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Local first
The standard website offer is for independent businesses and projects in Shirley and surrounding areas.
Why Shirley?
Because Shirley is home.
Discover Shirley was born in Shirley for Shirley. The starting point is simple: this neighbourhood has far more to offer than many people across Southampton realise, and stronger local visibility can help change that.
The idea
We are not trying to build another web-design agency. We are trying to make Shirley easier to discover.
Websites are the first practical tool because a good web presence can give an independent business or local group opportunities that a social-media account alone cannot. But the wider ambition is about the place, not the technology.
Born locally
Discover Shirley is based here. The project came from wanting to make a useful contribution to the neighbourhood we live in — something practical that can help local people present what they do more clearly and reach people who would otherwise never find them.
What we believe
A few principles keep the project simple.
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Contribution, not extraction
We contribute the design work; the £10/month helps sustain the ongoing website and the wider project.
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No unnecessary lock-in
If a business uses its own domain and wants to leave, we help it take the website elsewhere where practical.
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Talk before rules
If a group has no budget or a new business is struggling, we would rather understand the situation than hide behind eligibility criteria.
Where this can go
From websites to a genuine local discovery project.
As Discover Shirley grows, we want the main site to become useful in its own right: a place where someone can discover a dog walker, a café, a class, a tradesperson, a club, a maker or a community activity they did not know existed.
We will not populate a directory with copied listings just to make it look busy. We would rather grow it from real relationships with local businesses and groups.
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Want to help shape it?
Discover Shirley should be something people build with us.
If you are a local independent, community organiser, institution or larger company with an idea for how this project could support Shirley better, come and have a coffee with us in one of the nice coffee shops in Shirley and let’s talk.