Privacy Policy

Local Business Magazine (“we”, “us”, “our”) respects your privacy and is committed to protecting your personal data. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, store and share personal information when you visit www.localbusinessmagazine.co.uk (the “Website”).

This policy is written for a UK audience and reflects the principles of the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018.

Who we are

Website: www.localbusinessmagazine.co.uk

Data Controller: Local Business Magazine

What personal data we collect

Depending on how you use the Website, we may collect and process the following:

Contact information you provide (e.g., name, email address) when you submit a form, subscribe, or contact us.
Comment data (if comments are enabled), including the information you enter in the comment form, plus your IP address and browser user agent string to help spam detection.
Usage data such as pages viewed, time on site, referring pages, and general interactions (often collected via analytics tools).
Technical data like IP address, device type, browser version, operating system, and approximate location (city/region level).
Cookie data and similar technologies (see “Cookies” section below).

How we use your data

We use personal data to:

Operate and maintain the Website
Respond to messages and enquiries
Send newsletters or updates (only if you opt in)
Improve content, performance and user experience
Monitor and prevent fraud, abuse and spam
Measure traffic and engagement (analytics)

Lawful bases for processing

Under UK data protection law, we rely on one or more of these lawful bases:

Consent – e.g., when you opt in to newsletters or accept non-essential cookies.
Legitimate interests – e.g., improving the Website, keeping it secure, understanding general readership trends (balanced against your rights).
Contract – where processing is necessary to provide a service you request.
Legal obligation – where we must comply with a legal requirement.

Comments

If you leave a comment (where enabled), we may collect the data shown in the comments form, and also your IP address and browser user agent string to help with spam detection.

If you use a profile image service (such as Gravatar), an anonymised string created from your email address may be provided to that service to see if you are using it. After approval of your comment, your profile picture may be visible to the public in the context of your comment.

Media uploads

If you upload images to the Website (where enabled), avoid uploading images with embedded location data (EXIF GPS), as visitors may be able to download and extract location data from images.

Contact forms and emails

If you contact us via forms or email, we use the details you provide to reply and to manage the request. We do not use contact messages for marketing unless you explicitly opt in.

Cookies and similar technologies

Cookies are small text files stored on your device. We may use cookies to:

Make the Website work properly
Remember your preferences
Help protect against spam and abuse
Measure traffic and improve performance (analytics)

Cookie choices: Where required, we display a cookie banner so you can accept or reject non-essential cookies. You can also control cookies through your browser settings. Please note that disabling certain cookies may affect site functionality.

Analytics

We may use analytics services to understand how visitors use the Website (for example, pages visited and time on site). These tools typically use cookies and collect usage and technical data. We use this information to improve content and the overall user experience.

Embedded content from other websites

Articles on this Website may include embedded content (e.g., videos, social posts, maps). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if you visited that other website.

These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with embedded content.

Who we share your data with

We do not sell your personal data. We may share data with trusted service providers who help us run the Website, such as:

Website hosting and infrastructure providers
Email delivery/newsletter providers (if you subscribe)
Spam detection and security services
Analytics providers

We only share the data necessary for them to provide services, and we expect them to protect it appropriately.

How long we retain your data

Enquiries: kept for as long as needed to respond and for reasonable record-keeping.
Newsletter subscriptions: kept until you unsubscribe.
Comments: if enabled, comments and metadata may be retained to recognise and approve follow-up comments automatically.
Analytics: retained according to the settings of the analytics provider and our internal practices.

Your rights (UK GDPR)

You may have the right to:

Request access to the personal data we hold about you
Request correction of inaccurate data
Request deletion of your data (in certain circumstances)
Object to processing or request restriction (in certain circumstances)
Request data portability (in certain circumstances)
Withdraw consent at any time (where we rely on consent)

To exercise your rights, contact us.

International transfers

Some of our service providers may process data outside the UK. Where this happens, we take steps to ensure appropriate safeguards are in place (for example, using recognised contractual protections) to protect your information.

Security

We use reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect personal data. However, no method of transmission or storage is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

Children’s privacy

This Website is not intended for children, and we do not knowingly collect personal data from children.

Contact

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or how we handle your data, contact us.