So is Buckinghamshire posh? The most Googled questions revealed

The most frequently searched questions on Google by county

Using Google’s Autocomplete function with the search questions ‘Is’ and ‘Why’ we were able to see what the most searched questions were about each county.

Whether the results are a reflection on the actual counties or the people searching is up for debate. But we have tried to be helpful by answering some of the burning questions according to the Google searches.

In Bucks, the most Googled search questions were ‘Why is Buckinghamshire postcode HP’ and ‘Is Buckinghamshire posh’.

So just why is the county’s postcode HP? Well the confusion comes in because the HP postcode is also known as the Hemel Hempstead postcode area. But it is actually group of 24 postcode districts covering north-west Herts and much of Bucks.

The main sorting office is in Hemel and the area served includes most of the Dacorum district of Hertfordshire and most of the Chiltern, Wycombe and Aylesbury Vale districts, as well as a small part of the South Bucks district.

And is Bucks really posh? Well according to property website Zoopla, yes it is. Bucks is widely considered the third “poshest” county to live behind Surrey and London respectively. That’s because the county is home to three of the top 10 most expensive towns in Britain namely Beaconsfield, Chalfont St Giles and Gerrards Cross.

In a survey on the website The Student Room, a poll asking ‘Which south eastern English Counties do you see as most posh?’ saw Bucks come in second place from eight counties with 24% of the vote behind Surrey (38%).

But what of some of Buckinghamshire’s near neighbour counties? The Google Autocomplete search for other counties included:

‘Why is Hertfordshire so expensive’ and ‘Is Hertfordshire a city’.

‘Is Oxfordshire going to get snow’ and ‘Why is Oxfordshire abbreviated to Oxon’.

‘Is Bedford awful’ and ‘Why is Bedford not on Google maps’.

‘Is Northamptonshire a good place to live’ and ‘Why is Northamptonshire called the rose of the shires’.

‘Is Leicestershire ok’ and ‘Why is Leicestershire associated with foxes’.

‘Why is Warwickshire associated with bears’ and ‘Is Warwickshire near Birmingham’.

It could be worse, though. The most common search for Essex is ‘Why is Essex so bad’ while the capital city is ‘Why is London so crap’.