# Thomson Local Scraper - UK Business Leads & Phone Numbers (`seemuapps/thomson-local-scraper`) Actor

Scrape UK businesses from Thomson Local by trade and town or postcode - name, phone, website, address, postcode, rating and reviews. Export B2B leads.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/seemuapps/thomson-local-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Seemu Scraping](https://apify.com/seemuapps) (community)
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $1.50 / 1,000 business listings

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

## Thomson Local Scraper - UK Business Leads & Phone Numbers

Extract UK business listings from Thomson Local, one of Britain's longest-running business directories. Search any trade in any town, city or postcode and get a lead list with phone numbers, websites, full addresses with postcodes, ratings and descriptions.

### What you get

For every business:

- **name, category** - company name and trade (e.g. Plumbers, Accountants, Dentists)
- **phone** - main phone number
- **website**
- **street, city, postalCode, address** - full UK address with a properly formatted postcode
- **rating, reviewCount**
- **description** - the business's own summary
- **isPaidListing, listingId, detailUrl, logoUrl**

Turn on **Include business details** to also get:

- **latitude, longitude** - GPS coordinates
- **services** - the products and services the business offers
- the full **description** and opening hours where published

### Use cases

- **B2B lead generation** - tradespeople, professional services, healthcare, hospitality and more across the UK
- **Cold calling and sales prospecting** - direct phone numbers by trade and area
- **Local SEO and web design outreach** - find businesses without a website
- **Market research** - count and map competitors by town or postcode district
- **CRM enrichment** - add phone, website and postcode data to company lists

### How to use

1. Enter one or more **Search terms**, e.g. `plumbers`, `accountants`, `dentists`, `kitchen fitters`.
2. Enter one or more **Locations**: a town, city or postcode such as `Manchester`, `Milton Keynes` or `M1`.
3. Set **Max businesses** (0 = no limit). Every search term is combined with every location.
4. Optionally turn on **Include business details** for coordinates and services.
5. Run the actor and export from the **Dataset** tab as CSV, Excel, JSON or Google Sheets.

You can also paste Thomson Local search URLs (e.g. `https://www.thomsonlocal.com/search/plumbers/manchester`) into **Start URLs**.

### Output example

```json
{
  "name": "P M V Plumbtec",
  "category": "Plumbers",
  "phone": "0161 401 4617",
  "website": "http://www.pmvplumbtec.co.uk",
  "street": "43 Northcliffe Road",
  "city": "Stockport",
  "postalCode": "SK2 5AH",
  "country": "GB",
  "rating": 5,
  "reviewCount": 9,
  "description": "Here at PMV Plumbtec, we are a local family run plumbing company...",
  "latitude": 53.40437,
  "longitude": -2.13244,
  "services": ["Bathroom Installations", "Burst Pipes", "Leaking Taps", "Tiling"],
  "detailUrl": "https://www.thomsonlocal.com/search/plumbers/manchester-lancashire/p-m-v-plumbtec/2862862/01614014617",
  "searchTerm": "plumbers",
  "searchLocation": "Manchester"
}
```

### Good to know

- Results include businesses in the surrounding area, ordered the way Thomson Local ranks them.
- If a search term doesn't match a Thomson Local category exactly, the site falls back to its closest matches. Check the `category` field.
- The same business found by two searches is returned only once.

### Related directory scrapers

- **Gelbe Seiten Scraper** - German business leads with emails
- **PagineGialle Scraper** - Italian business leads

# Actor input Schema

## `searchTerms` (type: `array`):

What to search for on Thomson Local - a trade, business type or company name, e.g. "plumbers", "dentists", "accountants". Each term is searched in every location.

## `locations` (type: `array`):

Cities, towns or postcodes in the UK to search in, e.g. "Manchester", "London", "M1".

## `startUrls` (type: `array`):

Thomson Local search results URLs to scrape directly, e.g. https://www.thomsonlocal.com/search/plumbers/manchester. Used in addition to the search terms above.

## `maxItems` (type: `integer`):

Maximum number of businesses to return across all searches. 0 = no limit.

## `maxItemsPerSearch` (type: `integer`):

Optional cap for each search term + location combination. 0 = no per-search limit.

## `includeDetails` (type: `boolean`):

Also open each business page for GPS coordinates, full description, products and services, and opening hours (one extra request per business).

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "searchTerms": [
    "plumbers"
  ],
  "locations": [
    "Manchester"
  ],
  "maxItems": 100,
  "maxItemsPerSearch": 0,
  "includeDetails": false
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

One record per business: name, category, phone, website, street, city, postcode, rating, reviewCount, description, plus coordinates and services with details enabled.

## `summary` (type: `string`):

Businesses found per search and pages fetched.

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "searchTerms": [
        "plumbers"
    ],
    "locations": [
        "Manchester"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("seemuapps/thomson-local-scraper").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {
    "searchTerms": ["plumbers"],
    "locations": ["Manchester"],
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("seemuapps/thomson-local-scraper").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "searchTerms": [
    "plumbers"
  ],
  "locations": [
    "Manchester"
  ]
}' |
apify call seemuapps/thomson-local-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,seemuapps/thomson-local-scraper"
        }
    }
}
```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/uGy5kj8atBEE3TpqV/builds/cDhdfNYkWDhXR1aXP/openapi.json