Up my street

In a recent lecture www.upmystreet.co.uk was mentioned to us as a means of locating and targeting a certain group of people. I decided to use the website to have a look at the street I will be living on from July. I was interested in the accuracy of the website as I know having spoken to the landlord that the occupants of the street is relatively mixed. Only 30% of the street can be occupied by students (I think this is due to HMO licensing), I also know that our neighbors consist of a family with two young children on one side and on the other side is an old lady, who is perhaps in her 80’s.

The information below written in black is taken directly from www.upmystreet.co.uk and the blue text is my own comments.

Family income	Medium
Interest in current affairs	High
Housing - with mortgage	Low
Educated - to degree level	High
Couples with children	Low
Have satellite TV	Low
I think that housing with a mortgage will be low as much of the property I imagine will be rented, the rent is also relatively cheap which would perhaps suggest that many people are not that wealthy and hence cannot afford satellite TV? I am unsure as to how many families with children there are on the street although I know in some of the gardens there were swings etc which would suggest that quite a few families may live on the street so perhaps that is not so accurate.

• Often, many of the people who live in this sort of postcode will be cosmopolitan sharers or students living in flats. I think this is true although much of this street is actually terraced houses rather than flats.
• University towns such as Oxford, Cambridge and Edinburgh are the main geographical locations for these types, which are also found in places such as Brighton, Plymouth and Dundee.
• These are cosmopolitan areas of shared flats and bed-sits. Households tend to be young single people renting small one or two bedroom flats, which may be purpose built or converted. Again the street I will be living on consists mainly of terraced houses, similar to mine with a front and rear garden as well as parking. I think they are all also at least 3-bedroom properties and some of the larger properties may even have 4 or 5 bedrooms. I’m not sure that they were specially built for students or even converted to suit students. To me our house appears like any other house, 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, large lounge and kitchen??
• Around a third are student households. I think this will be correct 30% are occupied by students/could be.
• This is a fast changing environment with a high turnover of occupancy. I think this is likely to be very accurate as families are likely to look for larger properties as their children grow up and also students will move if they find a property which is better value for money, they are also likely to move once they graduate.
• Living close to places of work and study, travel is mainly by foot or public transport. Relatively few of these people own a car. 
This is quite true, the old lady who lives next door to us is likely to walk or use public transport. Students are also likely to walk in to town/university as the property is well situated. However I think most people will have a car or at least 1 car per property. This is because although parking is only on one side of the street the street is always lined with cars and a lot of the properties also have cars parked in their drive. This year I may bring my car to uni and my flat mate will definitely be using hers. This is because it makes food shopping easier, you don’t need to carry heavy bags or pay for delivery. The cinema, ice skating and other out of town amenities are also more easily accessible. A well as this traveling home is more convenient and you have more freedom.
• Although many cannot afford to purchase a PC, this is the computer literate generation. They use the Internet through college or work to make various purchases and book holidays. These people have plans and aspirations. They wish to embrace the latest technology - digital cameras, DVD players and so on - but don’t yet have the financial means to do so. The more prudent plan to pay off their debts. I imagine this is very true, however I do think the majority of students do own a laptop/PC. I sort of see my laptop as an every day essential that I couldn’t live without!
• Their phone bills are large and their credit card limits low. 

Lifestyles are active, socially and physically. Exercise, dance and sport are popular. This could be true, I play hockey and squash, I also swim and go to the gym regularly. I also intend to bring my bike up in the summer, however I do know a lot of people who don’t do any exercise other than walking around town now that they are at uni.
• They frequent coffee shops and in the evenings go the theatre, cinema or clubbing.
• More relaxing moments are spent listening to music or reading books and magazines.
• Some will eat healthy foods and take vitamin supplements, but many choose to eat fast foods and take-aways for convenience. 
I think this is true, however I think fast foods, although popular are only consumed when students have the money to buy them, most people tend to cook and live on own-brand produce. I also think most families will try to encourage healthy eating and perhaps only have fast foods as a treat or occasionally and I doubt the elderly residents of the street will eat much fast food at all.
• These people are interested in current affairs.
• While news may be followed online, they are also readers of The Guardian, Observer, Independent and The Times.

I think much of this information is quite useful although obviously not everything would apply to every property and its occupants. I can see how the information could be very useful not only to help you decide whether a street is suitable to live on but it could also be used to locate people interested in sport or people who frequently use coffee shops or public transport fro example. You would then know the areas to target if you wanted to carry out a questionnaire or send out information to a specific group of people.