Frequently Asked Questions

Getting listed is straightforward. You have two routes:

• Your business is already listed — Search for your business and look for the "Claim This Listing" button. This lets you take ownership and edit your details.
• Your business is not listed yet — Create a free account and add your business. Once approved by our team, it will go live in the directory.

If you find your business in the directory but have not set it up yourself, you can claim it:

1. Visit the listing page for your business.
2. Click the "Claim This Listing" button.
3. If you do not have an account, you will be prompted to register first.
4. Fill in a short claim form explaining your role at the business.
5. Our team reviews your claim (usually within 1–2 working days) and, if approved, grants you full control of the listing.

Your listing can include: business name, description, and category; full address with an interactive map; phone number, email address, and website URL; Facebook, Twitter/X, and Instagram profile links; business hours by day of the week; photos; special offers and promotions; and upcoming events.

New listings are reviewed by our team before going live. This typically takes 1–2 working days. We check that the information is accurate and that the business is genuinely local to the Minehead and Somerset area. You will receive an email notification once your listing has been approved.

You should be an authorised representative of the business — either the owner, a partner, or a manager with authority to act on the business's behalf. We may contact you to verify this before approving the listing or claim.

Each account supports one listing. If you need to list additional businesses, each one requires its own account registered with a separate email address.

Log in to your account and go to your Business Dashboard. Click "Edit Listing" to update any of your details — name, address, phone, email, website, description, category, social media links, and business hours. Changes save instantly.

In your Business Dashboard, click "Edit Listing" and scroll to the photos section. You can upload a main image and additional gallery photos (the number depends on your plan: 1 for Free, 5 for Featured, 10 for Premium). Photos must be in JPG, PNG, or WebP format.

From your Business Dashboard, click "Edit Listing" and scroll to the "Business Hours" section. You can set individual open and close times for each day of the week, or mark any day as closed. Your hours appear on your listing page with a live open/closed status indicator.

Log in to your dashboard and click "Special Offers" in the sidebar. Click "Add New Offer" and fill in the offer title, description, and an optional expiry date. Active offers appear prominently on your listing page.

From your Business Dashboard, click "Events" in the sidebar. Click "Add New Event" and fill in the event name, date, time, location, and description. Events appear on your listing page sorted by upcoming date, and past events are automatically hidden.

Yes. Your Business Dashboard includes an Analytics section showing the number of page views your listing has received over time. Views are tracked in a privacy-respecting way using hashed IP addresses, counting only unique visits.

As the listing owner, you will see a "Reply" option beneath each approved review on your listing page when logged in. Write your response and submit — it will appear publicly beneath the customer's review, clearly marked as a business reply.

We offer three plans to suit businesses of all sizes:

• Free — Your listing with essential details and 1 photo. Great for getting started at no cost.
• Featured — £4.99/month or £49.99/year. Includes up to 5 photos, a ⭐ Featured badge, and priority placement in search results and the homepage featured section.
• Premium — £9.99/month or £99.99/year. Includes up to 10 photos and top placement across the site for maximum visibility.

View full plan details.

Yes, completely free — no credit card required. The Free plan gives your business a presence in the directory with your core details (name, address, phone, email, website, social media, business hours, and 1 photo). You can post special offers and events, and receive customer reviews. There is no time limit on the Free plan.

The ⭐ Featured badge appears on Featured and Premium plan listings throughout the directory — on search results, category pages, and the listing card itself. Featured listings are also shown in the "Featured Businesses" section on the homepage, giving you significantly more visibility.

Yes. You can upgrade your plan at any time from your business dashboard under "Upgrade Plan". Your new plan takes effect immediately. If you choose to downgrade or cancel a paid plan, your benefits remain active until the end of your current billing period, at which point the listing reverts to the Free plan.

Paid plans are processed securely through Stripe. We accept all major UK credit and debit cards (Visa, Mastercard, Maestro), as well as Apple Pay and Google Pay where supported by your browser. All transactions are protected by SSL encryption and handled entirely by Stripe — we never store your card details.

Yes. Paid subscriptions (monthly or annual) auto-renew at the end of each billing period. You will receive an email reminder before any renewal charge is taken. You can cancel auto-renewal at any time from your dashboard under "Billing".

Yes, you can cancel at any time with no penalty. Log in to your business dashboard and go to "Billing" to cancel. Your paid plan features will remain active until the end of your current billing period, after which your listing will revert to the Free plan.

