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What does this website do?

We showcase the unique, specialist Brighton shops and restaurants that can be found across the city from Portslade to Saltdean. Our blog also features sustainable living, unique events and local charities. You can also find us on Twitter @uniquetobtn. 

Why should we shop locally?

• local food shops can mean lower bills and less waste.
  
• helps create a vital sense of difference
• enables more independence and human contact
• can make more efficient use of public services
• enables people to shop without using a car
• means you can find more interesting and unique goods
• often means you get much better customer service
• allows for human-sized architecture
• encourages a sense of being somewhere, not just anywhere
• can stop money running out of the area so quickly
• can provide a greater local resilience and stimulate the wider local economy

There are also many good reasons to buy local food in particular. It's usually fresher, so tastes better. It can help us appreciate the changing seasons as well as the unique geography of our area and its links with the past.

It helps local producers and makes it possible for people to farm in a way that benefits the environment. It can mean a greater likelihood of the survival of meaningful and satisfying jobs.

Small-scale producers are often also more mindful of the importance of high environmental and animal welfare standards.

Buying locally can reduce carbon consumption as local market produce travels on average just 30 miles. This not only helps reduce the problem of local road congestion and air pollution, but may also help with wider issues of global climate change.

How did this project begin?

The project  grew as an offshoot of an educational project about on the origins of local food and which was initially supported by Brighton and Hove City Council.

Sue Korman and the team at Claritymark have always supported local business and so they created this site in August 2005. It has become an essential resource for those who want to find Brighton's best, local and distinctive places to shop and eat.

Why should a local business join?

The site offers a very cost effective and communal showcase for specialist retailers and food outlets. It re-inforces your position in searches, anchors your business at the top of the search listings and helps to promote your local links.

Only places in the Brighton and Hove area are listed; those where the products’ quality and origins are what really matter.

Our focus on provenance and local connections helps build customer confidence and enhances the reputation of a business.

In particular, the site appeals to discerning visitors and residents who like to shop locally and who care about where things come from.

Why should shoppers wish to use this site?

Most people are keen support the local economy. Using our site makes it easier to do so as we only list those businesses unique to the area.

Buying products with a special provenance makes it easier to exercise a choice between items produced in different ways.

The importance of food origins is now obvious to most consumers but recent trends show that many people are now selecting all sorts of goods for value, environmental and social reasons.

Who owns this directory?

The site is copyright protected and owned by Claritymark. You are free to copy pages from the site for your personal use but no license is given for reproduction for any other uses.

Is Unique to Brighton connected to Unique Brighton?

No, 'Unique Brighton' was set up two years after this site in April 2007. It's the name that was given to the traders' group based in The Lanes and North Laine which formed a Business Improvement District (BID).

The businesses in that area jointly fund improvements like the Christmas lights , shop security, events and a delivery service.Their website lists only the businesses in the BID district whereas this one is for the whole city and only features independent businesses.

Sue Korman

©Claritymark :   Brighton  2011.