Independent audits helping the UK’s leading placemakers to assess and evolve key spaces to thrive, be safe and meet stakeholder’s and user’s needs
Offering a broad spectrum of audit and market research services for Councils, BIDS, Retail Centres, Civic Markets, and the Education sector, delivered by a trained national auditor network



How Serve Legal can help
The Risk
Town, cities, and communities strive to provide a better environment and community spaces. Without reliable feedback, investment risks missing its goals and aspirations. If people don’t feel safe, welcome, or engaged, community trust, experience and footfall can all suffer.
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How Serve Legal Helps
We provide data insight to place managers with bespoke audit services including safety and environmental perception audits, market research, event feedback, mystery shopping, BID survey, events experience and safety testing. Our auditors act as everyday visitors, providing a realistic view of how safe, welcoming, and well-managed your area feels. From high street routes, civic markets to BID members feedback, we adapt our approach to align with your goals.

Who We Are
Serve Legal delivers a market leading 'Placemaker research' service with a nationwide network of trained auditors. We deliver tailored place management audits that give you reliable, actionable insight to support planning, investment, and community engagement.

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Frequently asked questions
Absolutely. We can provide comparative data across locations, estates, or time periods giving you all the information you need.
Our Services
We help BIDs and local councils deliver effective place-based management and urban renewal—creating vibrant, resilient, safer centres for residents and visitors.

Environmental Mapping Perception Review
This highly proven audit enables city managers to assess how the local environment impacts a visitor’s perceptions and experience of their town centre.
Leveraging audits along public realm walkways to benchmark key factors such as pavements, cleanliness, refuse, litter, bins, overflowing, signage, safety, street sellers etc.

Mystery Shopping
A very popular and proven audit tool that enables BID managers to actively support their cross-sector levy payer communities with highly valuable insight into their own customer’s full experience, share best practice and celebrate staff excellence and awards.
The results have helped BIDS to increase Levy payer engagement, strengthen profitability , provide strong PR and increase BID awareness.

Levy Payer Consultation
This specialist market research enables BID managers to gain key insight from their levy payers of all elements of the BID term cycle which can cover BID ballot preparation, Mid-term and New BID / BID area extension. Phone based and in-person interviews provide in-depth insight on issues such as awareness of BID activities, future changes, general views / appetite, projects & voting intentions.

Event Feedback
Running an active events programme is a key aspect of a vibrant BID term, this specialist feedback audit allows BIDs to assess how successful their events have been, either their own or others they partnered with.
Intercept field surveys give impactful insight from attendees and levy payers on economic impact, spend levels, experiential views, travel points & future development.

Safety Perception Audit
This much leveraged audit allows city managers to assess and enhance how safe visitor’s feel in their town centre with a focus on key nighttime economy routes and activity.
Typical key safety factors measured are Impacts of Local Initiatives, Car Parking, Lighting & Visibility, Maintenance works, General Walking Routes and Initial /Final Impressions. These audits are successfully being used to specifically support efforts to improve women's safety in towns and cities.

Staff Security and Theft Prevention
With retail crime a huge challenge and top of the agenda, this audit enables levy payers to monitor and support staff being vigilant over stock loss and theft prevention.
Delivered via covert in-store audits covering key elements such as staff visibility / attentiveness, blind spots, customer activity, exposed stock, customer walkouts and payments etc, to help future proof their trading environment.

Focus Groups
We have a rich legacy in delivering successful Focus Group research that has given Civic Managers very sharp and in-depth insights from targeted audiences into the key issues facing an organisation.
Facilitated through Zoom based focused groups they have proven a popular and cost-effective tool to unpick issues and devise effective action plans.