Yes — choosing an annual subscription saves you around two months compared to paying monthly. Featured is £49.99/year (vs £59.88 monthly) and Premium is £99.99/year (vs £119.88 monthly).

Scroll to the bottom of any business listing page and you will find the "Leave a Review" form. You can submit your name, an optional email address (never shown publicly), a star rating from 1 to 5, and your written review. No account is required to leave a review.

All reviews are checked by our team before going live to ensure they are genuine and meet our community guidelines.

Yes. Every review goes through a moderation process before it appears publicly. We check that reviews are genuine, relevant, and comply with our community standards. We do not publish reviews that contain offensive language, false claims, spam, or content that appears to be from a competitor.

Businesses cannot remove reviews themselves — this protects the integrity of the rating system and ensures visitors can trust the ratings they see.

However, if you believe a review is fake, defamatory, abusive, or otherwise inappropriate, please contact us and explain the issue. We review every report and will remove any review that is found to be dishonest or in breach of our standards. We aim to respond to all reports within 2 working days.

Yes — business owners who have claimed their listing can post a public reply to any review. This is a great opportunity to thank customers for positive feedback or to professionally address concerns raised in a negative review. Replies are displayed directly beneath the review on the listing page.

A business's overall star rating is the average of all approved reviews it has received. The total number of reviews is always shown alongside the rating so you can judge how representative it is.

Yes. We take data privacy seriously. Your account details are stored securely, passwords are hashed using industry-standard algorithms, and we never sell or share your personal data with third parties for marketing purposes. We comply with UK GDPR. For full details, please read our Privacy Policy.

If you have provided an email address for your listing, it is displayed so that potential customers can contact you directly. This is your business contact email. If you would prefer not to show it publicly, you can remove it from your listing via "Edit Listing" in your dashboard. Your account login email is always kept private.

Yes, absolutely. Minehead Shop Local is designed to work beautifully on all devices — smartphones, tablets, laptops, and desktop computers. On mobile phones, listing pages feature a sticky contact bar at the bottom of the screen, keeping the business's phone number, email, and website always within one tap, no matter how far you scroll.

Yes, we use a small number of essential cookies to keep you logged in and remember your session. We also use Google Analytics to understand how visitors use the site — this uses cookies but does not collect personally identifiable information. You can find more detail in our Privacy Policy.

If you wish to delete your account and have your data removed, please contact us with your request. We will process the deletion within 30 days in accordance with your rights under UK GDPR. Please note: deleting your account will also remove your business listing(s) from the directory.

Minehead Shop Local is a free, community-focused online directory of local businesses in and around Minehead and the wider Somerset area. Our mission is simple: help residents and visitors find the brilliant local businesses right on their doorstep — and help those businesses get discovered.

We believe in keeping money in the local economy. Every search on Minehead Shop Local connects you with a real, local business instead of a national chain.

Finding a business is quick and easy. You have three options:

• Browse by Category — Visit the Directory and click any category to see all businesses in that sector.
• Search by Name or Keyword — Use the search bar at the top of the directory to search for a specific business name, service, or keyword.
• Browse All Listings — Scroll through all active listings sorted alphabetically or by featured status.

Yes. Our directory focuses on businesses serving Minehead and the surrounding Somerset area, including towns and villages such as Williton, Watchet, Porlock, Dunster, and the Exmoor region. We aim to be the go-to resource for discovering locally-based independent businesses in our community.

Absolutely — browsing the directory is completely free for visitors, with no account required. You can search, browse, view listings, and contact businesses without signing up for anything. The only optional registration is if you wish to leave a review for a business you have visited.

Every listing page shows the business's contact details clearly. Depending on what the business has provided, you may find:

• Phone number — tap or click "Call Now" to dial directly from your mobile phone.
• Email address — click "Email" to open your mail client with the address pre-filled.
• Website — click "Website" to visit the business's own website.
• Address — click the address to open Google Maps for directions.

On mobile, a sticky bar at the bottom of the screen keeps Call, Email, and Website buttons always visible as you scroll.

Business details are managed by the business owners themselves. If you spot incorrect information, you can use the Contact Us page to let us know and we will investigate promptly.

Yes! If you know of a local business that should be listed but is not, please get in touch. You can also encourage the business owner to register directly and claim or create their own listing — it is free to get started.