We’re really excited to announce that GCap Media plc, the people behind Capital 95.8, Xfm, Classic FM and load of great local radio stations, has bought a majority stake in welovelocal.com.

What does this mean? welovelocal.com is going to get even better! GCap have the resources available to really push things forward, we’ve had some fantastic success in the short time since we launched, but we always knew that we’d need something extra to really make our mark across the whole of the UK.

GCap’s radio stations have a national audience of millions that should really help to increase our exposure, and grow our community of people looking for the best businesses in their local area.

All in all it’s fantastic news and testament to the support of everyone who has contributed to welovelocal.com and helped make it the vibrant and varied community it is today.

Thank you!

welovelocal.com got vocal and joined Jemima Kiss over on the Guardian’s ‘Elevator Pitch’ as part of the Tech Weekly podcast. Both Max and Dan rode the ‘lift of doom’ all the way to the food hall - and answered some good questions along the way. If you want to hear the guys talking shop about welovelocal.com it is well worth a listen. If you don’t fancy it much there are plenty of other interesting people on the Tech Weekly podcast to listen to including some good discussions about Europe’s dotcom startup’s from Aleks Krotoski, and if Sillicon Vally is really where it is at from Loic Le Meur.

The 22nd was my birthday and while I won’t bore you with the details of my debauched night out, (actually I went to the Old Coffee House in Soho and watched Tottenham thrash Arsenal 5-1), what I do want to share is the wonderful cake that Helen baked for me.

Turns out she has talents outside of the world of the web, and from the looks of things a healthy obsession with cake! Thanks Helen.

We don’t usually mention the coverage we receive, but yesterday the Technology Guardian gave not only a very flattering mention to welovelocal.com, but also highlighted an important emerging trend – SUNs!

The article’s focus is around the growing popularity and success of ‘social sites with a social conscience’ – sites that do more than just allow people to talk about what they are going to do at the weekend, sites that facilitate people to make an impact on the real world around them. welovelocal.com was mentioned amongst others to be in ‘the middle of a mini- boom in services that use the unique properties of the internet to help people manage and enrich their lives in a way that was not possible before.’ We are pretty pleased with this description - accurate recognition can be hard to come by.

Such descriptions are a breath of fresh air as welovelocal.com has always aimed to nurture online communities that hold a real and relevant place in the physical world.The site sees people from different areas encouraging others to shop locally, or try a particular local service, all through the words they write in reviews. Mixing new ideas and technology with the age old idea of ‘word of mouth’ creates a great local community resource.

This is not our only mention either, recently we have been lucky enough to receive quite a bit of coverage from Guardian Travel, BBC and NMA which we are very grateful for and proud of. This is all well and good but we have to say ‘thank you’ to our great reviewers who really make the site the awesome community it is.

Photo supplied by gigijin over at Flickr.

As you may well know by now welovelocal has been busy working on new ways to make the site better for you. Not only have we launched nationwide, but we have also got some very nice new features to tell you all about.

Ok, kicking off with the most obvious of them all - the welovelocal.com homepage! We now have a snippet from the blog on the bottom, next to that is a taste of some great press that we have been so fortunate to receive. As you may have noticed we have also re-named ‘My Blackbook’ and ‘My Groups’ to ‘Your Blackbook’ and ‘Your Groups’, this change was made after an inspirational presentation from Erika Hall of Mule Design Studio at The Future of Web Apps. In a nutshell it just makes more sense for us not to name things ‘my’ when really they are ‘yours’!

Now here is where it gets exciting….

welovelocal.com is essentially a business directory and we really want to make use of all our great directory pages, they are a great resource for locating shops, restaurants, pubs, plumbers and much more in any area as they take you straight to where you want start searching. We have jazzed these pages up a bit and here’s what we’ve added:

Flickr Photos
As you can see on the homepage we have the most ‘exciting cities’ listed. By clicking on these you are magically transported to a world/directory dedicated to a city. There you will find our lovely Flickr API which will present you with Geo tagged photos of your area. So if you currently have any photos on Flickr of great cities and would like them to appear on welovelocal.com then make sure you Geo tag them – it would be great to see some of your interesting photos!

Tell us what’s great about your city!
On the same directory pages we now have a space for you to have your say, titled ‘what’s Great About (insert city)?’ We want you to share your local knowledge and tell us, and everyone else what is so great about your city or area.

Suggest a link
We also have a space for you to suggest and share any great links that you may have hoarded away relating to a particular place. For example you may want to share a link to a great local website that has gig listings or a great local blog that has awesome photos of your city.

Enough about us, we want to hear more from you, tell us what is great about you city – and don’t forget to suggest a link!

You will have to forgive us, at the moment we are finding everything regarding our nationwide launch exciting! We have just received our first nationwide business sign up, and it is a pretty special business at that! The St Fagan’s National History Museum in Cardiff was not only our first business to sign up outside of London, but they were also our first Museum to take control of their listing!

St Fagan’s is one Europe’s foremost open-air museums; it’s also one of Wales’s most popular heritage attractions. The museum is uniquely made up of buildings from different historical periods that have been re-erected in the 100-acre parkland surrounding St Fagans Castle.

By signing up to the site business can take control of their listing, respond to customers reviews and also add more business information.

Welcome aboard St Fagan’s, and ‘hello’ Cardiff!

Let’s hope this is the first of many more lovely nationwide businesses to come!

As I mentioned last week, welovelocal.com has been working on some changes to the site and today we are very proud to announce that we have officially launched across the UK. That’s right; you can now search and review the best local businesses all over the country. Gone are the London only days, the UK is now your oyster!

This is really exciting stuff, not only for us here at welovelocal.com, but also for all you reviewers out there, the reviewing possibilities are now endless.

We’ve been overwhelmed with the response from our London members, so let’s keep the momentum going, spread the word that we’re officially nationwide and start sharing your local knowledge wherever you are.

If you run a business, then join the conversation too - sign up and advertise for free to start connecting with new customers and grow your business on-line.

We really hope you enjoy your new improved welovelocal.com, we certainly do!

We would love to know what you think!

Excitement!

The welovelocal team has been very busy working away on ways to improve and expand the site and all our efforts have almost paid off ….almost!

So, we have some changes happening on the site over the next week, while these changes are very exciting, they may cause the site to misbehave a little or just look a bit strange from time to time. Please bear with us, we all have our bad hair days and welovelocal is no exception. We are working on it, and I guarantee that the site will be all the more improved for the changes.

Admittedly, we have been a little tight lipped lately regarding changes to the site.The truth is we have been saving all our lovely developments up, and they are soon to be unleashed!

We very are excited, watch this space….

Scrap that…..watch this site!

“Want more local food in your shops and on your plates? The WI has the tools to help you get it.”

Welovelocal.com is excited to announce its brand new partnership the Women’s Institute. Have you ever wondered how you could do your bit to eat more locally produced food, but never really been sure of the best way to go about it? Well, the WI has been actively promoting living local for some time now. They have developed a really great toolkit that is used by WI’s, community groups, shops, and suppliers. The toolkit includes tips and information on how to get started living, and eating locally. There are helpful Q&A’s on what really defines local food, and what makes it so much better.

This is a really exciting initiative that ties in perfectly with what we are about here at welovelocal.com. The toolkit encourages people and communities to reap the social and health rewards from eating local food - that has not traveled thousands of miles before it reaches you, the consumer.

Interestingly the living Local toolkit taught us that: ‘every £10 spent with a local food initiative is worth £25 to the local economy, compared with just £14 when spent in a supermarket chain’ (New Economics Foundation, 2001)