Portishead
Town · 25,705 residents
69Good
Good · better than 6 in 10 towns
Check Local Score out of 100 · 60 is typical for the country
Each arc is a topic, coloured by its score
What’s good
- Property market scores 75, well above the typical 60
- Less recorded crime than is typical: 71 per 1,000 people a year against 100
- Environment scores 70, well above the typical 60
Check before you view
- Flood risk: 34% of the area is in the highest flood zone, so check the street
- Radon: part of the area is in an affected zone, and a home test is cheap
- Food & drink scores 32, below the typical 60
The essentials
Everyday life
The area
Around Portishead
Honeylands56Portishead Dock52Redcliffe Bay48Woodhill63Charlcombe Bay44New Town67Redcliff Bay48Portbury48Middle BridgeWeston RoadClapton in Gordano61Sheepway
See all 15 in the guide ↓Map outline: Official built-up area
Is Portishead a good place to live?
Portishead scores 69/100 overall, which the scorecard rates as good — 60 is typical for the country.
It stands out for property market (75) and safety (73).
It scores lowest on food & drink (32).
Scores come from official data on safety, schools, transport, prices, health, food & drink and the local environment, for Portishead in South West, each measured against the national average.
Summary of Portishead
Detached houses with gravel drives, cul-de-sacs that curl down towards the marina, and a high street of independent cafés and estate agents rather than chain fashion — that's the visual grammar of Portishead. It reads as comfortable, settled, a little older than the national average, and it attracts people who've traded a Bristol postcode for a bigger garden without giving up the idea of a proper commute.
That trade-off is really the whole story of living here. There's no rail station in the town itself, so anyone working in central Bristol is looking at the bus network or the car rather than a train platform, and with 146 transport stops around the town that bus option is at least dense, even if it's not the same as a rail season ticket. Schools are the compensating strength: St Peter's Church of England Primary School carries an Outstanding rating, Gordano School covers secondary age with a solid "Good" and exam progress that sits right on the national average, and across the town's seven schools the overall Ofsted picture is consistently strong. With a median age of 45, this isn't a town full of new arrivals working out the school run for the first time — it's one where people have already worked it out and stayed. Housing matches that: detached homes dominate the market, freehold is the norm rather than the exception, and a typical sale price around £385,500 to £391,000 sits meaningfully above the national median, though still a touch below what equivalent detached stock elsewhere is doing — a For Sale board here says "family house, bought to keep."