Review Standards

Minehead Shop Local is built on honest, trustworthy reviews from real customers. These standards apply to everyone who leaves, responds to, or reports a review on our platform.

What makes a good review?

A helpful review gives other shoppers the information they need to decide whether a business is right for them. A good review:

Is based on your genuine, first-hand experience with the business
Is accurate and specific — mention what you bought or experienced, and why you felt the way you did
Is fair and balanced — feel free to mention both positives and areas for improvement
Uses respectful language even when your experience was negative
Is written about the right business

What is not allowed

The following types of reviews will be removed:

Fake or incentivised reviews — reviews that were paid for, exchanged for gifts or discounts, or submitted by someone connected to the business (including owners, employees or family members)
Offensive or abusive content — reviews that contain hate speech, discriminatory language, personal insults, or any language that targets an individual rather than the business experience
Spam or promotional content — reviews that exist primarily to promote another business, product, or service
Defamatory or false claims — statements that are untrue and damaging, or accusations without basis
Competitor reviews — reviews submitted by competing businesses or those acting on their behalf
Irrelevant content — reviews that have nothing to do with the business, or repeat submissions about the same visit

Business owners

We understand that negative feedback can be difficult. However, businesses cannot request removal of a review simply because it is critical or unfavourable. Our platform exists to give genuine customers a voice.

If you believe a review about your business breaches these standards, please contact us. We investigate every report and aim to respond within 2 working days.

Reporting a review

If you see a review on our platform that you believe breaches these standards, you can use the 🚩 Report button on any listing page to flag it. Please give us as much context as you can — this helps us investigate quickly and fairly.

We take all reports seriously. Misuse of the report function (for example, reporting legitimate negative reviews to suppress them) may result in your ability to submit reports being restricted.

Our moderation process

All reviews submitted to Minehead Shop Local are moderated before they are published. We check every review against these standards. When a report is received, we review both the original review and the report, and make a decision based on these guidelines. Our decisions are final.