Rubbish Neighbourhood Reports

lorietta

Just out of curiosity I did my home and student postcodes.

Home-
Often, many of the people who live in this sort of postcode will be younger white-collar couples with mortgages. These are known as type 26 in the ACORN classification and 2.04% of the UK's population live in this type.

Neighbourhoods fitting this profile are found in Milton Keynes, Stevenage, Swindon, Chelmsford, Guildford and Hemel Hempstead.
These are suburban communities of young families, often living in New Towns. Generally aged in their late 20s or early 30s, these couples are likely to have just started or be starting a family. There are many pre-school children.

Their houses are typically mortgaged semis with two or three bedrooms.

People are employed as middle managers, office and clerical staff. The more senior have company cars. The company also provides health cover and a pension scheme, which might be supplemented by a private pension.

Incomes are well above average. Some people might make small investments in stocks and shares or in ISAs and may start a child savings plan. Starting a family is a time to be prudent, and the mortgage is likely to be covered by a mortgage protection plan. For the same reason these families may well have taken out life cover and accident insurance. They are careful with their money. Despite healthy credit limits, their credit card spending is controlled at low to moderate levels.

Europe is a popular destination for holidays given many have small children. Being younger they participate in exercise and sport, and gym membership is common. They may also play golf. They go to the cinema fairly frequently. At home they watch satellite TV and DVDs or listen to music.



I think, to be honest, it looks a bit out of date, the stuff about occupation might be right, but the area is actually all 3/4 bedroom houses, the ages are about 20 years out, most people are middle aged I would say with older teenage children. Housing is mostly Semis though. So no, I wouldn't say it's especially acurate.



Student.



Well it couldn't actually find my student postcode, so I searched for the area more generally.



.
Often, many of the people who live in this sort of postcode will live in crowded flats in multi-ethnic areas. These are known as type 56 in the ACORN classification and 1.04% of the UK's population live in this type.

Neighbourhoods fitting this profile are almost exclusively found in London, in areas like Tower Hamlets, Hackney and Southwark. The only other place with significant numbers outside of London is central Birmingham.
These urban areas contain large numbers of young, multi-ethnic families, many of whom are single parent families. This type has very high numbers of under fives. A quarter of the people in this type are Afro-Caribbean, and 10% are Bangladeshi. There is also a significant student population sharing flats.

70% of the housing is purpose built blocks of flats. The flats tend to have one or two bedrooms and are rented from the council or housing associations. The large numbers of children living in these small flats make these homes the most overcrowded in the UK.

Unemployment levels are high, although given the large numbers of lone parents with children under school age, a high proportion of people are not on the job market at all. The working population tends to be employed in retail jobs and basic occupations, where the skill levels required are relatively low.

With low incomes and living in the city, car ownership levels are low and people use public transport. Money is primarily spent on the children and there is little left for luxuries. Religion is an important part of the social life of some of the ethnic minority population.

They read newspapers and the Daily Mirror, The Guardian and Independent are popular. They may also have cable TV at home and other interests include buying clothes.



I would say that that's actually fairly acurate.

[Deleted User]

Here is mine. For what it's worth, I think this is 100% accurate and there's nothing said here that is in any way incorrect.



Often, many of the people who live in this sort of postcode will be white-collar singles or sharers living in terraces. These are known as type 25 in the ACORN classification and 1.55% of the UK's population live in this type.

Towns where neighbourhoods fitting this profile can be found include York, Canterbury, Swindon, Norwich, Bristol, Reading and Cardiff.
This type is a mixture of young professionals and students in prosperous provincial towns and cities. Households are a mix of singles, couples and flat and house sharers.

Residents are mostly in their 20s and early 30s. They are well qualified, usually to A-level and degree standard. The older individuals in this type are often already in successful professional and managerial careers. Others are in lower managerial roles, as well as clerical occupations. Some work in the education and healthcare sectors. The term-time student population in this type is above average.

Most of the housing is terraced with some converted flats. Purpose built flats are rarer. Renting from a private landlord is higher than the national average, but many are buying their properties on a mortgage. Most households are two or three bedrooms.

Car ownership is in line with the national average, with most households having one, and some having two cars. Despite this, most residents use public transport, cycle or walk when travelling to work.

These individuals are slightly higher than average holders of savings and investment products such as ISAs, unit trusts and stocks and shares. They are also likely to use the Internet for savings accounts and to source credit cards.

Their preferred newspapers are The Guardian, Independent and Observer. They are likely to have cable TV and are keen on exercise and sport as well as theatre, music and the arts.

dtl

Jue_xx wrote: »

Obviously not!

Just out if interest, what does yours say, dtl?

Some of the highlights from mine

'This type of postcode has a high proportion of older people, particularly those over 75' - Only if 10% counts as a high proportion. Most have move out to be replaced by younger couples with kids

'There are fewer families with young children in these neighbourhoods, although there are some single parents.' - About 10 years ago that may have been true, but not any more.

