Privacy

This notice explains what data kidseatfree.co.uk collects when you use the site, why, and what we do with it. It’s written to be readable; if any of it’s unclear, please get in touch via the contact page.

Last updated: 2026-08-18.

Who runs the site

kidseatfree.co.uk is an independent editorial directory. We are the data controller for any personal data processed through this site under UK GDPR.

What we collect

Location

When you tap the “Feed the kids now” button, your browser may ask your permission to share your latitude and longitude with the site. If you say yes, that location is sent to our results API to find venues near you. It is not stored.The query runs, the results come back, and the coordinates are discarded with the request.

If you decline geolocation, or your device doesn’t support it, we ask you for a postcode instead. That postcode is sent to the public Postcodes.io service to translate it into a latitude and longitude. We don’t log the postcode you enter.

Server logs

Like every website, the servers that host us (Vercel for the app, Neon for the database) keep short-lived operational logs — request paths, response codes, IP addresses — for diagnostics and abuse prevention. These logs are retained for at most a few weeks by the hosting providers, then deleted. We don’t mine them for personal data.

Cookies

Essential operational cookies come from the hosting providers (typically a load-balancer session cookie); these don’t identify you and are wiped when you close the browser. If — and only if — you agree to analytics, Google Analytics also sets its own first-party cookies (named _gaand _ga_<id>) to tell one visit apart from the next. Decline, or simply ignore the bar, and neither is ever set. See Analytics below. We don’t run any third-party advertising or social-sharing trackers, and we don’t sell or share data for marketing.

Analytics

We use Google Analytics 4 to understand how the site is used — which pages people land on, which towns they look for, and whether the thing they came for was easy to find. It records page views and a small number of interactions (using the search box, tapping a venue, asking for directions, opening a booking link). We use this to decide what to build and fix; we don’t use it to build a profile of you, and we don’t run ads.

Google Analytics collects your approximate location (derived from your IP address, which Google truncates), your device type and browser, and the pages you view on this site. Google is a separate data controller for this processing. Analytics data is retained for 14 months and then deleted.

Google Signals is enabled (since 18 August 2026). If you are signed in to a Google account and have turned on Ads Personalisation, Google may associate your visit here with that account, which lets us see aggregated age and gender bands for our audience as a whole. We never see an individual’s identity, and these reports are only shown to us once a group is large enough to be anonymous.

You choose, and nothing is set until you do. The first time you visit we ask, in a bar at the bottom of the page, and Analytics stays switched off until you say yes — no cookies, and nothing sent to Google about you. Saying no is one tap, exactly like saying yes, and the site works identically either way. We remember your answer in your browser’s own storage rather than a cookie, so you are only asked once per device; clear this site’s data in your browser settings and we will ask again.

How to opt out afterwards. You can control or delete this data yourself at Google Activity Controls and My Activity. You can block Analytics entirely with Google’s opt-out browser add-on, by blocking cookies for this site in your browser settings, or by using a browser that blocks trackers by default. Blocking it changes nothing about how the site works for you.

What we don’t collect

• No name, email, phone number, or account.
• No payment details — we never take payments. Bookings happen on the chain’s own site.
• No browsing history from other websites. Google Analytics records the pages you view on this site (including which venue pages you open), but nothing about where else you go online.
• No advertising identifiers of our own, and we run no ads. Google Signals may associate your visit with your own Google account — see Analytics above.

Who we share data with

We do not sell, rent, or share your data for marketing. The third-party services we use to run the site are:

• Vercel — hosts the website. Sees standard request metadata (IP, URL, response).
• Neon — hosts the database. Sees the venue query (latitude, longitude, radius) but nothing that identifies you.
• Cloudinary — hosts the photographs you see on each card.
• Postcodes.io — public postcode-to-coordinates service, used only if you enter a postcode.
• Google Analytics — receives your page views, approximate location, device and browser, as described under Analytics above.
• Google Maps — if you tap “Directions”, your browser opens Google Maps. That hand-off is governed by Google’s own privacy policy.
• The venue’s booking provider — if you tap “Book a table”, your browser opens the chain’s booking page. That hand-off is governed by their privacy policy.

Where data is processed

Our hosting and database run in the UK and EU regions. Some sub-processors (e.g. Cloudinary, Google Maps) operate globally. Where personal data leaves the UK, it’s covered by the standard transfer mechanisms in those providers’ terms.

Your rights under UK GDPR

We hold no account, name or contact details for you, so for most data-subject rights — access, rectification, erasure, portability — there is nothing on our side to act on. The exception is analytics: Google Analytics processes your approximate location, device and page views, and you can inspect or delete that yourself through the Google links under Analytics above, because Google holds it against your account rather than ours. If you believe we hold data about you, email us via the contact page and we’ll respond within 30 days.

You can also complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) at ico.org.ukif you’re unhappy with how we handle your data.

Children

The site is aimed at parents and carers; it’s safe for children to browse but not directed at them. We don’t ask anyone for personal details, and we don’t knowingly collect data from children: analytics measures visits to pages, not who is holding the phone.

Changes

If we change anything material, we’ll update the “last updated” date at the top of this page. Past versions live in our public version control if you need to compare.

This page is provided as a clear summary of how the site works. For complex questions about your rights under UK data protection law, please consult a qualified legal adviser.