Business confidence is the degree of sentiment towards risk-taking by business, and business confidence surveys help explain movements in economic activity. This paper will compare several ways of measuring business confidence. Business confidence is typically surveyed at the level of the nation-state, not for municipalities or towns. Our paper provides a methodology for business confidence surveys at the local level. This approach has been piloted in the town of Beaufort West in the Karoo area of South Africa. There are plans for a new uranium mine in Beaufort West, and we speculate on its impact on local business confidence.