Privacy & cookies
Last updated 11 October 2026
In short
- The guide does not set cookies, and we use no advertising, tracking or social-media cookies.
- We count visits with Cloudflare Web Analytics, which gives us anonymous totals without cookies and without following you around the web.
- Your favourite pubs are saved on your own device, not on our servers.
- “Pubs Near Me” uses your location only on your device, only when you ask, and never sends it to us.
- If you write to us through a form, we use what you send only to deal with it.
- Pubs with a partner account have one essential cookie that keeps them logged in.
Who we are
The Pint Alley is an independent guide to London pubs at thepintalley.co.uk. We are the controller of the personal data described on this page. You can reach us at info@thepintalley.co.uk.
Cookies
A cookie is a small file a website saves in your browser. The public guide does not set any. The only cookie anywhere on our sites is the one described under “Partner portal” below, which only pubs with an account ever receive.
What is saved on your device
If you star a pub as a favourite, or hide the map, the guide remembers that using your browser’s local storage. This stays on your device, is never sent to us, and exists only because you asked for the feature. You can remove it at any time by clearing the site’s data in your browser settings.
Your location
The “Pubs Near Me” feature asks your browser for your location, and only when you press the button and give permission. Your position is used on your device to work out which pubs in the guide are closest and to sort the list. It is not sent to us, to Cloudflare’s analytics or to anyone else, and it is not stored. You can refuse or withdraw permission at any time in your browser or phone settings, and the rest of the guide works the same.
Visitor statistics
We use Cloudflare Web Analytics to see, in aggregate, how the guide is used: which pages are viewed, roughly where visitors are in the world, which sites send them to us, and what kind of device and browser they use. It does not use cookies or local storage and is designed not to track individual people across websites. Cloudflare also processes visitors’ IP addresses to deliver the site and keep it secure. We rely on our legitimate interest in understanding and improving the guide.
If you would rather not be counted, you can block the analytics script with a content blocker, or email us. The guide works the same either way.
Other services the guide uses
- Cloudflare hosts the guide and delivers it to your browser.
- Google Fonts. To display our typefaces, your browser fetches font files from Google, which means Google receives your IP address and basic browser details. Google’s font service does not set cookies.
- Google Sheets. The news items and the fortnightly poll question are read from spreadsheets published by Google, so your browser makes a request to Google when they load.
- Links to other sites. Pubs’ own websites, Facebook, Instagram and other sites we link to have their own privacy practices, and we do not control them.
Forms and e-mail
The guide has forms for suggesting a pub, registering a pub’s or brewery’s interest, contacting us and voting in the poll. Depending on the form, you may give us your name, e-mail address, the pub or brewery you are writing about, and your message. We use this only to read and reply to your message, to consider your suggestion or enquiry, and, for registered interest, to talk to you about working together. The poll records only the answer you pick.
Form submissions are handled for us by Formspree, a company based in the United States, which passes them to us by e-mail, so your details may be processed outside the UK. E-mail sent to info@thepintalley.co.uk is forwarded to our mailbox using Cloudflare Email Routing. We keep enquiries only for as long as we need them and delete those we no longer need. Our legal basis is your consent when you send a form, and our legitimate interest in running the guide.
Partner portal
Pubs that work with us get an account at partners.thepintalley.co.uk to update their own listing. For these accounts we store the account e-mail address, a scrambled (hashed) version of the password that we cannot read, the listing text the pub enters, a history of changes, log-in times, and short-lived records of failed log-in attempts so we can block guessing. This is held in a Cloudflare database, and an e-mail alert about each change is sent to us. We use this data to provide the service the pub has asked for.
When a pub signs in, the portal sets one cookie called __Host-pa_session. It is essential, because without it the portal cannot keep you logged in. It is not used for tracking, is readable only by our server, and expires after seven days or when you log out. Strictly necessary cookies like this do not need your consent.
The listings in the guide are built from published pub information such as names, addresses and public phone numbers. If you run a listed pub and want something corrected or removed, e-mail us.
Your rights
Under UK data protection law you can ask us to give you a copy of your personal data, correct it, delete it, restrict how we use it, or stop using it where we rely on legitimate interests, and you can ask for it in a portable format. To use any of these rights, e-mail info@thepintalley.co.uk. If you are not happy with how we handle your data, you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office at ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint.
Children
The Pint Alley is a guide to pubs and is meant for adults. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children.
Changes to this page
If we change how we handle data, for example by adding a new service, we will update this page and its date. If we ever add anything that sets non-essential cookies, we will ask for your consent first.