How the Horsforth directory is verified

The three states

Confirmed — checked against a primary register or the business's own current website. Primary registers means the Food Standards Agency's hygiene database, Ofsted's childcare register, Companies House, NHS service listings, or a chain's own store finder.

Unchecked — the listing came from a secondary directory and nobody has confirmed it. It's shown greyed out. Treat it as a lead rather than a fact.

No trace — we went looking and found nothing current either way. It may have closed, moved, or simply never had a web presence. We don't delete these, because absence of evidence isn't evidence of closure.

Why we don't just delete the doubtful ones

Because we nearly deleted a nursery that had been trading continuously for years. Its Ofsted registration showed as closed — but the setting had simply re-registered under a new company, with a new reference number. Delete on that signal and you erase a live business.

The same trap runs the other way. Several places in Horsforth are still listed as open on the big review and booking sites long after they shut. A directory that trusts those sends people to a door that isn't there.

Where the information comes from

Food Standards Agency — hygiene ratings and inspection dates for every food business, refreshed from their open API.
Ofsted — registration status, reference numbers and inspection dates for nurseries and schools.
NHS service listings — GP surgeries, dentists, pharmacies and opticians.
Companies House — whether a company is still active, and under what name.
Booking platforms — a salon taking appointments today is trading today.
Local press and the town council — openings, closures and events.
Residents and business owners — the most valuable source of all. Tell us something.

Ofsted grades changed

From November 2025 Ofsted replaced single-word grades with report cards graded across six areas: Exceptional, Strong standard, Expected standard, Needs attention, or Urgent improvement, with safeguarding judged separately. Older inspections still carry the previous Outstanding / Good / Requires improvement / Inadequate grades. Listings say which applies.

Removed listings

53 records have been removed because there's hard evidence they closed. They're kept on a suppression list rather than simply deleted, so a stale entry in an upstream feed can't quietly put them back:

