Privacy Policy
EATMCR
Last updated: 09/09/26
1. Who we are
EATMCR is a food and drink media brand covering Manchester and the surrounding area. The website at [INSERT WEBSITE ADDRESS] and the EATMCR social channels are operated by EAT IT UP LTD, a company registered in England and Wales.
- Company number: 17303053
- Registered office: Unit 3.1 – 1.1(B) And 3, Stevenson Square, Manchester, England, M1 1DN
- Contact email for privacy matters: hello@eatmcr.co.uk]
In this policy, “we”, “us” and “our” mean EAT IT UP LTD. “You” means anyone who visits our website, subscribes to our newsletter, enters a competition, contacts us, works with us commercially or interacts with our content.
EAT IT UP LTD is the data controller for the personal information described in this policy. That means we decide why and how your information is used, and we are responsible for looking after it.
2. What this policy covers
This policy explains what personal information we collect, why we collect it, who we share it with, how long we keep it and what rights you have. It applies to our website, our newsletters, our competitions and giveaways, our events, and our commercial and editorial dealings with businesses, PR agencies and contributors.
It does not cover other websites we link to. Those sites have their own privacy policies and we are not responsible for them.
3. Information we collect
3.1 Information you give us
Depending on how you interact with us, this may include:
- Newsletter subscribers: your email address, your first name if you provide it, and your subscription preferences.
- Enquiries and contact forms: your name, email address, phone number if you provide it, the business you represent, and anything else you choose to include in your message.
- Advertising, partnership and press enquiries: your name, job title, business contact details, company name and the content of our correspondence.
- Competitions, giveaways and reader events: your name, contact details, entry details, dietary requirements where relevant, and any information needed to verify eligibility or deliver a prize.
- Ticketed events, if we run them: booking details, attendee names and payment confirmation. Card payments are handled by our payment or ticketing provider, and we do not store full card details ourselves.
- Content you send us: photographs, videos, reviews, tips, restaurant recommendations and anything else you submit for possible publication, along with the name or social handle you would like credited.
- Job, freelance and work experience applications: your CV, cover letter, portfolio, work history and contact details.
3.2 Information we collect automatically
When you visit our website we may collect:
- your IP address, in some cases shortened or masked
- device type, operating system and browser
- the pages you view, how long you spend on them and how you move through the site
- the website or link that brought you to us
- approximate location derived from your IP address, usually no more precise than town or city
- cookie identifiers and similar identifiers
Most of this is collected through cookies and similar technologies. See section 5.
3.3 Information from other sources
We may receive information about you from:
- Social media platforms, where you follow us, tag us, comment, send a direct message or interact with our posts. What we can see is governed by that platform’s own settings and privacy policy.
- Advertising and analytics providers, in aggregated or pseudonymised form, telling us how campaigns performed.
- Commercial partners, PR agencies and venues, who may pass on your business contact details when proposing coverage, an event invitation or a collaboration.
- Publicly available sources, such as a restaurant’s own website or public business listings, when we research a story.
4. How we use your information and our lawful bases
Under UK data protection law we must have a lawful basis for using your personal information. Ours are set out below.
| What we use it for | Lawful basis |
|---|---|
| Sending our newsletter and marketing emails | Your consent, which you can withdraw at any time |
| Replying to your enquiry or message | Legitimate interests, so that we can respond to people who contact us |
| Running competitions, giveaways and events | Performance of a contract with you, and our legitimate interest in promoting the brand |
| Operating, securing and improving the website | Legitimate interests, in running a safe and functional website |
| Website analytics and audience measurement | Your consent, given through our cookie banner |
| Advertising, sponsorship and audience targeting | Your consent, given through our cookie banner |
| Publishing editorial content, including reader submissions and photography | Legitimate interests, and the special purposes exemption for journalism where it applies |
| Managing relationships with venues, brands, PR agencies and freelancers | Legitimate interests, or performance of a contract |
| Considering job and freelance applications | Taking steps at your request before entering a contract |
| Accounting, tax and legal record keeping | Legal obligation |
| Establishing, exercising or defending legal claims | Legitimate interests |
Where we rely on legitimate interests, we have considered whether our interests are outweighed by your rights and freedoms. You can ask us for more detail on that assessment using the contact details in section 14.
A note on journalism
Some of what we publish is journalism. UK data protection law contains an exemption for processing carried out for journalistic purposes where compliance with certain provisions would be incompatible with those purposes and publication is in the public interest. We rely on that exemption only where it genuinely applies, and we take editorial decisions on a case by case basis.
5. Cookies and similar technologies
Cookies are small files placed on your device. We use them to make the site work, to understand how it is used and, where you allow it, to measure and target advertising.
We use the following broad categories:
- Strictly necessary cookies. Needed for the site to function, for example remembering your cookie choices or keeping a form session alive. These do not require your consent.
- Analytics cookies. Help us understand which content people read and how they found us. We currently use GA4.
- Advertising and social cookies. Set by advertising networks and social platforms to measure campaign performance and show relevant ads. We currently use Meta Pixel.
- Functional cookies. Support embedded content such as Instagram posts, YouTube videos, maps and booking widgets.
You can also block or delete cookies through your browser settings, although parts of the site may then stop working properly.
6. Marketing and newsletters
We only send marketing emails where you have signed up, or where you are a business contact and the law allows us to contact you about services relevant to your role.
