What it's like to live in Christchurch

Housing in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole area leans heavily towards owning and private renting. At the 2021 Census, 62.8% of homes were owned and 25.4% privately rented, with just 11% social rented, split roughly evenly between council and housing association. That is well below the England figure of 17.1%, which is the main reason mutual exchange is such a useful route here.

Average weekly social rents across the council area in 2024/25 were about £99 for one bedroom, £115 for two and £130 for three. The biggest social landlord is Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council with 9,606 homes, followed by Sovereign Network Group with 5,270, Stonewater with 1,008, Bournemouth Churches Housing Association with 574 and The Swaythling Housing Society with 546.

The area skews older than England overall, with fewer under-16s and more over-65s, though a quarter of residents are aged 25 to 44. At 31 March 2025 the council's housing register held 3,144 households; 693 homes were let through the council in 2024-25 and 81 council homes changed hands by mutual exchange.

Families are well served in the town centre. Christchurch Infant School is about two tenths of a mile out, with Christchurch Junior School just behind it, and The Priory Church of England Primary School half a mile away. Twynham Primary School and St Katharine's Church of England Primary School are both within a mile, so there is a reasonable spread of choice for a town this size.

For older children, Twynham School is under half a mile from the centre, with St Peter's Catholic School, including its sixth form, a little over a mile away and The Grange School around 1.2 miles. Christchurch Learning Centre is closest of all. Admission depends on catchments and places, so check with the council before you commit to a swap.

Day to day, children have somewhere to go: Druitt Gardens and New Zealand Gardens near the shops, The Quomps by the river, and Wick Green and Iford Meadows a bit further out. Christchurch Library and Tuckton Library are both within a mile, and community halls like Burton and Stanpit host local groups.

Christchurch station is right by the centre, around a tenth of a mile out, on the main line that links Bournemouth and Poole with Southampton and London. Pokesdown station is about two miles west and useful if you are heading into the Boscombe and Southbourne side of Bournemouth.

Buses run through the town and the wider conurbation. Boscombe Bus Station is roughly two and a half miles away and the Somerford Sainsbury's stop sits about two miles out, both handy interchange points if you are travelling without a car. Check the specific routes from the street you are considering, as the frequency varies between the centre and the outlying estates.

By road you are close to the A35 corridor linking Bournemouth, Poole and the New Forest. Driving is straightforward outside the summer, when coastal traffic builds up.

On foot the town centre is genuinely easy. Shops, the library, the hospital, parks, schools and the station are all within about half a mile of each other, which keeps costs down whether or not you drive.

The waterside is the main event. The Quomps gives you open grass by the river, and Druitt Gardens and New Zealand Gardens are small, leafy spaces right by the high street. Iford Meadows and Wick Green add more room to walk within a mile of the centre.

For culture, the Regent Centre is less than half a mile away and doubles as the town's cinema and venue. Two libraries, Christchurch and Tuckton, are close by, with Pokesdown and Southbourne and Boscombe libraries a little further west. If you want a bigger night out, the O2 Academy in Bournemouth is under three miles away.

There is no shortage of pubs. The Railway sits by the station, with Cameron's, The Saxon Bar, The Ship and Dirty Gerties Gin Parlour all within half a mile of the centre. For exercise, Anytime Fitness is a short walk, with Maya and Moon, Snap Fitness and Shore Pilates Studio within a mile or two.

Census 2021 figures for the wider Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole council area show 55.5% of adults in work, a little below the England average of 57.4%, with unemployment at 3.3% against 3.5% nationally. By September 2026, unemployment-related benefit claims stood at 3.3% of 16 to 64 year olds, below the England figure of 4%.

That slightly lower employment rate is partly about age: 21.6% of the council area's residents are 65 or over, compared with 18.4% across England, so more people are retired rather than out of work.

Locally, health is a visible employer, with Christchurch Hospital just over half a mile away and the Royal Bournemouth Hospital under two miles. Retail, hospitality and care are familiar parts of the picture in a coastal town. With the train station in the centre and Bournemouth and Poole close by, commuting to a wider job market is realistic whether you drive or not.