The independence check, counted
How many genuine independents are there in Leeds? What we found, area by area.
ByLocals only publishes a business after checking who controls it. This page shows that work: every business the screen has looked at in the 16 live areas of Leeds, and what happened to each one. Counted 23 September 2026, from the same records the site is built from.
Of the candidates that have had a decision so far, 16% turned out to be a chain, a franchise or part of a multi-site operator, and 1% had closed or been dissolved by the time we looked. A business that was excluded is never named here: an exclusion is the screen's decision under the listing policy, not a public verdict on a company.
Area by area
| Area | Looked at | Promoted | Excluded | Chain or multiple | Closed | Out of scope | In queue | Live now | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Armley | 328 | 260 | 68 | 59 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 23 | 23 |
| Bramley | 178 | 138 | 40 | 34 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 10 | 10 |
| Chapel Allerton | 181 | 145 | 36 | 14 | 7 | 15 | 0 | 76 | 76 |
| Cross Gates | 266 | 201 | 65 | 61 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 10 | 10 |
| Guiseley | 156 | 119 | 37 | 35 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 11 | 11 |
| Harehills | 490 | 438 | 52 | 45 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 52 | 52 |
| Headingley | 181 | 135 | 45 | 30 | 11 | 4 | 1 | 57 | 57 |
| Horsforth | 137 | 108 | 29 | 19 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 78 | 78 |
| Kirkstall | 79 | 58 | 21 | 13 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 33 | 33 |
| Meanwood | 50 | 36 | 14 | 13 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 15 | 15 |
| Morley | 316 | 264 | 52 | 40 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 29 | 29 |
| Oakwood | 66 | 49 | 17 | 17 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 7 |
| Otley | 271 | 221 | 50 | 41 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 22 | 22 |
| Pudsey | 271 | 231 | 40 | 35 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 23 | 23 |
| Wetherby | 92 | 68 | 24 | 24 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 13 |
| Yeadon | 201 | 157 | 44 | 39 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 9 | 9 |
| All 16 areas | 3263 | 2628 | 634 | 519 | 27 | 88 | 1 | 468 | 468 |
What these words mean
- Looked at
- Every candidate business the discovery pipeline has recorded for the area, from the public sources it reads, whatever happened next. It is not every business in the area — only the ones the pipeline has reached so far.
- Promoted
- The screen found no chain, franchise or multi-site control and promoted the candidate to a draft page. A person still decides whether it is published, which is why "promoted" and "live now" are different numbers.
- Excluded
- The screen decided against a page, and recorded why: a chain, franchise or multi-site operator; closed or dissolved by the time we looked; or out of scope — outside the area, or outside the categories ByLocals covers so far. The reason shown is the latest one recorded.
- In queue
- Discovered, not yet decided. Nothing about these is public until it is.
- Live now and checked
-
Pages you can open today, and how many of those have had their independence confirmed under the
current policy. Independence is checked, never bought, and checked again from time to time.
Some pages did not come through this screen at all — an area added by hand, or a business we wrote up directly — so "live now" can be higher than "promoted". Those pages had their independence confirmed the same way; they were just never a candidate in the queue above.
How to read it, and how not to
These are counts of what one screen has looked at, not a survey of an area. A high "chain or multiple" figure says something about the sources the pipeline reads as much as about the high street. The numbers change as the queue is worked, so quote them with the date above. Nothing on this page is ranked, and no business paid to appear in — or stay out of — any column.
The method behind the check is on how trust works here. If a number looks wrong, report it; corrections are free and go into the same queue as everything else.