Centre Market Research
Provides Civic Managers with crucial feedback from visitors to their Town Centre to help evaluate previous actions and make informed decisions on plans to enhance the full visitor experience.
Multiples in-depth insights are taken from visitors in situ covering NPS, Frequency, Dwell time, Spend, Like/Dislikes, other centres & Socio-economic profiles.
Our success stories
“We have worked with Serve Legal since 2008. During that time they have conducted over 14,000 audits to all of our stores in Scotland, North of England and Northern Ireland. Several stores are in very remote areas, as far north as Wick and Thurso. Serve Legal has always been able to visit any store that we have requested no matter how challenging the location. The audit reports are always delivered in an accurate and timely manner and the management team have a pro-active approach and are always looking for ways to improve their service to their customers. We would have no hesitation in recommending Serve Legal to others.”
“We use Serve Legal regularly to carry out tests on our compliance with age restricted sales. This includes tobacco and the recently introduced tobacco display ban. They deliver a reliable and efficient service within agreed deadlines and with very few data errors. They are able to swiftly provide accurate analysis of our data which helps with our training and future testing programs.”
“We have worked with Serve Legal since 2014 and they have significantly helped us to combat illegal broadcasting in the UK and Ireland. Their knowledge, expertise and robust auditing in conjunction with the prompt supply of infringement data has generated over 8,000 leads; which has led to valuable leads for our sales force and investigation team to defend our investment in exclusive sports content. Serve Legal have consistently delivered against agreed KPIs.”
“We have worked with Serve Legal since 2009 and they have helped us to significantly reduce our risk with age-restricted sales. They have played a key role in monitoring our risk across a range of age-restricted products. Their knowledge, speed of service and flexible data provision helps us to sharpen our training and inform our future approach to compliance.”
“The Serve Legal information is extremely useful, informative and well presented. The issues with sites not using ‘Challenge 25’ can now be dealt with the backing of evidence of where they’re failing. I am most pleased with how the surveys are being conducted and appreciate the detailed information provided.”
“Using an independent test purchase service such as Serve Legal demonstrates to the local authorities that I am taking the issue of underage sales seriously. The due diligence provided is invaluable and has played an important role in defending my license in a recent licensing hearing.”
“We have worked with Serve Legal since 2008. The visit reports are always delivered in an accurate and timely manner. The accuracy and consistency of the information provided has allowed us to identify training needs, target resource, protect our business and improve our compliance. I would have no hesitation in recommending Serve Legal to others.”
“We use Serve Legal monthly to conduct test purchases of alcohol, in order to monitor our adherence to our Challenge 25 policy. This is also extended to campaigns of test purchasing on other age-restricted products. The professionalism and flexibility they offer has assisted us in improving our compliance levels, and where required, using targeted activity. The online portal provides easy to read data in a timely fashion for reporting.”
“We have worked with Serve Legal since 2009 and they have helped us to significantly reduce our risk with age restricted sales. They have played a key role in monitoring our risk across a wide range of age restricted products. Their knowledge, speed of service and flexible data provision helps us to sharpen our training and inform our future approach to compliance.”
“Serve Legal was appointed by my company in order that we gain valued feedback from a licensing perspective. The relationship between Serve legal and my business is friendly, professional and feels personal. The feedback we have gained is invaluable to our operation, we have been able to use the data to make changes in our business to ensure a risk free operation. I would highly recommend.”
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About us
In early 2006, Ed Heaver and Julian Sargeson were alcohol retailers with a problem. The local authority had decided one of their sites was consistently serving underage people.
They wanted to check their staff, measure the site performance and demonstrate to the authority they were taking the issue seriously. They couldn't find a company providing a cost-effective service, so they decided to do it themselves.
The business has since grown to become the market leading provider of compliance auditing services in the UK & Ireland, and a leading voice in the conversations around age-verification and food allergy policy.
Our Customer Experience Allergen audit has been designed in collaboration with an experienced Environmental Health Practitioner and is approved by Trading Standards.
Our Awards
Don't just take our word for it, see the awards that back up our claims of excellence.

Elite Business Finalist 2025
Moneypenny Customer Service of the Year Award

Elite Business Award Winner 2025
Top 100 SME Businesses - #8 in the UK

Growing Business Awards Winner 2023
Customer Experience and Loyalty Award

The Golden Grocer Awards 2022 Finalist
Business Initiative of the Year

Growing Business Awards Winner 2022
B2B Business of the Year

Business Champion Awards 2022 Finalist
Business Community Award
Frequently asked questions
Serve Legal also offers age-verification audits, facial biometric accuracy and fairness auditing, revenue protection, responsible gambling, digital media and sports broadcasting compliance audits as well as customer service and experience audits.
We are flexible and work with our clients to accommodate changes in scheduling or other unforeseen circumstances.

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Start operating confidently when it comes to your home deliveries
Start operating confidently when it comes to age-restricted products
Looking to work for us as one of our mystery shoppers?