Cafe Marinetti, 9–11 Town Street — Marked closed on Foursquare; confirmed locally. Still listed as trading on Sugarvine, CAMRA WhatPub and TripAdvisor.
J P Teal, 2 Town Street — 2 Town Street is now Horsforth Smile Clinic, listed on NHS.uk
Barclays, 68 Town Street — Barclays' own branch-closure feedback document + the restaurant now occupying the banking hall
HSBC, 88 Town Street — HSBC's own branch list shows no Horsforth branch — the town is served by the hub at Horsforth Community Hub, with HSBC staff on Thursdays only
Lloyds Bank, 38 Town Street — Cash Access UK hub rota shows Lloyds community bankers attending Mon–Tue. A bank staffing a shared hub is not also running a branch in the same town.
Sunnybank Nursery, 6 Church Lane, LS18 5LA — Ofsted URN EY558116 and provider RP558115, both closed. Still listed as open on three comparison sites.
Sunnybank Playden, 30 Town Street — Address now occupied by a restaurant. Came from an ageing street directory.
Cliffe House Day Nursery, Leeds Trinity University, Brownberrie Lane — Reported closed locally. Ofsted still shows the registration open — registers lag closures by months, so local knowledge is the better source here.
Chicago Pizza & Balti Bazaar, 93 Town Street — 93 Town Street is now Gourmet Hut, food hygiene inspected Jun 2025. Chicago Pizza’s own site lists only Chapel Allerton. Confirmed locally.
J City, 13 Town Street — 13 Town Street is now Horsforth Takeaway on the hygiene register. Confirmed locally.
La Casita, Horsforth — The unit became Kuala Lumpur Malaysian and is now becoming MyMakan. No hygiene record anywhere in Leeds. Confirmed locally.
Amelia Elliott Bridal, 121 Town Street — Company dissolved Feb 2017; Very Stylish Girl holds 121 Town Street. Confirmed locally.
The Steelworks (UK), 89 Town Street — Company dissolved Mar 2020; TaxAssist trades at 89 Town Street. Confirmed locally.
Ainsleys, 41 Town Street — 41 Town Street is now Card Factory. Confirmed locally.
Pizza House Co, 90a Town Street — 90A–92 is now one unit occupied by Truly Scrummy; Pizza House’s own site lists no Horsforth branch. Confirmed locally.
A & T Wright, 21 Town Street — Once Upon a Vine holds 21 Town Street. Confirmed locally.
Swift News, 39 Town Street — Justfones registered at 39 Town Street since 2022. Confirmed locally.
Broadgate Bathrooms, 116 Town Street — Horsforth Stationery registered at 116 Town Street since 2018. Confirmed locally.
Mutleys, 94b Town Street — Horsforth Town Street Barbers trades at 94b. Confirmed locally.
Cheeky Monkeys, 94 Town Street — Unity Leeds CIC took 94 Town Street in 2025. Confirmed locally.
Tonic, 12b Town Street — Booking page returns “no longer available”; newest review about two years old. Confirmed locally.
Absolute 72, 72 Town Street — Absent from every salon booking platform and from the Horsforth salon directory. Confirmed locally.
Esquire Hairdressing for Men, 95 Town Street — Absent from every salon booking platform. Confirmed locally.
La Bella Vita, 64 Town Street — Only trace is a street directory about fifteen years old. Confirmed locally.
Liberty Point, 102 Town Street — Only trace is a street directory about fifteen years old. Confirmed locally.
C B Litherland, 76 Town Street — 76 Town Street is an accountancy office providing registered addresses, not a podiatry practice. Confirmed locally.
Broadgate Barbers, 77–79 Broadgate Lane — Superseded by Kenchy & Co at 77b Broadgate Lane, the same building. Confirmed locally.
Prazno — Reported closed by the site owner, 11 Sept 2026. Never listed on the site; recorded here so a future sweep does not add it. Address not yet confirmed.
Vine Deli & Bakery by Residence, 78 Otley Old Road — Not a closure — the premises is in LS16 Cookridge, outside Horsforth. Confirmed locally 11 Sept 2026.
High Trees Garden Centre, 9 Otley Old Road — Now trading as Bramhope Garden Centre, and the site is in LS16 rather than Horsforth. Confirmed locally 11 Sept 2026.
R & A Fuller, 111 Town Street — Gone. Confirmed in person 11 Sept 2026; the unit no longer trades under this name.
Johnsons Dry Cleaners, 34 Town Street — No Johnsons branch in Horsforth. Confirmed in person 11 Sept 2026. Not to be confused with Simply Dry Clean at 106a, which is a separate business and still trading.
Sandbar, 15 Town Street — Gone. Confirmed in person 11 Sept 2026; the unit is now the Red Door bar.
Hemingways, 15 Town Street — Gone. Confirmed locally, 12 Sept 2026 — the unit is now Beyond The Red Door, which also took over from Sandbar at the same number. A business directory still gives Hemingways this address, which is how it stayed on the site with no address of its own.
Spider Pie, 23 Town Street — Gone. Confirmed locally, 12 Sept 2026. A local directory still gives it 23 Town Street, which the site lists as The Flower Shop — so The Flower Shop stands and the clash is resolved in its favour.
Horsforth Discount Electrical — Gone. Confirmed locally, 12 Sept 2026. It was carried from an ageing street directory with no address ever recorded, which is why it could never be checked.
Cards Etc, 7 Town Street — Gone. Confirmed locally, 12 Sept 2026 — the unit is now Forde, the restaurant, which is listed at 7 Town Street. It had been carried with a name and nothing else: no address, no trace online, never verified.
The Flower Shop, 23 Town Street — Checked in person, 25 September 2026 — Evolution Vaping is at 23 now.
Many Happy Returns, 33 Town Street — Checked in person, 25 September 2026 — Thai Sun restaurant is at 33 now.
Aziz Balti, 58 Town Street — Checked in person, 25 September 2026 — Dixy Chicken is at 58 now.
Sixty Town Street, 60 Town Street — Checked in person, 25 September 2026 — Woodlawn Coffee has this door now.
Identity Interior Design, 84 Town Street — Checked in person, 25 September 2026 — the unit at 84 is closed down.
Pictureplace, 104 Town Street — Checked in person, 25 September 2026 — Our Handmade Collective is at 104 now.
J R Saunders Opticians, 119 Town Street — Checked in person, 25 September 2026 — Blanc Studios is at 119 now. Two independent signals said the optician had gone, and the door confirms it.
Gourmet Hut, 93 Town Street, LS18 5BP — Checked in person, 25 September 2026 — Vape Hit is at 93 now. Still on the Food Standards Agency register at 93 as of a June 2025 inspection; the door is the newer evidence.
W S Whittaker, 78 Town Street — Checked in person, 25 September 2026 — Scrivens has the whole of 78.
Reeds Rains, 36 Town Street — Checked in person, 25 September 2026 — the office is not there.
The Idle Hour, 94a Town Street — Checked in person, 25 September 2026 — not at 94a.
Cojo’s Fashion, 96a Town Street — Checked in person, 25 September 2026 — not at 96a.
Flavas, 96b Town Street — Checked in person, 25 September 2026 — not at 96b.
Dressie Boutique, 164 Town Street — Checked in person, 25 September 2026 — 164 is Rustic & Co only.
Anchor Property Management, 164 Town Street — Checked in person, 25 September 2026 — 164 is Rustic & Co only.
Horsforth Institute, Town Street — Checked in person, 25 September 2026 — not there — permanently closed.

Corrections

If something here is wrong, tell us and it gets fixed. No login, no charge, no catch.

When the correction comes from the business itself we check it's really them — by replying to an address at their own domain, or ringing the number already on the listing rather than the one in the email. Every change a business has asked for is listed at what businesses have told us, along with how it was checked.