Why we exist

Search for a plumber, a café or a place to stay and you mostly get chains, ad slots, and sites that sell your enquiry to the highest bidder. The family butcher, the sole-trader electrician and the guest house down the lane are there, but buried.

Independents Only is the opposite: a place on the internet that belongs to independent businesses and to the people who want to find them. Every business here is run by the people who own it. We check each one against thousands of chain and franchise brands, and anyone can report one that slips through.

Our promises

  1. Independents only. No chains, no franchises, no directories or lead-selling sites pretending to be local businesses.
  2. Nobody can pay to rank higher. Not now, not ever. Results are ordered by place and closeness: the town you searched first, owner-confirmed businesses next, then the best match and the nearest.
  3. No ads in search results, ever. No tracking cookies. We count visits anonymously and never sell what you search for.
  4. Free for businesses, always. Listing, claiming, the badge and the window sticker cost nothing. Owners can chip in if they want to; it never changes where they appear.
  5. Owners are in charge of their listing. They confirm it, describe it in their own words, and can ask for it to be removed.
  6. Open, not walled. Our town rankings are free to quote, and you can use Independents Only from your own AI assistant.

How we keep it free

Friends who chip in, owners who drop us some small change, and sponsors who back independent business, thanked on the site like the sponsor of a museum exhibition. Sponsors never affect listings or rankings. Become a friend or sponsor.

How you can help