The method
No business pays to appear here. Each one clears the same gates, in order. If it fails any of them, it isn’t listed — however good its marketing looks.
Anyone can buy a five-star rating. We start by running a company’s reviews across multiple platforms and use AI to flag patterns that look manufactured. If it passes, we go further than any algorithm can: we call a customer at random and ask them, plainly, whether they were ever offered money, discounts or incentives to leave a review. Only genuine, unpaid recommendation gets a business through this gate.
A great service means little if the company won’t be around next month. We check trading history and financial standing to confirm a business pays its taxes, is not bankrupt or in liquidation, and does not operate exclusively cash-in-hand. Accepting cash is fine — hiding behind it is not.
Before anything is published, we ask for evidence. The one document we always require is a certificate of public liability cover in the exact business name being listed. We confirm relevant insurances are in place and that the company is genuinely who it claims to be.
Clear the first three gates and the business earns its place. We deliberately list a maximum of two companies in each category in each town — a genuine shortlist, not a directory of everyone who paid. You cannot buy your way onto this list. That restraint is the entire point.
Plain about it
We don’t sell listings, rankings or “featured” spots. We don’t take commission if you hire a company we’ve listed. We don’t host our own star ratings — instead we verify that the genuine reviews a business already has are real.
We don’t list national chains, and we don’t pad a category to look busy. If only one business in a town meets the bar, only one gets listed — and the second place stays open until someone earns it.
The point of all this is simple: when you see a name here, you’re seeing a recommendation we’d be comfortable making to a friend.
Ready when you are
If you can pass these checks, we’d like to hear from you. Listing is free — the standard is the price of entry.
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