Can Your Website Say 'Best in Town'? What the Rules Say
"Best in town" is one of the most common lines on a UK trade website, sitting right under the logo on plenty of plumber, salon and garage sites. Most owners writing it have never heard of the ASA. That does not mean the rule does not reach them: it is one of the few parts of website copy where getting it wrong is a genuine, if usually quiet, legal risk rather than just a style choice.
Does the advertising code even apply to my own website?
Yes. The Advertising Standards Authority's own scope guidance covers a business's marketing on its own website and other free space it controls online, not only paid ads. A sole trader with a single page and no ad budget sits inside the same rules as a national brand. Nobody is likely to come looking unless someone complains, but the rule does not switch off because the site is small.
Can your website say it's the "best in town"?
It depends on whether an ordinary reader would take the claim as fact or as a boast. The ASA's own guidance on "best" claims draws that line by how the words actually read, not by what the business meant. In one of its own examples, "the best since 2004" on a pillowcase ad was ruled a subjective opinion, the kind of exaggeration nobody is expected to check, rather than a fact anyone could prove wrong. A specific, checkable version of the same claim, such as naming an award or a ranking, is judged differently and needs evidence to match.
The practical test is whether the phrase could be proven false. "Best plumber in town" reads as a boast most readers shrug off. "Rated the best plumber in town by [named local publication]" is a specific, checkable claim, and it needs to be true and current, not something said once three years ago and never taken down.
What's the difference between a boast and a claim you have to prove?
It usually comes down to whether a specific detail has been bolted onto the boast. A salon saying "the best cut in town" is making the same kind of unmeasurable claim as the pillowcase ad, because "best" here means nothing more precise than "we think we're good". Add a specific, checkable detail and the claim changes character entirely: "the only salon in town with a Wella-trained colourist" or "voted best in [town] by [named publication] in 2026" stops being an opinion and starts being a statement of fact, and it has to actually be true.
The same split runs through a plumber's callout claim, a cafe's coffee, or a garage's MOT pass rate. "Fast, friendly service" is puffery nobody expects proof of. "Same-day callout, every time" is a promise a customer can hold you to the first time you can't make it, and "98% MOT pass rate" needs a real number behind it, not a guess that sounded about right. Vague is safer precisely because it says less, which is worth knowing before reaching for the biggest word available.
What about the reviews and star ratings on your homepage?
These get held to a firmer standard than a "best" boast, because a review is presented as something a real customer actually said, not an opinion of your own. The ASA's guidance on testimonials and endorsements sets out that a business must be able to show a testimonial is genuine, meaning it is really from the person named and reflects what they actually said, and it must keep a way of contacting that person. A star rating shown on your own site is the same principle applied to a number: it has to be a true, current reflection of your reviews, not a cherry-picked or stale one.
The same guidance is clear that quietly deleting reviews you simply do not like is treated as manipulating the evidence, not tidying up. Removing something genuinely offensive, unlawful, or that exposes someone's personal data without consent is a different matter and is generally fine. Replying to a bad review properly does more for trust than hiding it ever will.
What actually happens if you get this wrong?
Less than most people assume, and it rarely starts with anyone watching your site. The ASA's own pages on sanctions show the usual outcome of an upheld complaint is a requirement to withdraw or amend the ad, not a fine. Only where a business ignores that and keeps running the same misleading claim does it get referred on to Trading Standards, who then decide independently whether to take it further. For almost every trade business, the actual exposure is smaller than that: a rival or a disgruntled customer complaining, and the wording quietly having to change.
So what can you safely put on your homepage?
A specific, true fact beats a vague superlative most of the time anyway, which is the useful part of this rule rather than the annoying part. "Family-run since 2009" or "over 400 jobs completed in [town]" tells a visitor something concrete and needs no substantiation file sitting in a drawer, because nobody reasonably disputes a fact like that once it's true. Plain, specific copy was already the right call for readability. It turns out to be the safer legal choice too.
Genuine reviews, linked back to where they actually live, whether that's Google, Trustpilot or Checkatrade, do the same job as a "best in town" claim without any of the risk, because a reader can go and check them. That is worth more than a line no one can verify, on a page that is meant to be earning trust in the first place.
None of this needs a legal review bolted onto every homepage line. A properly written site makes specific, true claims and lets real reviews carry the weight a superlative can't. If your current site is leaning on lines nobody could actually check, a private preview costs nothing to look at, and setup runs from £495 with hosting, security, backups and edits from £69 a month.
Frequently asked questions
Can I write "the UK's best" without any evidence?
Sometimes, but it's a gamble. The ASA judges a claim by how an ordinary reader would take it, not by what you meant. If the wording reads as a plain boast, it can stand as opinion. If it reads as a measurable fact, you need to be able to back it up if someone complains.
Do star ratings pulled from Google onto my homepage need evidence?
Yes. A rating you display is a claim about what real customers said, so it needs to be genuine and current, not a screenshot from two years ago or an average you have rounded up.
Can I just remove a bad review from my own website?
You can remove a review you wrote yourself or one that is genuinely offensive, illegal or contains someone's personal data without their consent. Deleting a fair but unflattering one because you dislike it is a different thing, and CAP's guidance treats that as manipulating the evidence rather than housekeeping.
Does any of this apply to a one-person trade business, or only big companies?
It applies to any UK marketer, including a sole trader with a single-page website. The CAP Code covers a business's own website and its other free space online, not just paid advertising, and it makes no exception for size.
A customer said something nice about me on Facebook. Can I quote it on my site?
Yes, provided you can show it is genuine and you keep a way of contacting the person it came from. That is a low bar for a real compliment from a real customer, and it exists to stop quotes being invented or lightly rewritten into something stronger.