Small towns deserve their own apps.
Pocket Guides is a series of free local-guide apps for small UK towns — built by people who live in them, for the people who visit and live there too.
Why this exists
Big tech is good at big cities. Search "things to do in London" and you'll drown in information. Search "things to do in Settle" and you'll find a thin TripAdvisor page, an out-of-date council site, and a Google Maps that hasn't heard of half the local pubs.
Small towns are different. The good stuff is hyper-local — the cafe that does the proper Sunday roast, the trail that locals know about, the pharmacy that delivers on a Saturday. None of it fits the global-platform shape, which means it mostly stays invisible.
Pocket Guides is a small platform shaped to fit a small town. One app per town, curated by people who actually live there. Free for residents and visitors to use, with optional paid listings for businesses that want to stand out.
Why Settle first
Settle is our home town. It's a small market town in the Yorkshire Dales with about 2,500 residents and a steady stream of visitors year-round — walkers, cyclists, train enthusiasts, and people just passing through on the way to somewhere else.
If it works here, we'll do it for other small towns next. Skipton is already in setup, with more local guide apps to follow.
Who's behind it
Pocket Guides is a trading name of RISENORTHDIGITAL LTD (Co. No. 16485759), a small UK company based at 24 Kings Mill Lane, Settle, BD24 9FD.
Day to day it's run by Dan, who lives in Settle and built this because he couldn't find a decent guide to his own home town. If you've got questions, ideas, or a place we should add, drop a line via the contact form.
What we don't do
We don't sell your data. We don't run third-party ads. We don't pretend paid listings are independent reviews. Paid listings are clearly marked, and the whole point is to be small, local, and useful.