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50,000+ neighbourhoods · England, Wales & Scotland

See what a place is really like before you move

Check Local reads any neighbourhood from official data — schools, safety, sold prices, transport and more — so you know what a neighbourhood is really like before you move in.

Try Lambeth, Manchester, or a postcode like NE30 1DP — or explore the map.

Free to use — no account needed, nothing blurred, and every figure names its source.

Actually moving? Moving Mode turns the data into a decision — every written verdict, your whole shortlist compared, from £9.99 a month.

Built on Police.uk, Ofsted, HM Land Registry, ONS and more than 20 official UK sources in all.

The basis

Every number comes from an official source — and shows it

No scraped reviews, no anonymous star ratings, no hearsay. Every figure comes from official government data, with the source named and a freshness date attached.

Named sources

Police.uk, Ofsted, HM Land Registry, ONS and more — each figure says where it came from and when it last updated.

On one map

Everything on a single map you can move and recolour, instead of scattered across a dozen government sites.

In plain English

Alongside the raw numbers, a short written read of what they mean for living there — not a wall of stats.

What's in a report

Crime, schools, prices and transport — for any place you search

Search a place and you get the same rounded picture every time, built from more than 20 official UK datasets, each named and dated. Here's the shape of it.

  • Safety

    Recorded crime on and around the street, broken down by type and trend, plus serious road collisions nearby.

    Police.uk · STATS19
  • Schools & families

    Ofsted ratings, exam results and how tight the real catchments are — for nearby schools and nurseries.

    Ofsted · Dept. for Education
  • Property & money

    Sold prices and the 12-month trend, private rents, energy efficiency and council tax bands.

    HM Land Registry · EPC register
  • Getting around

    Nearby stations and stops, broadband and mobile coverage, and a real door-to-door commute check.

    NaPTAN · Ofcom
  • Environment & health

    Flood risk, air quality, noise, green space, and the nearest GPs and pharmacies.

    Environment Agency · DEFRA · NHS

That's crime, schools, sold prices, transport, flood risk and more — see every dataset, who publishes it and how current it is on our data sources page.

How it works

Search, read the map, then go deeper

  1. 01
    Search

    Type any town, neighbourhood or postcode. We resolve it to its real boundary — not a pin dropped nearby.

  2. 02
    Read the map

    Switch lens — each lens is one angle on a place (schools, safety, transport…) — and the map recolours to match. Tap any area to open its numbers.

  3. 03
    Go deeper

    Save a shortlist, compare two areas side by side, and check the commute to the places that matter to you.

The Rundown

A straight paragraph on what the numbers mean

Every lens ends in the Rundown: a plain-English read of what the numbers actually mean for living there — written from this area's own figures and how they compare to the country and the region.

No agent spin, no filler — and it never adds facts the data doesn't show.

There are nine Rundowns for every area, one per lens. The Overview is free on every place in the country; the other eight are part of Moving Mode.

A
Schools · Lambeth
Score 84 / 100 · National 60

Lambeth's primary picture is unusually strong: 92% of pupils attend a Good or Outstanding school, well above the London average. The secondary picture is more mixed — three providers concentrate the Outstanding ratings, so catchment matters more here than the headline suggests.

Illustrative example · real Rundowns are generated from each area's own Ofsted and DfE data, with freshness dates shown
Moving Mode

Everything we know about a place, when it matters most

Check Local is free to explore. Moving Mode is for the months you're actually choosing — it turns the data into a decision you can defend.

Schools · your area
The full read continues
The written Rundown for this lens is available on Moving Mode.
A written verdict per lensNine of them per area, in plain English, from that area's own figures.
A report you can take with youThe whole picture as a clean PDF — for the viewing, or for whoever you're moving with.
Your whole shortlist, side by sideFour areas at once, weighted to what your household actually needs.

Everything Moving Mode opens

  • Every Rundown, on every lens

    Nine written verdicts per area instead of one — schools, safety, housing, transport, environment and the rest, each read in plain English from that area's own figures.

  • Ask Check Local anything

    Put your real question to the data — “is this a sensible spot with a four-year-old?”, “how does crime here compare to where I live now?” — and get an answer drawn only from the figures.

  • Download the full report

    The whole picture as a clean PDF: score, every lens, every Rundown. Take it to a viewing, or send it to whoever you're moving with.

  • Real commute checks

    Door-to-door from any area to the postcodes that actually matter — the office, their school, your parents — walking, cycling, driving and transit.

  • An honest read on any comparison

    Line two areas up and ask for the verdict in writing — where each one actually wins, which way they're heading, and when the gap is too small to be worth acting on.

  • Compare four at once, without limits

    Line your whole shortlist up side by side and weight it to what you care about — schools over nightlife, commute over price. Free stops at two areas, twice a day.

  • What's changed alerts

    We keep watching your saved areas after you've looked. When the score, crime, sold prices or Ofsted picture moves, you hear about it — instead of finding out after you've offered.

  • Unlimited shortlists

    Save every area you're weighing up, with its score and pins on one map, for as long as the search takes.

When people turn it on

  • You've got five areas and no way to choose

    Read all five properly, line them up four at a time, and weight the table to what your family actually needs.

  • An offer's gone in and the doubt has set in

    Get the honest verdict on schools, safety and the price trend before the survey, not after.

  • You're moving somewhere you've never lived

    No local knowledge to fall back on — so ask the data directly, and check the commute before you commit.

£9.99/month, rolling

or £22.99 for 3 months — one payment, covers a whole move, never renews

Cancel in one click. No contract, no tie-in.

Go deeper

Ask questions, compare places, take a report with you

Ask Check LocalMoving Mode

Ask a question about any area and get a straight answer, drawn only from the underlying figures — “how does crime here compare to England?” or “is this a good spot for young families?”

Compare4 areas · Moving Mode

Line up two places and get a verdict you can weight to what matters to you — schools over nightlife, commute over price. Free compares two a day; Moving Mode compares four at a time, without limit.

Download a reportMoving Mode

Take the whole picture with you as a clean PDF — for weighing up viewings, or talking it over with whoever you're moving with.

Coverage

Every neighbourhood in England, Wales and Scotland

Check Local covers England, Wales and Scotland — more than 50,000 neighbourhoods, from inner-city postcodes to villages. Where a dataset is published differently across the three nations, or isn't available at all, we say so on the page rather than guess.

Where the line sits

Free to explore. Paid only for the months you're moving.

You never pay to look. You pay when you're choosing — and only for the months you're actually moving, rolling monthly with no contract.

Free, forever
£0

No account needed to look around.

  • The map and all 9 lenses, everywhere
  • The Check Local Score for every area
  • The Overview Rundown on every place
  • Compare two areas, twice a day
Start exploring
Moving Mode
£9.99/month, rolling

Everything above, plus the tools for deciding.

  • All 9 Rundowns per area (free gets 1)
  • Ask any question about any area
  • A PDF dossier for any area
  • Door-to-door commute from any area
  • A written verdict on any comparison
  • Unlimited comparisons, 4 areas at a time
  • Told when your saved areas change
  • Save as many areas as you like
3-month pass£22.99

One-off · covers a typical move · does not auto-renew

Start Moving Mode

Cancel in one click. No contract, no tie-in.

Browse by region

Start from a nation or English region and drill down to any council, town or neighbourhood.

Read the place before you fall for the kitchen.

Stop guessing from listings and hearsay. Search any town, neighbourhood or postcode across England, Wales and Scotland.