TrustedPlaces Houses Independent Business Reviews

TrustedPlaces is a UK-based startup that launched two years ago in the hopes of providing a home for independent reviews of businesses. The reviews cover bars, restaurants, food, nightlife and cafes. They have just launched a Christmas section (should be the holiday section!).

TrustedPlaces is similar to Yelp here in the U.S. and another UK site we have reviewed, welovelocal. The company has raised $1 million in 2007. Last year TrustedPlaces introduced "learning" where you can find other good locations based on your profile from other TrustedPlaces members.

The site gets a bit odd if you navigate through the footer to other countries. Selecting the U.S., you are presented with a list of 20,000 locations but no navigation and no categorization. Instead the list is presented in alphabetical order. Clicking a navigation item takes you back to the UK site. Why not spend a few hours and create a proper US (and other countries) site?

TrustedPlaces offers login access through FacebookConnect and OpenID. Lastly, TrustedPlaces offers a very interactive widget for their members. You can create lists and widgetize them for your blog or social network profile.