The story
How we scoped, built, and shipped this system.
Around Town is a hyperlocal community platform operated by COZQ Limited. It brings useful local updates, trusted recommendations and everyday neighbourhood life into one welcoming place - on the web at aroundtown.uk and in the Around Town iOS app.
Rather than launching nationally on day one, Around Town opens area by area - currently 13 Kent towns and 5 South Devon communities - with a focus on genuine local participation and calm, readable information design.
The challenge
Local life is fragmented. Council updates sit on different websites. Road works and planning notices are easy to miss. Recommendations for independent businesses are buried in algorithmic feeds. Community conversation happens across Facebook groups, WhatsApp chats and Nextdoor - often loudly, and rarely with a sense of place.
COZQ set out to build something different: a platform that feels local by design, private and respectful, where neighbours can keep up without doom-scrolling - and where brilliant independent places get more visibility because people who live nearby share them.
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Scattered information
Bin days, road works, planning and events lived across council sites, social groups and word of mouth. -
No trusted local layer
Generic social networks optimise for engagement, not usefulness - making it hard to discover what is genuinely worth supporting nearby. -
Area-by-area rollout
A national launch would feel hollow. The product needed hub pages, cover imagery and moderation per town from the start. -
Cross-platform identity
Members expect to sign in on web and app with the same Apple or Google account and finish setup once.
The COZQ solution
Around Town turns scattered local information into one useful, welcoming feed per area. Members choose their town, personalise what they see, and join conversations when they are ready. The experience is deliberately calm: readable typography, light and dark appearance preferences, and copy that emphasises trust over hype.
The platform is built and operated by COZQ Limited (registered in England and Wales). Sign-in uses Apple and Google OAuth on web and mobile - Around Town never receives the user's Apple or Google password - with a short setup flow for new members.
Area hubs with local character
Each covered town has its own hub with cover photography and council branding where appropriate. Kent hubs include Ashford, Canterbury, Dartford, Dover, Folkestone and Hythe, Gravesham, Maidstone, Medway, Sevenoaks, Swale, Thanet, Tonbridge and Malling, and Tunbridge Wells.
South Devon hubs include Brixham, Exeter, Newton Abbot, Paignton and Torquay - opened with the same thoughtful rollout model as Kent.
Know what is happening
Road works, bin days, planning notices and community updates arrive in one easy-to-read feed. The goal is practical awareness: what is changing near you this week, without needing to check six different sources.
Members can also discover recommendations, events and advice shared by people who understand the area because they live there too.
What Around Town delivers
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Local feed
Council-aware updates, community posts and neighbourhood conversation in one chronological, readable stream per area. -
Trusted recommendations
Discover independent businesses, events and practical tips shared by nearby members - not algorithmic ads. -
Help your area thrive
Give brilliant local places more visibility and share the small things that make a neighbourhood stronger. -
iOS app
Take local life with you - the App Store app keeps updates and conversations close at hand on iPhone. -
Privacy-respectful auth
Apple and Google sign-in on web and app with clear copy about what Around Town does and does not receive. -
Appearance controls
Light, dark and system appearance preferences persist across sessions for comfortable reading at any time of day.
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Exeter - South Devon -
Torquay - South Devon
- Kent towns live
- 13
- South Devon towns live
- 5
- Price to join
- Free
Part of the COZQ product family
Around Town shares engineering patterns with other COZQ platforms - unified auth approaches, Cloudflare-backed hosting, and modular Laravel services. DIBS extends the Around Town ecosystem with a playful neighbourhood map game at dibs.aroundtown.uk, integrated into the Around Town website and iOS app.
Building Around Town in-house lets COZQ dogfood the same stack used for client work: rapid iteration on hyperlocal features, SEO-friendly public pages, and member apps that stay in sync with the web platform.
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Area research
Identified Kent and South Devon councils and town boundaries for meaningful hub pages and cover imagery. -
Calm information design
Prioritised readable feeds and trustworthy copy over engagement bait - local life without the noise. -
OAuth-first onboarding
Apple and Google sign-in on web and iOS with a short setup path for new members. -
Phased geographic rollout
Launched town by town with hub covers, council assets and moderation ready per area. -
Ecosystem extensions
Shipped DIBS - a free neighbourhood map game integrated into Around Town on web and iOS.
Technologies used
- JavaScript
- MySQL
- PHP
Key outcomes
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18 live area hubs
Kent and South Devon covered with distinct hub identity - demonstrating scalable hyperlocal architecture. -
Cross-platform membership
One account across web and iOS keeps neighbours connected whether they browse at home or on the move. -
Trust-first community
Privacy-respectful auth and calm UI differentiate Around Town from generic social feeds. -
COZQ-operated product
Shows COZQ's ability to conceive, build and run its own community platforms - not only client delivery.
Your area has a story. Be part of it.
Which areas does Around Town cover?
13 Kent towns (including Canterbury, Maidstone, Medway and Tunbridge Wells) and 5 South Devon communities (Brixham, Exeter, Newton Abbot, Paignton and Torquay), with more areas planned.
Is Around Town free?
Yes. Around Town is free to join. Members choose their area, personalise their feed and participate when ready.
Who operates Around Town?
Around Town is operated by COZQ Limited, a UK digital studio registered in England and Wales. Contact privacy@cozq.com for data-related enquiries.
What is DIBS?
DIBS is a free neighbourhood map game integrated into Around Town. Members call dibs on map squares and explore their area playfully at dibs.aroundtown.uk - on web and via the Around Town iOS app. Read the full case study at cozq.com/case-studies/dibs/.
Explore Around Town
Find your town on the live platform or speak to COZQ about hyperlocal community software.