Rowlands Castle

What Rowlands Castle does

Rowlands Castle (legally 2day Microportals) operates a hyper-local community information microportal at rowlandscastlestjohns.2day.uk, serving the Rowlands Castle and Havant area within Hampshire's PO9 postcode district. The platform is built on the 2day Microportals template — a modular community-website framework that aggregates categorized local information (transport, accommodation, events, schools, weather, shopping, services, sports, faith, archive photos) and integrates external feeds such as BBC Hampshire news and Google Translate. The product has been continuously operated since 2004 as one of many microportal instances within a UK-wide 2day Microportals network that has cumulatively recorded over 1.33 billion system-wide hits.

The commercial model is a self-service, impression-tiered classified advertising product sold directly through the website to local, regional, and (in principle) UK-wide advertisers, with no sales-team intervention. Entry-level pricing starts at £37.50 per year for basic coverage, scaling through volume-based impression tiers up to £1,150 for 30M+ impressions, with optional percentage-based upgrades for logos, priority positioning, larger ad units, and monthly performance reports. Customer segments are local SMBs, residents, and regional/national advertisers seeking postcode-targeted reach. The entity has 6 employees, is privately held and bootstrapped, and — uniquely — publicly markets individual microportals for transfer to new owner-operators via [email protected], suggesting a franchise-like distribution model rather than a conventional venture-backed growth business.

No revenue is disclosed, and the Rowlands Castle portal itself shows minimal current traffic (47 daily hits, 775 monthly), indicating the asset functions more as a community utility and template demonstration than as a high-velocity commercial product. There are no disclosed funding rounds, M&A, partnerships, patents, certifications, named customers, or AI/ML capabilities.

Name

Rowlands Castle

Legal name

2day Microportals

Website

https://rowlandscastlestjohns.2day.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

2004

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Rowlands Castle is a UK community information microportal operated by 2day Microportals, serving local residents and small businesses in the PO9 postcode area of Hampshire with classified advertising and categorized local content via a self-service, impression-tiered website platform.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Rowlands Castle

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Classified Advertising: The platform generates revenue through selling classified advertising placements to local businesses. Advertisers can purchase ads at various price points based on impression volume, ranging from £38 for up to 10,000 impressions up to £1,150 for 30,000,000+ impressions. Additional revenue comes from optional ad enhancements including logo placement (+15%), priority page positioning (+15%), double-sized ads (+60%), and monthly reports (+5%).

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels2 records

Core offering

Rowlands Castle is a hyperlocal community information microportal serving the Rowlands Castle village and surrounding Havant area in the PO9 postcode district of Hampshire, UK. It aggregates local news, events, services, weather, accommodation, shopping, faith, and reference content for residents and visitors. The platform monetizes through a self-service classified advertising system that enables local and regional businesses to purchase geo-targeted advert placements with impression-based pricing from £38 (up to 10,000 impressions) to £1,150 (30 million impressions), plus optional percentage-based enhancements for logos, priority positioning, and larger ad sizes.

Product overview

2day Microportals operates a community information portal platform, with rowlandscastlestjohns.2day.uk serving the Rowlands Castle and Havant area in Hampshire. The platform combines a local information hub with classified advertising services, event calendars, and multilingual support. The core offering is the microportal platform itself, supplemented by advertising modules with tiered pricing based on coverage area and ad enhancements.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Local Classified Advertising

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves3 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Direct peers

• Checkatrade: Checkatrade is a UK directory focused on vetted local trades and home-service businesses, with paid SMB profiles and local geographic targeting. It competes for the same local-services SMB advertising wallet as Rowlands Castle in the Hampshire region.
• FreeIndex: FreeIndex is a UK local business directory offering free and paid listings to SMBs organized by town and category. It competes directly with 2day Microportals for UK SMB advertising spend using similar self-service, location-targeted ad products.
• Hotfrog: Hotfrog is a local business directory operating across multiple geographies including the UK, offering free and premium SMB listings by location and category. It overlaps directly with 2day Microportals' local SMB advertising proposition.
• Yell: Yell is the UK's leading online local business directory and classified advertising platform. It directly competes with Rowlands Castle / 2day Microportals for local SMB advertising budgets across the UK, with similar town-level targeting and self-service ad purchasing.
• Brown Book: Brown Book is a global local business directory with a UK presence, providing free and paid SMB listings by city and category. It targets the same local-SMB advertising segment with comparable location-based listing and advertising offerings.
• Scoot: Scoot is a UK local business directory that provides SMB advertising and listings by town and category. It targets the same UK SMB customer segment with comparable postcode-level geographic targeting and tiered advertising products.
• Gumtree: Gumtree is the UK's leading classifieds platform, serving both consumers and local businesses with location-based listings and paid advertising. It shares the classified-advertising revenue model and UK SMB / consumer customer base with Rowlands Castle.
• Thomson Local: Thomson Local is a long-established UK local business directory offering town-by-town listings and advertising for SMBs. It shares the same core business model — selling classified-style advertising placements to local businesses targeting specific UK geographies.

Emerging players

• Nextdoor: Nextdoor is a hyper-local social network organized by neighbourhood, offering local SMB advertising products to UK users. It targets the same postcode-level audience as 2day Microportals but uses a social/community model rather than a directory/classifieds model.

Broad incumbents

• Yelp: Yelp is a global online local business directory with reviews, listings, and SMB advertising products. It competes in the broader UK local advertising market but operates at vastly greater scale and with a global brand rather than a hyper-local niche focus.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/rowlands-castle

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Rowlands Castle