Hangstone Hill

Flats dominate the streets here, mostly freehold rather than leasehold, and the density on the ground - packed in at nearly three thousand people per square kilometre - tells you this is a compact, built-up corner rather than a village green. The population is small and the median age sits around fifty-one, well above the national norm, which gives the place a settled, unhurried feel rather than a young-professional churn.

On paper this reads as comfortably placed nationally: North Somerset's median house price is around £310,000, and Hangstone Hill runs about a fifth higher than that, with flats here fetching notably more than the national flat price. Freehold flats and a scattering of semis and terraces make up most of what sells, so a For Sale board on this street is more likely to say "share of freehold" than "share of a management company." That price position, paired with a decile that sits in the more comfortable half nationally, points to a place with some money in it but not the most expensive postcode around.

Here's the number that needs unpacking rather than skating past: the crime figures compared with the parent authority show an enormous gap, and violence and sexual offences top the local breakdown, followed by anti-social behaviour and public order incidents. Against a backdrop of a B+ overall grade and B+ marks for affordability, connectivity and housing, this is the one grade that sits out of pattern - safety is graded B+ too, which suggests the raw comparison is skewed by how small and dense this particular pocket is rather than a place that feels genuinely unsafe day to day. It's worth sitting with rather than dismissing, but it shouldn't be read as the whole story either.