12/01/2007

The Brickies WAGs, the Young Fogeys and the Urban Farmers

Colleen and Victoria face tough competition as a new breed of Brits, the Bricklayers’ Wives, bring their own blend of glamour to a neighbourhood near you.

These new age WAGs, characterised by a life of luxury funded by a tradesmen hubby, join five other new social types set to expand to 22 million1 by 2017 according to the Local Life report by high street supermarket, Somerfield.

Clad in designer gear with cash to spend, the Bricklayers’ Wives will be bringing the high life to the high streets of Hillingdon, Bracknell Forest and Three Rivers. This group, who models itself on Posh and co, is expected to blow up by 2017 with five times as many women (five per cent) hoping to meet a tradesman and live luxuriously ever after.

Other groups expected to surface are the Urban Farmers – city-folk who more resemble Alan Titmarsh than Alan Sugar – and the Young Fogeys, a generation of youthful Londoners whose behaviour verges on middle-aged.

Typified by 4x4 driving and Country Life reading in the city, Urban Farmers find home in such busy suburbs as Richmond, Barnet and Kingston. With a growing fondness for organic produce, country cuisine and long walks within Britain’s cityscapes, 22 per cent of people hope to become Urban Farmers in the next 10 years.

Renouncing night clubs for Radio Four and trendy bars for traditional pubs, Young Fogeys currently account for a tenth (10 per cent) of 20-somethings in the UK and is set to grow with a further 17 per cent hoping to join them in 10 years’ time. Characterised by a love for real ale, Good Housekeeping and comfort over style, this group is found predominantly in London suburbs.

Offices could be emptying out over the next 10 years as the number of Brits escaping to rural hideaways will triple due to the World Wide Web. With countryside and motorways in good supply, South Cambridgeshire, Aylesbury Vale and South Oxfordshire will become key homes for Virtual Villagers.

And while the Virtual Villagers escape stuffy urban offices for a rural idyll, the Transient 20s, in contrast, a group of constant flat and job-hoppers will snub settling down entirely and opt instead for travel and adventure.

Driven by a desire for change and new challenges, the Transient 20s, currently one in 14 (seven per cent), completely reject job and home security. Hackney, Manchester and Brighton are just some of the areas facing a flood of these 20-somethings over the next 10 years as the number expected to join this group rises from one in 20 (four per cent) to one in 10 (nine per cent).

Finally, the report also predicts an upsurge in the super-race of over 65s, labelled The Unstoppables, who simply refuse to cease partying.

Fond of clubbing, evening classes, gigs and eating out, a further 18 per cent hope to join the merry band of Unstoppables by 2017, and these elderly thrill-seekers are most likely to be found in Arun, New Forest and Flyde.

Pete Williams, head of press and PR at Somerfield, said: “Already we are seeing massive changes in the communities we operate in – Urban Farmers want their veg with the dirt still on while Bricklayers’ Wives demand truffles and Champagne in trendy packaging for sheer luxury.

“With community types ever-changing, it is important for the high street to continue evolving – and the local supermarket is one of the few places where you’ll find all types under the one roof. Be it Victoria Brick-hams or the Youngest of Fogeys, by 2017 the average British neighbourhood will be a far cry from what we see today.”

Glossary

• Bricklayers’ Wives - Colleen and Posh face tough competition in the form of wealthy tradesmen’s wives who live like celebrity WAGs.
• Transient Twenties - a generation of chronic flat and job-hoppers who snub settling down.
• The Unstoppables – elderly Britons who refuse to stop partying.
• Urban Farmers – city-folk who more resemble Alan Titmarsh than Alan Sugar with their love for all things rural.
• Virtual Neighbours - a breed of tech-obsessed hermits who bring cutting edge technology to remote locations.
• Young Fogeys - young adults who mature all too quickly.

Where are they most likely to appear?

Bricklayers’ Wives:

1. Hillingdon
2. Bracknell forest
3. Three Rivers
4. Hertsmere
5. Basingstoke & Deane
6. Crawley
7. Dacorum
8. Redditch
9. Broxbourne
10. Epping Forest

Transient 20s

1. Newham
2. Hackney
3. Ealing
4. Islington
5. Merton
6. Manchester
7. Oxford
8. Brent
9. Edinburgh
10. Hounslow
11. Brighton & Hove

The Unstoppables

1. Christchurch
2. Arun
3. New Forest
4. Fylde
5. Isle of Wight
6. Weymouth & Portland
7. Lewes
8. Poole
9. Carrick
10. Worthing

Urban Farmers

1. Richmond-Upon-Thames
2. Barnet
3. Kingston-Upon-Thames
4. Worthing
5. Torbay
6. Wandsworth
7. Islington
8. Hammersmith & Fulham
9. Bournemouth
10. Lambeth

Virtual Villagers

1. South Cambridgeshire
2. Aylesbury Vale
3. South Oxfordshire
4. West Berkshire
5. Vale of White Horse
6. South Northamptonshire
7. Uttlesford
8. West Oxfordshire
9. Huntingdonshire
10. Winchester

Young Fogeys

1. Barnet
2. Richmond-Upon-Thames
3. Merton
4. Kingston-Upon-Thames
5. Croydon
6. Enfield
7. Waltham Forest
8. Wandsworth
9. Newham
10. Lewisham

In this third chapter of the Local Life Report, the Future Foundation brought together trends insight, analysis of attitudinal and behavioural research from a variety of sources, and Experian’s MOSAIC geo-demographic segmentation to identify six ‘modern neighbourhoods’.

This press release utilises original quantitative online omnibus research by YouGov among 2,000 UK respondents aged 18+.

Findings reported here are taken from the third of five chapters of the Local Life report by the Future Foundation, commissioned by Somerfield. The report takes the premise that the nature of local communities is changing in response to a wide array of social, demographic and consumer trends that have transformed UK society over recent decades. The purpose of the Somerfield Local Life report is to explore how these many different factors are affecting the ways in which people experience their everyday lives.

1 = According to omnibus research, the six community types incorporate 49 per cent the UK population of 46,300,400 (figure provided by Office for National Statistics 2003) i.e. 22,687,196.

About Somerfield

Somerfield places the customer at the heart of its decision-making and works with specialist qualitative and quantitative research agencies to develop its consumer insight. A range of bespoke continuous and ad hoc research studies provide an insight into customer opinion of everything from the store environment and customer service levels to perceptions of the brand and its fresh food range.

The Local Life study complements this focused consumer research by building a broader picture of the state of today’s communities and the expectations of those living in the neighbourhood of its stores.

• Somerfield’s strategy is to be the UK’s leading convenience and local food retailer with a focus on fresh foods in easy to shop store locations.
  
•  Its stores offer a genuine alternative to the big out-of-town superstores providing local customers with a full-service supermarket, exciting choice and a wide range of fresh and convenient foods at great value prices.
  
• Somerfield operates over 1,100 stores across the UK with nine out of 10 located in town centre or neighbourhood locations. The supermarket employs over 52,000 colleagues and has more than 10 million customer visits every week.

For further information or a copy of the report, please contact Kev O’Sullivan on 020 7419 8632, kev@brando-world.com or Hayley Booth on 020 7419 8611, hayley@brando-world.com at Brando.

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