How UK hospitality venues can actually be contacted
Of 30,852 UK hospitality venues that have a website, 72.5% have a publicly discoverable phone number, 42.6% a publicly discoverable email address, and 32.8% have a phone number and no email at all. Counted 28 August 2026 from an original dataset built by FoxEra. The method, the base and the limitations are on this page so the figure can be challenged rather than repeated.
The count
| Publicly discoverable | Venues | Share of 30,852 |
|---|---|---|
| Phone number | 22,378 | 72.5% |
| Email address | 13,155 | 42.6% |
| Phone number and no email address | 10,105 | 32.8% |
| Email address and no phone number | 882 | 2.9% |
| Neither | 7,592 | 24.6% |
The four mutually exclusive groups — both channels (12,273), phone only (10,105), email only (882) and neither (7,592) — sum to 30,852.
The two sources, counted separately
Each venue was checked in two independent places, and the two disagree in an interesting way. Anyone citing a single number should know which one they are citing.
| Source | Phone | Phone, no email | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Public business record (OpenStreetMap) | 16,488 — 53.4% | 5,343 — 17.3% | 11,764 — 38.1% |
| Automated read of the venue’s own website | 5,890 — 19.1% | 13,155 — 42.6% | 1,681 — 5.4% |
| Either source (the headline figures) | 22,378 — 72.5% | 13,155 — 42.6% | 10,105 — 32.8% |
The business record carries a phone number far more often than a website does; the website carries an email far more often than the record does. Neither source alone describes how a venue can be reached, which is why the headline figures combine them.
Method
- Source. OpenStreetMap business records, plus an automated read of each venue’s own website for a contact method published in plain text.
- Base. 30,852 UK hospitality venues — restaurants, pubs, cafés, fast food, hotels, guest houses, bars, bakeries, ice cream shops, nightclubs, hostels and food courts. Every venue in the base has a website; venues without one are not in the dataset at all.
- Filtering. 120,250 records were collected in total. 53,474 had a postcode matching the UK format; of those, the hospitality categories above give 30,852. Non-UK records — the wider collection also covers Spain and Ireland — and non-hospitality categories such as hairdressers, dentists and estate agents were excluded, not blended in.
- “Publicly discoverable” means the phone number or email address appears in the venue’s public business record or in plain text on its own website. A contact form is not counted as an email address. That is a real limitation and it pushes the email figure down: the share of venues that can in practice be reached in writing is higher than 42.6%.
- Counted 28 August 2026 against a dataset collected between 21 and 24 August 2026. Figures describe what was published on those dates and move as businesses update their own pages.
- Reproducible. The count is a filter and four tallies over the same stored dataset and can be re-run at any time. A number somebody else can check is worth more than one they cannot.
What these figures do and do not support
They support: for 10,105 venues in this base — roughly a third — no email address is published in either place we looked, so an email-only approach has no route in to those specific venues. A phone number does exist for them.
They do not support any of the following, and we would ask not to be cited for them:
- Not “a third of UK restaurants have no email”. The base is venues that have a website, not all UK hospitality. State the base every time.
- Not “email doesn’t work”. This measures whether a channel is published, not whether it performs. 42.6% do publish one, and more can be reached through a form.
- Not a claim about answer or reply rates. We have no reply data here and must not imply that we do.
- Not a claim that these venues are lawful to call. Whether a number may be called turns on TPS and CTPS screening and on data protection law — see how to build a UK cold calling list and whether cold calling is legal in the UK. Publication of a number is not permission.
About this dataset
Collected and maintained by FoxEra Calls as part of its own UK business research, and published here because the alternative figures available online are vendor blogs quoting other vendor blogs. This one is a direct count of a dataset that exists, with the filter written out.
If you want to cite it: “FoxEra Calls, UK hospitality venue contactability, August 2026, base 30,852 UK hospitality venues with a website.” Methodology questions and requests to verify a specific figure go through contact.
Related: what a connected minute of calling costs and the comparison of AI calling, power diallers and answering services.
Frequently asked questions
How many UK hospitality venues publish an email address?
42.6% — 13,155 of 30,852 UK hospitality venues that have a website, counted 28 August 2026. A contact form is not counted, so the share reachable in writing is higher.
How many can only be reached by phone?
32.8% — 10,105 venues had a publicly discoverable phone number and no publicly discoverable email address.
What is the base for these figures?
30,852 UK hospitality venues that have a website, filtered from 120,250 collected records, of which 53,474 carried a valid UK postcode. Non-UK and non-hospitality records were excluded rather than blended in.
Can I re-use these numbers?
Yes, with the base stated and the date attached. Please link to this page so the method travels with the figure.