Thomson Local Directory > Reviews (9)

I think most people probably regard the Thomson Local Directory as a secondary imitation of the giant Yellow Pages. Personally speaking, I’ve always tended to use the Thomson rather than Yellow Pages, simply because it is better laid out, more user friendly, and covers a smaller, more focused catchment area.

About the Directory
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There are currently 173 regional versions of the Thomson local directory – 39 of which are printed in colour. 22 million copies are distributed across the UK annually, covering 85% of the adult population of the country.

What is it?
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The Thomson Local is essentially a directory of local information. Published annually, each directory covers a medium sized area of the country, and the book is distributed to every household in the area free of charge. Size wise, the book is roughly the same size as an A4 piece of paper, and normally has between 300 and 400 pages (according to the locality). Over the last couple of years, the directory has become easy to recognise with a stylish blue short haired Persian cat patrolling its cover pages.

Contents
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The Thomson Local is more than just a phone book. There are six main sections to the directory, as follows:

Local Area Guide

This contains pages of local community information, including contact details for a considerable number of different services. Here, you can find the numbers for all your local hospitals, local council helplines, MPs, local business initiatives, help lines and plenty more besides. It’s a truly valuable resource, because it contains everything you could need in a very condensed space. The pages are colourful and well designed, without being cluttered or hard to decipher.

Maps

Street plans of the main towns or cities in your area are provided here. These maps are a useful way of locating a shop or building whose address you find later on in the directory. The maps are in full colour, and are annotated to show amenities such as car parks or public toilets.

Entertainment Guide

Similar to the Local Area Guide, except the emphasis is on fun rather than practicality. This section is particularly useful if you don’t live in the area, as it provides details of things to do in the locality. The section is further sub-divided into categories, such as Shopping, Sport & Leisure or Entertainment. There’s lots of information available, although to be fair, this section acts more like a portal into sections of the directory, and some of the information is rather generic. It’s a handy place to find local markets and auctions though – and all the opening times and contact numbers are provided.

A-Z of Businesses

This is a straight forward summary of all the businesses listed further on in the directory, but shown in simple alphabetical order. This is the section you would use if you already knew the name of a business, and didn’t want to browse through any others.

Classified

This is the largest section of the directory, with a comprehensive listing of businesses, categorised by type.

According to how much the business has paid to appear, the listing may be in standard small font, or in a larger advertisement box. Most businesses tend to appear in a standard listing, but for those that choose a box, there is also a glossary of all the symbols used to denote which association that business may be affiliated with. This is a useful addition to the directory, in that you can select businesses that are members of trusted, independent associations (e.g. ABTA for travel agents). Throughout the classified pages, notes boxes are provided at the foot of the pages so that you can scribble things down, without defacing the main directory.

Index

The last section is simply an A-Z index of all the categories shown in the classifieds section. This section is intended to speed up access to the classifieds by showing you where a type of listing starts, rather than making you browse through page upon page. That aside, the directory isn’t that big, so I’m not sure this section is entirely necessary.

Ease of Use
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The directory is very simple to use. Each of the sections is colour coded, so the pages are easy to find, and letter tabs are used on the sides of all pages in the classifieds to show at a glance whereabouts in the alphabet you are. The size of font is not terribly big – I wonder whether elderly users might find it a bit small – but Thomson do provide call centre support for visually impaired customers.

The classified listings are arranged in a relatively sensible way, although a different type of logic is used compared to Yellow Pages. For instance, if you look for Record Shops, you will be referred to CDs, DVDs and Vinyl – Yellow Pages still lists this under Record Shops. I did a bit of a test and looked for five things:

A carpet cleaner (appeared under Carpets and Upholstery)
Tool hire (appeared under Hire Centre AND Tool & Equipment Hire)
Wedding dress hire (appeared under Wedding Supplies and Services)
Car hire (appeared under Car Rental)
Second hand book shop (appeared under Books – Rare and Second Hand)

As you can see, all pretty straight forward (although having different businesses of the same type listed in two different places is a bit strange).

One of the advantages of the Thomson is its size. The Yellow Pages is normally a rather weighty tome to browse through, whereas the Thomson is much more compact. It’s also much easier to store on a book case.

The other advantage is that the version of the Thomson you get sent will very often cover a different area to the Yellow Pages area you get sent, so it acts as a supplementary tool.

The main disadvantage to the Thomson is that it is not as well subscribed as the Yellow Pages. Very often, I’ll look for a specific business and be unable to find it in the Thomson, whereas it’s there in the Yellow Pages. I don’t get the impression that the Thomson is as well known or as popular as the Yellow Pages, and I suspect that this in turn will put off potential advertisers.

Useful Contact Details
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If you want a copy for your area, or a copy from a different area then contact 01252 555555 (there is a charge for additional copies of £3.

50).

Orders and feedback can also be sent via email to comments@thomweb.co.uk

If you wish to advertise in the Thomson Local call 01252 555555.

Further details about this and other products can be found on the Thomson web site at www.thomson-directories.co.uk.

My Verdict
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I like the Thomson Local- it’s a good, concise source of information, and I prefer the format to the cumbersome Yellow Pages. The disadvantages are that each version covers a smaller area, and therefore offers a smaller choice of numbers, and that subscription is less popular than the competition. That aside, to the consumer it is completely free, so you can hardly grumble.

Recommended!