We've never had it so ghoulish! - 28 October 2003
Startling findings from Yellow Pages today reveal that Britain’s appetite for the supernatural has never been more voracious, with a spooktacular 90 per cent surge in Halloween-related businesses and services over the last 10 years.Psychics & Clairvoyants lead the proliferation of the paranormal with an unpredicted 227 per cent rise in entries throughout all Yellow Pages between 1992 and 2002, with staggering increases in the South East London (1400 per cent), York (900 per cent) and Bournemouth (800 per cent) directories.
Bubbling under with a spellbinding 118 per cent increase are Herbalists, with Edinburgh - one of the UK’s most scientific seats of learning - brewing up a storming 800 per cent rise in its directory, followed by Leeds and Norwich neck-and-neck on 300 per cent.
Cat Breeders too are multiplying, with a 55 per cent rise, together with those modern day soothsayers under Yellow Pages’ Astrologers & Horoscopes classification, whose 49 per cent rise since 1992 must have been written in the stars. Shroud Makers, however, departed Yellow Pages as a distinct classification in 1996.
Fortunately for those foolhardy revellers wishing to celebrate Britain’s chilling obsession with things that go bump in the night, entries in Yellow Pages’ Party Goods and Fancy Dress classifications have kept pace with the trend, increasing by 65 per cent and 30 per cent respectively over the last 10 years.
Richard Duggleby, head of external relations at Yell, publisher of Yellow Pages, said: "The British have always been fascinated by magic and mystery, a national obsession most recently reflected by our interest in Harry Potter and David Blaine. Yellow Pages is a barometer of social trends, and so rises in entries for Psychics, Clairvoyants, Astrologers and other classifications of this nature reflect the growing interest in all things other-worldly."
Have a cushion ready - those Halloween results in full:
| Classification | UK-wide increase 1992-2002 | Largest increase | 2nd larget increase |
| Psychics & Clairvoyants | 227% | London SE (1400%) | York (900%) |
| Herbalists | 118% | Edinburgh (800%) | Leeds Norwich (300%) |
| Cat breeders | 55% | Dundee (100%) | Exeter (100%) |
| Astrologers & Horoscopes | 49% | Canterbury (300%) | Edinburgh (200%) |
| Party Goods | 65% | Sunderland (300%) | Birmingham Exeter (200%) |
| Fancy Dress | 30% | Aberdeen (400%) | Wirral & Chester (350%) |
For further information please contact The RED Consultancy:
Jo Chappel (020 7465 6424), Nick Wilkins (020 7465 7739) Simon Bear (020 7465 7717)
Andrea Morrison or Emma Smailes, Yell PR department (0118 950 6345/6444)
Yellow Pages
Yellow Pages is published by Yell, a leading international directories business operating in the classified advertising market through printed, online and telephone–based media. Yell’s products in the UK also include the Business Pages directory, Yell.com, Yellow Pages 118 24 7 and in the US, Yellow Book and Yellowbook.com.
