A RESTAURANT owner has spent around three months trying to contact a leading travel search engine, after discovering a spelling mistake in the first line of the published address.

The Haven, London Road, is the latest eatery in a string of venues hitting back at travel websites, as its location on Trip Advisor was changed from Salisbury to Firsdown.

The website however has also listed The Haven under 'Firstdown', and the restaurant team has been unsuccessful in getting the error removed.

The team claimed they had spent around 25 hours in the past three months trying to rectify the problem and get the restaurant once again classified as Salisbury, as they fear under the new geographical information they will have less visibility and in turn face threat of closure.

Salisbury Journal:

"It is just exasperating, it is so irrational that [Trip Advisor] is just so difficult to contact. We were originally told it would take 24 hours for the wrong address to be corrected and nothing has changed," said owner of The Haven, Trevor Wells.

He added: "No one can find us because Firstdown doesn't exist, I could not believe it when I first saw it.

"If we don't have enough footfall, because people don't know about us, we will not survive the winter. I don't know what we will do if this doesn't get sorted."

Talking about the address change Trevor said: "We have been on the Trip Advisor website since 2005 under Salisbury. This is a serious issue that is growing, this is really going to impact on us.

"These search engines can do whatever they want and nothing can stop them."

As previously reported, The Swan at Stoford blamed Booking.com for its closure, and The Bell Inn, in South Newton, is fearing a similar outcome after its visibility was also changed on the website.

A spokesperson for Trip Advisor said The Haven's location was changed from Salisbury to Firsdown because it was "listed incorrectly", adding that a city official had confirmed the site was not in Salisbury.

They added: "In order to provide the most accurate information possible to travellers, Trip Advisor strives to list all accommodations, restaurants and attractions in the actual physical footprint, so listings cannot be moved to a different town than where they are physically located.

"Our policy is to place a listing in the most specific destination possible. There are occasions when we will associate a smaller town with a larger city if there is official confirmation of that relationship from city officials."

The search engine had admitted to the Journal however that 'Firstdown' made the overall address incorrect and has now been altered to display the correct information.

According to Trevor, Trip Advisor has now said it is up to Salisbury City Council to decide whether the establishment gets listed under Salisbury or not.