Single person households are most common and many are pensioners. - Not very accurate: other than the pensioners, I can think of very few single person households


'Most residents live in small terraced houses, with only two or three bedrooms. Some live in flats, mostly low rise purpose built' - That's reasonably accurate

'Many rent from private landlords but local authority and housing association property is also important' - Most are owner occupied and the few who do rent do so from the local authority

'Car ownership is low and public transport, cycling and walking tend to be the main modes of travel.' - Most homes have at least one car and that includes the retired widows

not_loaded

Well, it’s interesting that some people here swear by its accuracy, and for others it’s miles away from reality.

If you think about it, they can’t reinvent the wheel for every entry, so maybe it’s bored staff on the night shift who copy and paste loads of entries to keep their work rate up?

And off they trot in the morning in their Nike trainers to the newsagent to get the Sun, and then make a cup of PG Tips while listening to Radio 2. A tad later, book a Haven holiday and pick up a takeaway. End up in pub hoping to get lucky with a retired widow.

westv

I prefer to make use of the uklocal census data rather than the ACORN reports.

princeofpounds

Don't know whether anyone has pointed this out already but these reports often get distorted by relatively small features - if a large mansion block has cable for instance, or if there is a council block not far from a nice street (London especially!), or if there is a residential home for the elderly in an otherwise young suburban area or whatever.

Hailstorm

lorietta wrote: »

Just out of curiosity I did my home and student postcodes.

Home-
Often, many of the people who live in this sort of postcode will be younger white-collar couples with mortgages. These are known as type 26 in the ACORN classification and 2.04% of the UK's population live in this type.

Neighbourhoods fitting this profile are found in Milton Keynes, Stevenage, Swindon, Chelmsford, Guildford and Hemel Hempstead.
These are suburban communities of young families, often living in New Towns. Generally aged in their late 20s or early 30s, these couples are likely to have just started or be starting a family. There are many pre-school children.

Their houses are typically mortgaged semis with two or three bedrooms.

People are employed as middle managers, office and clerical staff. The more senior have company cars. The company also provides health cover and a pension scheme, which might be supplemented by a private pension.

Incomes are well above average. Some people might make small investments in stocks and shares or in ISAs and may start a child savings plan. Starting a family is a time to be prudent, and the mortgage is likely to be covered by a mortgage protection plan. For the same reason these families may well have taken out life cover and accident insurance. They are careful with their money. Despite healthy credit limits, their credit card spending is controlled at low to moderate levels.

Europe is a popular destination for holidays given many have small children. Being younger they participate in exercise and sport, and gym membership is common. They may also play golf. They go to the cinema fairly frequently. At home they watch satellite TV and DVDs or listen to music.



I think, to be honest, it looks a bit out of date, the stuff about occupation might be right, but the area is actually all 3/4 bedroom houses, the ages are about 20 years out, most people are middle aged I would say with older teenage children. Housing is mostly Semis though. So no, I wouldn't say it's especially acurate.

I got the same Acorn type for my postcode. It does appear to be quite accurate. I fit most of that description and I would estimate 60-65% of the cul-de-sac do. The only thing I would say is way out is families. There are not many children around.

I notice some people say their description does not suit them but there will always be exceptions, both my immediate neighbours are. One side is a single woman in her 40s and the other are a couple in their 80s.

Hailstorm

I have also looked up my Mum and Dad's postcode where I grew up.

Often, many of the people who live in this sort of postcode will be mature couples living in smaller detached homes. These are known as type 8 in the ACORN classification and 2.17% of the UK's population live in this type.

There is a high concentration of neighbourhoods fitting this profile in areas such as Lincolnshire, Norfolk and the Scottish Islands.
These people live in well established areas within towns and villages which are remote from the major conurbations.

Typically aged between 45 and 75, these households tend to be mainly empty nesters and retired couples.

The fact that many own their own home outright is indicative of the established nature of these areas. The majority of homes are detached houses and bungalows. These tend to be three bedroom properties, and are smaller than those within other affluent areas.

This group have typically worked in middle management or supervisory roles. Whilst they are not rich, they have plenty of money to spend now that their children have left home and they have no mortgage.

They usually have at least one car, which many will buy as new. They invest their money in products like ISAs and they save regularly. They are cautious with credit and their use of credit cards is relatively low.

They like to go on holiday and many will take packaged holidays in both the UK and Europe. Like the other types with a similar age profile, they are keen gardeners.

They prefer to get their news from TV and radio, rather than newspapers. However, when they do choose a paper it tends to be the Daily Mail and Sunday Express.

I am not sure if this is accurate but it reflects recent trends and I can see the area becomming as described in the next decade or so. When I was growing up the majority of people in the village were agricultural workers so describing them as affluent is incorrect. For the last 15 years or so though, whenever a house has come up for sale 9 times out of 10 it has been bought by a moderately wealthy couple who have moved to the country upon retirement.

PasturesNew

upmystreet said cable TV is popular in my road .... there's no cabled areas for over 60 miles.