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What do you call those 'food centres' or ethnic supermarkets?
I've heard people c… You know the type, they usually have loads of fruit and veg outside and a thousand types of pickles inside. They are often open 24 hours and may include a butcher or baker inside.
I've heard people call them 'Turkish shop', 'ethnomarket' 'food centre'. Is there an official term?
in london people just call them by what they are, like "the turkish shop on green lanes" or "the polish place on the high road" if it's that type. there's no official term but 'ethnic supermarket' is the most common one you'll see on google maps or delivery apps, and 'food centre' is more of a generic sign thing some of them use. honestly if you say "24 hour shop with the veg outside" everyone knows exactly what you mean
Depends on the specific area, really. Could be anything from a "supermarket" with a surprisingly good international aisle to a proper bustling market like Borough Market (but even that's got a lot of variety). Or just a general "off-licence" with unexpectedly good stuff.
What are some innovative ways to anonymously compare rental prices in a city?
SpareRoom's "rooms wanted" ads are underrated for this. people post what they're currently paying alongside what they want next, so you can scrape a rough sense of going rates by postcode without anyone knowing you looked. it skews young and flatshare heavy tho, so not much use if you're after 2-beds in zone 2.
Another one is just the depozit or tenancy deposit scheme data. not public-facing, but your council's housing officer can tell you median rents from deposit registrations if you email them under FOI. takes weeks, but its proper anon and nobody clocks u.
Rightmove and Zoopla only show asking rents, which are often 10 to 15 percent above what a place actually goes for, so they're a poor benchmark. The trick I've used is the ONS Price Index of Private Rents, which breaks things down to borough level and is genuinely anonymous since it's aggregate data, no listing or account needed. For something more granular, the London Renters Union runs a rent reporting tool where you submit what you're paying with your postcode and it maps it against others nearby, though the coverage is patchy outside the inner boroughs.
the openrent "rent check" thing is decent for zones 3-4 where the unions tool barely reaches. also worth checking the london.gov.uk planning portal for new build applications, they list "affordable" and market rent figures per unit in the viability assessments, which is basically the developer telling the council what they expect to charge. bit of a faff to dig through but its public, anonymous & nobody knows ur looking
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