marmaLADYa.com

marmaLADYa.com is a network of local online magazines focusing on specific areas in London. Started in August 2006, this chic site is a web savvy women's resource on how they can connect with and shop in their local communities. Current editions include Battersea, Fulham, Islington and Primrose Hill. Sign up for their weekly newsletters for updates.

It's aimed at the glamorous end of the market and loudly exhorts independent small businesses with not a corporation or supermarket in sight. You can be area specific when you visit the site or just get the overall picture. Its pages are fun and full of useful information.

The site really comes into its own in Directories. Here you will find listings of shops, where to get your culture fix, the places to eat. Each company listed has its own page, with details of their services, links to websites and address. It is amongst these pages that you will come across a shop that you never knew existed. To date, they have gathered together an interesting collection. Visitors get the chance to leave their feedback on listings although marmaLADYa give the impression they know what they are talking about.

A busy part of the site is marmaBLOGS linking marmaLADIES across town and is an active community of networking ladies. A jobs listing service will be added to the site soon. Check the daily diaries of what's on in your area from yoga lessons to discounts for beauty treatments. Features include well written lifestyle articles on books, music and film to health and beauty advice.

And where did marmaLADYa come from? In their words, 'Noun: a web based realm with a tasty character; evoking the pleasures of 'heart, home and hearth' problem-solving; capturing the old-fashioned spirit of fruitful female interaction.'