A directory that reads like a drawer of business cards.

Why cards

A business card is the smallest complete introduction a business has ever needed: name, trade, where to find them, how to reach them. It fits in a pocket and it survives being read in two seconds. Most directories throw that away and give you a row in a table.

So every listing here is set at 3.5 × 2 inches — the real proportion of a card — with a guilloche engraving generated from the business name, the way a printer would pick a plate. No two are identical, and none of it is decoration for its own sake: the colour tells you the trade, the engraving tells you which listing you are looking at.

How a listing gets here

1. 01

   Submitted

   An owner sends the trading name, address, hours and a contact number. Nothing goes live at this stage.

2. 02

   Checked

   We call the number, confirm the address against the register, and read the hours back to whoever answers.

3. 03

   Set

   The listing is typeset onto a card: category colour, monogram, engraving seeded from the name.

4. 04

   Kept

   Every listing is re-checked twice a year. Hours that go stale get pulled rather than guessed at.

What we do not do

• Sell placement. Featured listings are chosen by the editors, not bought.
• Invent a star rating out of thin air. If we cannot verify it, we do not print it.
• Hide a phone number behind a form.
• Show a listing we could not verify in the last six months.