London businesses to signal UNSWERVING LOYALTY to capital with .london domain

Thousands of Blighty businesses have apparently expressed an interest in getting their mitts on .london domains after ICANN gave the new domain name the go-ahead.

Companies that want to ensure you know they're in London, or perhaps want to go for regionally translated dialects on their websites, will be able to apply for the capital city's domain name from spring next year.

The promotional agency for the city, London & Partners, which got the global internet body to sign off on the new domain, reckons that museums, theatres and the like will be keen on the name and claims that tens of thousands of businesses, including Selfridges and Carnaby Street, have said they're interested.

London mayor Boris Johnson reckons the whole thing is brilliant and will help businesses as well as helping the city's "digital presence".

"Adopting the .london suffix will enable organisations to more closely associate themselves with our great city’s powerful global brand," he enthused. "This is also an excellent opportunity to expand London’s digital presence, which in turn is set to generate funds to invest back into the city."

Selfridges head of marketing Hazel Kay said that having a .london website was a great way for an iconic London shop to point out that it's an iconic London shop.

"Selfridges has always taken care to be at the cutting edge of innovation in order to better serve our customers," she said.

"Having a selfridges.london address is an exciting new opportunity to be creative with our web presence while showcasing our strong association with London, which is a key component of our identity.”

London & Partners got the .london name by applying with ICANN during its period of expansion of generic top level domains (gTLDs). Other cities, including New York and Paris, are believed to have applied for a gTLD in their name as well.

The agency is planning to run the .london registry through a subsidiary, Dot London Domains. ®