upmystreet.com > Reviews (9)

“The definitive guide to facilities in your area....”, “A minefield of localized information...”, “More useful than the yellow pages...” - just a handful of statements that have been made about UpMyStreet.

It’s a fantastic resource for UK residents, easy to use, and free. No more wasting time ringing up the talking pages to find the telephone number of your nearest restaurant, or all night petrol station. Simply head to www.upmystreet.com

The homepage is quite bare, the design is basic, and the graphics are minimal. But the concept is great and the site is easy to use. There’s no registration forms to fill in or consumer surveys to be completed, all you need to supply is one piece of information, the town or postal code of the area you want to find out about.

You simply type it in and click the “Go!” button. The next page displays the area you entered for your search, a small map, and links to find out what’s in and around that area. (There is a link on the homepage to the Royal Mail’s postcode finder if you need it).

Find My Nearest...™
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This feature is the most useful. It’s presented in the following categories... Advice, Careers, Charities, Community, Eating & Drinking, Education, Entertainment, Environment, Health, Home & Garden, Hotels & Guest Houses, Kids, Late Night & 24hr, Money & Legal, Motors, Moving Home, Shopping, Sport & Leisure, Transport, and Utilities.

So, for example, if you want to find your nearest restaurant, you simply click on the Eating & Drinking section. You can then either click on restaurants, or search a specific type such as Chinese or American. Your results are then presented to you in order of the closest to the specified search area first.

You get a maximum of 100 results, listed 10 at a time. You are given the full name and postal address of the establishment, the telephone number with area code, and it’s distance in miles from your specified base location (ie your initial entry of postcode or town). There’s also a link for a map.

Classifieds
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This feature allows you to search for Property, Used cars, Jobs, and general For Sale items in your area. Again, in which ever category you search, the results are listed in order of closest to base first. You can also place ads in this section. Prices are dependant on the type of ad, and range from free through to £30.00

What's on...
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Under this heading you can find a Cinema Guide, Theatre Guide, Gig Guide, Places to Visit, Pub Finder, and Restaurant Finder. Click on any of these and you are taken to another site (www.virgin.net) where again the information is presented, again listed closest to your specified location first. The pub and restaurant information is taken from the Good Pub Guide and the Good Food Guide books, so not only are you getting suggestions for your area, you’re getting a recommendation too.

You’ll also find....
~ An ACORN© profile for your area (facts and figures on the likely characteristics of your neighbourhood, such as no.

of cars owned per family, likelihood of watching a lot of ITV - some weird but quite interesting facts)
~ Council information such as council tax price bands, and council spending on various issues. These figures are displayed alongside the national averages
~ School statistics. You can see the best performing schools in your area, and compare exam results and various other school issues to the national average.

The site is easy to navigate, and reasonably fast. As well as telling you about your own area, this site is handy for those contemplating a move and wanting to know more about a specific area, or even if you are going on holiday and want to have an idea of the facilities that are on offer there. Simply type in your area of interest and the information is yours for the taking.

** (For those using 'asrecby' you will find this site very useful) **