Every marketing email includes an unsubscribe link. You can also email us at hello@eatmcr.com and ask to be removed. We act on requests promptly and keep a minimal suppression record so that we do not accidentally add you back.
We may use standard measurement tools in our emails that tell us whether a message was opened and which links were clicked. This helps us judge what our readers find useful.
7. Who we share your information with
We do not sell your personal information. We share it only in these situations:
- Service providers acting on our instructions, including our website host, email newsletter platform, analytics provider, ticketing or booking provider, payment processor, cloud storage and customer support tools. These providers act as processors and are bound by contract to protect your data.
- Advertising and social media platforms, where you have consented to advertising cookies, usually in pseudonymised form.
- Competition partners, where a venue or brand is providing the prize and needs your details to fulfil it. We will make this clear in the competition terms.
- Professional advisers, such as accountants, insurers and lawyers, where reasonably needed.
- Authorities and regulators, where we are legally required to disclose information or need to protect our rights.
- A buyer or successor, if the business or its assets are sold or restructured.
Where we work with brands on sponsored content, we share performance statistics rather than information that identifies individual readers, unless you have specifically agreed otherwise.
8. Where your information is stored
We are based in the United Kingdom, but some of our suppliers store or access data outside the UK, often in the United States or the European Economic Area.
Where personal information leaves the UK, we make sure an appropriate safeguard is in place, such as UK adequacy regulations covering the destination country, or the International Data Transfer Agreement or the UK Addendum to the European Commission’s standard contractual clauses. You can ask us for details of the safeguard used for a particular transfer.
9. How long we keep your information
We keep personal information only as long as we need it.
| Type of information | Typical retention period |
|---|---|
| Newsletter subscription data | Until you unsubscribe, plus a minimal suppression record afterwards |
| Enquiries and correspondence | Up to 24 months after our last contact, unless a longer period is needed |
| Competition entries | Up to 6 months after the competition closes, and longer for winners where needed for records |
| Event bookings and ticketing | Up to 12 months after the event, and longer where needed for accounting |
| Financial and tax records | 6 years after the end of the relevant financial year |
| Unsuccessful job applications | Up to 6 months, unless you agree to us keeping them longer |
| Website analytics data | As set by our analytics provider, typically up to 14 months |
| Published editorial content and archives | Retained indefinitely as part of our archive, in the public interest |
Where a story has been published, we generally keep the archive intact. That is part of maintaining an accurate public record, and it is one area where our journalistic purposes may limit the effect of a deletion request.
10. How we protect your information
We use reasonable technical and organisational measures to keep your information safe. These include encrypted connections to our website, access controls and password policies, restricted access on a need to know basis, and suppliers chosen partly on their security standards.
No system is completely secure. If a breach occurs that is likely to result in a risk to your rights, we will notify the Information Commissioner’s Office and, where required, you.
11. Your rights
Under UK data protection law you have the right to:
- Be informed about how we use your data, which is the purpose of this policy
- Access a copy of the personal information we hold about you
- Rectification of information that is inaccurate or incomplete
- Erasure of your information in certain circumstances
- Restrict processing in certain circumstances
- Object to processing based on legitimate interests, and to object at any time to direct marketing
- Data portability, receiving certain information in a portable format
- Withdraw consent at any time, where we rely on consent
- Not be subject to automated decision making that has a legal or similarly significant effect. We do not carry out that kind of automated decision making.
To exercise any of these rights, email anna@eatmcr.com. We will respond within one month. That period can be extended by two further months for complex requests, and we will tell you if that happens. We may ask you to confirm your identity first.
There is no charge for making a request unless it is manifestly unfounded or excessive.
Some of these rights are limited where we are processing information for journalism. We will explain if that applies to your request.
12. Complaints
If you are unhappy with how we have handled your personal information, please contact us first at hello@eatmcr.com so we can try to put it right.
You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office, the UK supervisory authority for data protection:
- Website: https://ico.org.uk
- Helpline: 0303 123 1113
- Address: Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF
13. Other things you should know
Social media and tagging. If you tag us, mention us or use one of our hashtags, we may repost or feature your content with credit. If you would rather we did not, message us and we will remove it.
Photography at events. If we run or attend an event, photographs and video may be taken and used in our editorial and promotional content. We will make this clear at the event where practical. Contact us if you would like an image of you removed.
Children. Our website and newsletter are aimed at adults and are not directed at children. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 13. If you believe a child has given us their information, contact us and we will delete it.
Links to other sites. Our content contains links to restaurants, bars, ticketing sites and affiliate partners. Once you follow a link, this policy no longer applies. Check the privacy policy of the site you land on.
Affiliate links. Where we use affiliate or tracking links, the destination site may set its own cookies to record that you arrived from us. We disclose affiliate relationships in the relevant content.
14. Changes to this policy
We may update this policy from time to time to reflect changes to our services, our suppliers or the law. The date at the top shows when it was last revised. If we make a significant change, we will highlight it on the website and, where appropriate, tell newsletter subscribers directly.
15. Contact us
EAT IT UP LTD Unit 3.1 – 1.1(B) And 3, Stevenson Square, Manchester, England, M1 1DN Email: hello@eatmcr.com Company number: 17303053 Registered in England and Wales
This document has been prepared as a working draft for EAT IT UP LTD. It is not legal advice. Before publishing, have it checked against how the website and newsletter actually operate, and consider a review by a solicitor experienced in UK data protection and media law.
