i know Pigots has an online site, but i think you have to buy the disca for their various county directories.
When i was researching my great grandparents Cheshire Pubs I used the Gibson Guide Vicyuallers Licenses, published by the FFHS (Federation of family history societies) and managed to get transcripts of their licenses from the Licensing Justices records for the late 1800s from Cheshire Record Office, where they had been deposited by the majistrates court.
The Gibson Guide was invaluable.
Most really good town directories for the mid 1800s thru to the 1950s were published by local newspapers. These will be in the lovcal reference libraries, and as the reference librarians usually keep these unique volumes locked away, i know that if you contact them via phone or email, they would likely do a search of the directories, as many of the volumes are now so rare they do not like the public readers to use them.