Press
Independents Only: press information
A free search engine that lists only independent businesses: no chains, no franchises, and nobody can pay to rank higher. It launches in Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire on Small Business Saturday, 5 December 2026, and rolls out across the UK from January 2027.
Email the press office hello@independentsonly.com. We reply within one working day.
The story in a paragraph
Search online for a plumber, a café or a florist and the top results are mostly chains, adverts and sites that sell your enquiry on. The family butcher and the sole-trader electrician are there, but buried. Independents Only is the opposite: every business listed is run by the people who own it, each one is checked against more than 21,000 chain and franchise brands, and results are ordered by distance and relevance, never by who paid. Most of them aren't on the high street: they're tradespeople, small firms and cafés as well as shops. Independents are listed free, forever. The site is funded by sponsors who are clearly labelled and never affect results. It was started in Hertford by Mike Wing, working from his spare room, to send more trade to the small businesses that make a town worth living in.
Key facts
- 45,995 independent businesses listed
- 858 towns and villages in Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire
- 21,000+ chain and franchise brands checked against
- £0 for a business to be listed, claim its page or get a window sticker
- 5 December 2026 launch, Small Business Saturday
- January to March 2027 roll-out across the UK
Most independent businesses, by town
Most independents aren't on the high street. Of the 45,995 we list in Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire, six in ten aren't shops, salons or gyms: they're builders, plumbers, accountants, agencies, cafés and pubs. Nearly one in five has no website. Figures as of 5 November 2026, counted by postal town (so a town's figure includes nearby villages that share its address). Free to quote; please credit “Independents Only”. Every town's figures, with a download.
Hertfordshire
- Watford 3,096
- St Albans 2,687
- Hemel Hempstead 2,111
- Stevenage 1,769
- Hitchin 1,358
- Hertford 1,101
Cambridgeshire
- Cambridge 5,324
- Peterborough 4,787
- Huntingdon 1,458
- Ely 1,242
- St Neots 792
- Wisbech 676
A free search box for your article
Writing about Small Business Saturday or shopping local? Readers can search for independents near them from inside your article. Get the code.
About the founder
Mike Wing lives in Hertford. He was project manager for the UK and European launch of MSN Messenger, and went on to set up and run the customer relationship (CRM) teams at Pernod Ricard and Philip Morris. He started Independents Only because the local businesses he loves were hardest to find online.
Logos
On cream (PNG)
On green (PNG)
Photos of Mike and of independent businesses on the site are available on request.
Contact
Email hello@independentsonly.com. Interviews by email, video call or in person in Hertfordshire or Cambridgeshire.