Cookie policy

Last updated 28 July 2026.

The short version

This site sets nothing on your device until you tell it to. No analytics, no tracking, no third-party embeds load on arrival. If you press reject, or simply close the banner, nothing is stored except the record of that decision, and the site works exactly the same.

What the law requires

Regulation 6 of the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003 says a person must not store information, or gain access to information stored, on your device unless an exception applies or you have consented. Schedule A1 to those Regulations contains the exceptions, including one for collecting statistical information about how a service is used.

We could have tried to rely on that statistical exception to run analytics without asking you. We decided we cannot. The exception requires the information to be aggregate and incapable of identifying anyone, and requires the provider to use it only to improve our service. Google Analytics assigns a persistent identifier to your browser and Google processes the data for its own purposes as well as ours. Neither condition is met, so we ask instead.

Cookies we set if you accept analytics

These appear only after you press accept. Until then no request is even made to Google.

Name	Provider	Purpose	Duration
_ga	Google Analytics	Distinguishes one browser from another so repeat visits are not counted as new people	2 years
_ga_0938XD6CJS	Google Analytics	Keeps the state of your current visit	2 years

Both are set by Google, not by us. Their stated durations are Google's defaults. If you later reject analytics, we delete both from your device as part of recording that decision.

We do not use Google Analytics for advertising. Advertising, ad personalisation and ad user data stay switched off whatever you choose.

What we store whatever you choose

Name	Provider	Purpose	Duration
eh_consent_v1	This site	Remembers whether you accepted or rejected, so you are not asked on every page. It holds only that word and the date	12 months

This is browser storage on your own device rather than a cookie, so it is never sent to our server. Storing a refusal is what gives effect to the refusal, which is why it does not itself need consent.

Maps on our area pages

Our area pages can show a Google map. Loading it contacts Google and lets Google store information on your device, so we do not load it. In its place you get a button that says what it will do. Press it and the map loads for that page view. Ignore it and Google is never contacted.

The cookies Google sets through a loaded map are Google's, set under Google's own terms, and we have no control over their names or durations.

What we do not do

• No advertising or retargeting pixels. There is no Meta pixel, no LinkedIn insight tag, no Google Ads remarketing tag on this site
• No fingerprinting, no session recording, no heatmaps
• No cookie wall. Rejecting gives you the whole site, unchanged
• No pre-ticked boxes, and no reading of a closed banner as acceptance

Changing your mind

Use the Cookie settings link in the footer of any page. It reopens the banner and your new choice replaces the old one immediately. Choosing reject also removes the analytics cookies already on your device.

We ask again after 12 months in any case, and sooner if we change this policy in a way that affects what is stored.

You can also block or delete cookies in your browser settings. That works whatever we do, and it will not break this site.

Questions

Email [email protected] or call 020 3837 0778. How we handle personal data more generally is set out in the privacy policy. If you think we have got this wrong you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint.