped the charts for most church ceremonies too (343), followed by Colchester (306) with Harlow coming bottom again with just 44. Again, down from 58 in 2012-13.

We will be sending out reporters to find out if marriage has gone out of fashion in Harlow.