The press watchdog has rapped a regional news website for wrongly reporting a barbershop was closing down.

The Independent Press Standards Organisation has upheld a complaint against Somerset Live for reporting that Bath barber Trimmers was “closing down after 30 years’ trade”.

The claim was made in the headline of a story that reported the shop had been put on the market.

IPSO found in favour of Silvana Greco, from Trimmers, after she complained about the story, ruling the business could be negatively affected if customers inaccurately believed it was going to close.

Complaining under Clause 1 (Accuracy) of the Editors’ Code of Practice, Mrs Greco said the story was inaccurate because the business was for sale rather than closing down.

She added Somerset Live had initially approached her for comment about a different subject, and she had made clear that she did not want the publication to cover the sale of the business.

Somerset Live accepted the headline was inaccurate, but only became aware of this following IPSO’s involvement in the dispute.

Once it was made aware of Mrs Greco’s position, it amended the story with a correction.

Somerset Live noted that the content of the story was taken from information available publicly on a real estate listings website, and Mrs Greco’s consent was therefore not required in order to publish the information.

IPSO considered there to be a significant difference between a business closing down and being sold, where trade could be negatively affected if customers inaccurately believed the business was going to close. It therefore found there to be a significant inaccuracy requiring correction.

However, the Committee added there is no obligation for publications to inform the subjects of their stories exactly what it will be about in advance of publication and this was not an issue which engaged the terms of the Code.

The complaint was upheld under Clause 1(i), and the full adjudication can be read here.