Where Highstreett has city pages
Highstreett is a personalised search engine for places and books. Describe what you want in plain English and, once you're signed in, it remembers your taste, your saved dietary needs, allergies and religious requirements, and what you've liked before.
Lincoln and its villages, and Hackney E8 in London, also have browsable directory pages. Pick one below to browse its shops, cafés, restaurants and the rest. An area gets directory pages only once we’ve listed enough businesses to make them properly useful.
Somewhere without city pages? Search still works there. For places, it searches Highstreett's own listings and Google Places at the same time, then ranks what fits. Place recommendations work anywhere in the world.
In the US, see American cities.
City pages you can browse today
Search works here; city pages coming
About the directory
Which areas have Highstreett directory pages?
Lincoln and its villages, and Hackney E8 in London, also have browsable directory pages. An area gets directory pages only once enough businesses have been listed to make them genuinely useful. Search does not need them: place recommendations work anywhere in the world.
Is Highstreett only for independent businesses?
No. Highstreett is a personalised search engine for places and books, and it shows chains as well as independents. In the UK, Highstreett checks who owns businesses against Companies House records and marks verified independents. Known chains appear after other results, because independents are harder to find than the national brands and because a high street of independents is what makes a place feel like somewhere rather than anywhere.
What counts as an independent business on Highstreett?
The directory can include unchecked businesses, regional groups and chains. Listing is not an ownership finding. Search is wider, because a reader asking what is nearby is owed an honest answer about what is nearby: some big national chains, about 120 brands, are left out entirely, and known chains appear after other results, with ownership information shown where available. Shop Local hides the chains; places we haven’t checked yet stay. If you spot something that shouldn’t be here, tell us and we’ll review it. Businesses we’ve confirmed against Companies House and the PSC register carry a verified badge. If a business we’ve listed is later bought by a chain or a private-equity firm, we keep the page and mark it as no longer independently owned.A shop run by someone who lives in the town counts, even if they run a few locations locally. A national brand with a local branch doesn’t, however local it looks. The test is whether the money and the decisions stay local.
How is Highstreett funded?
Highstreett is free to use and free to be listed on, and doesn’t make any money today. Two things may change that: a small commission if you buy a book through one of our links, and a flat per-order fee if we run bookings or delivery for a business. We’ll say so clearly wherever either applies. Rankings aren’t for sale and never will be. We don’t take payment to call a business independent.
How does a business get listed on Highstreett?
A business owner can request a free listing. Being listed does not confirm independent ownership. Unchecked businesses, regional groups and chains can be listed; only confirmed independents receive the verified independent badge.
Why independents matter
Research for the Federation of Small Businesses found that each £1 a council spent with local small firms produced an extra 63p of benefit for the local economy, against 40p for large local firms. Federation of Small Businesses with the Centre for Local Economic Strategies, 2013
A 2004 study of one Chicago neighbourhood found that about $68 of every $100 spent at ten independents went back into the local economy, against about $43 at ten competing chains. Civic Economics, for the Andersonville Development Corporation, 2004
Highstreett exists to make the independent option as easy to find as the chain on the corner. Read our mission