17/09/2026
Everyone has an opinion ❤️ a long, but important read.
A FRIENDLY REMINDER ABOUT ONLINE REVIEWS
Online reviews can be enormously valuable to small businesses. Positive reviews help new customers discover us, recognise the hard work of our teams and give independent businesses the confidence to keep improving.
Constructive criticism also has value. When something genuinely goes wrong, honest feedback gives a business the opportunity to listen, respond and do better.
But reviews can also cause lasting harm, particularly when they are written in anger, exaggerated or posted by someone who has never actually experienced the business.
Before leaving a negative review, we simply ask that you pause and consider both your intent and the steps you have taken.
Did you give the business your feedback in person? Did you raise the issue while there was still an opportunity to fix it? Or did you say nothing at the time, save your frustration until you got home and then express it from behind a keyboard?
Are you sharing an honest experience to help the business improve and inform others? Or are you reacting because the business was closed, fully booked, unable to accommodate your request or could not give you the answer you wanted?
Holding a business accountable is fair. Using a public rating to punish it is not.
Behind every small business are real people, their families, their employees and years of hard work. A one-star review can affect all of them, so reviews should always be truthful, proportionate and based on a genuine customer experience.
Please review with good intent. Celebrate what businesses do well, offer constructive feedback when they fall short and, whenever possible, give them an opportunity to make things right before publicly condemning them.
A thoughtful review can help a small business become better. A spiteful one simply causes harm.