Legal
Privacy Policy
This policy explains what personal data Big Happy (“we”, “us”) collects when you use this website, why we collect it, and what you can do about it. It is written to be read, not to be skimmed past. If anything here is unclear, email us and we will explain it in plain language.
1. Who we are
Big Happy operates a directory of pet-friendly places at bighappy.com. For the purposes of the EU and UK General Data Protection Regulation, we act as the data controller for personal data described in this policy. Our contact address for all privacy matters is hello@bighappy.com.
2. What we collect
| Category | Details | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Server and device data | IP address, browser and operating system type, referring page, pages requested, timestamps. Held in standard web server and CDN logs. | Automatically, on request |
| Cookie identifiers | A random identifier stored in your browser to remember your cookie choice and, if you consent, to distinguish repeat visits for measurement. | Your browser, with consent where required |
| Newsletter data | Your email address, the date you subscribed, and delivery and engagement statistics provided by our email service. | You, when you subscribe |
| Correspondence | Your name, email address and the content of any message you send us — through the contact form or by email — including listing corrections and submissions. | You |
| Preference data | Local browser storage recording your cookie choice. This stays in your browser and is not transmitted to us. | Your browser |
We do not knowingly collect: government identifiers, financial account details, precise geolocation, biometric data, health data, or information about your race, religion, sexual orientation or trade union membership. We do not ask for and do not want special category data. Payment details are never handled by this website.
If you use the contact form
The contact form on this site is delivered by Formspree, Inc. (formspree.io), a form-handling service that receives the submission from your browser, stores it in our account and emails it to us. What reaches us is what you typed — your name, your email address, the topic you chose, the listing you named and your message — together with the technical details recorded for each submission, such as the time it arrived, the IP address it came from and the page it was sent from. We use that to answer you and, where relevant, to verify and correct a listing.
Two things worth being explicit about:
- The form is optional. Writing to hello@bighappy.com reaches the same inbox.
- Nothing loads from Formspree until you press send. Simply reading this site sends them no data at all — there is no tracking script or widget embedded on the page. A hidden honeypot field is used to filter automated spam; if it is filled in, the submission is discarded.
Please do not send special category data or anything you would not want to see in an email, and do not include information about anyone else without their permission. Formspree handles the submission under its own privacy policy as well as this one, and operates the servers on our instructions.
3. Why we use it and our legal bases
| Purpose | Legal basis (GDPR Art. 6) |
|---|---|
| Serving the website, keeping it available and secure, and preventing abuse such as scraping or denial-of-service traffic | Legitimate interests (Art. 6(1)(f)) — operating a functional, safe public website |
| Remembering your cookie and notice preferences | Strictly necessary / legitimate interests |
| Measuring aggregate traffic so we know which guides are useful | Consent (Art. 6(1)(a)), where required; otherwise legitimate interests in aggregate measurement |
| Sending the newsletter you asked for, and confirming your subscription | Consent (Art. 6(1)(a)), withdrawable at any time |
| Answering your messages, verifying and correcting listings | Legitimate interests and, where applicable, performance of a contract |
| Complying with legal obligations and responding to lawful requests | Legal obligation (Art. 6(1)(c)) |
We do not use your personal data for automated decision-making that produces legal or similarly significant effects, and we do not build advertising profiles of you. We do not sell personal data, and we do not share it for cross-context behavioural advertising. Because we do not sell or share personal data as those terms are defined by the California Consumer Privacy Act, no “Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information” opt-out is required; we nonetheless honour Global Privacy Control signals as an opt-out of non-essential measurement.
4. Cookies and similar technologies
We use a small number of cookies and browser storage entries. Full detail, including the specific names and lifetimes, is in the Cookie Policy. In summary:
- Strictly necessary — remembering your cookie choice. This cannot be switched off without breaking the site.
- Measurement (optional) — aggregate page-view counting. Loaded only after you choose “Accept all”. If you choose “Essential only”, they are never loaded.
5. Who we share it with
We share personal data only with service providers who process it on our instructions, under contract, and only to the extent needed:
- Hosting and content delivery — to serve the site and hold server logs.
- Form delivery — Formspree, Inc. receives contact-form submissions on our instructions, stores them and relays them to our inbox. We use no other form service.
- Email delivery — to send the newsletter and manage subscriptions.
- Analytics — aggregate, cookie-based measurement, only if you consented.
- Professional advisers and authorities — where we are legally required to disclose, or need to establish or defend legal claims.
We do not share personal data with venues listed in the directory, and a venue cannot obtain information about who viewed its listing. If we are ever acquired or merged, personal data may transfer as part of that transaction; we will notify you before your data becomes subject to a different policy.
6. International transfers
We may process data in countries outside your own, including the United States. Where personal data of individuals in the European Economic Area or the United Kingdom is transferred to a country without an adequacy decision, we rely on appropriate safeguards — the European Commission Standard Contractual Clauses, the UK International Data Transfer Addendum where relevant, and a transfer risk assessment. Our form service, Formspree, Inc., is based in the United States, so using the contact form transfers the message you send to servers there; the same safeguards apply to it.
7. How long we keep it
| Data | Retention |
|---|---|
| Server and CDN logs | Up to 30 days, then deleted or aggregated |
| Cookie identifiers | Up to 12 months from your last visit, then expire |
| Newsletter subscription | Until you unsubscribe, plus 30 days to process the request, then deleted |
| Correspondence about listings | Up to 24 months, so we can trace the history of a correction |
| Contact-form submissions | Up to 24 months with the correspondence above; the copy held in our Formspree account is cleared periodically rather than kept indefinitely |
| Local browser storage | Until you clear it in your browser |
8. Your rights
Depending on where you live, you may have the right to:
- Access the personal data we hold about you, and receive a copy.
- Correct data that is inaccurate or incomplete.
- Delete data we no longer need a lawful basis to keep.
- Restrict or object to processing based on legitimate interests.
- Port data you provided to us, in a machine-readable format.
- Withdraw consent at any time, without affecting processing already carried out.
- Complain to your local supervisory authority. In the UK, that is the Information Commissioner's Office; in the EU, your national authority.
To exercise any of these, email hello@bighappy.com with the subject line “Data request”. We will respond within 30 days, and we will not charge a fee unless a request is manifestly unfounded or repetitive. We may ask you to verify your identity — usually by confirming control of the email address concerned — but we will ask for no more than is necessary.
California residents additionally have the right to know the categories and specific pieces of personal information collected, the categories of sources, the business purposes, and the categories of third parties with whom it is shared, and the right not to be discriminated against for exercising privacy rights. We do not offer financial incentives in exchange for personal information.
9. Children
This site is intended for adults. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children under 13 (or under 16 where local law sets that threshold), and we do not direct the newsletter or any account feature at them. If you believe a child has provided us with personal data, email us and we will delete it promptly.
10. Security
The site is served over HTTPS. Access to server logs and mailing lists is restricted, and administrative access requires authentication. No system is perfectly secure; if we become aware of a breach affecting your rights, we will notify you and any relevant authority as required by law.
11. Changes to this policy
When we change this policy we will update the date at the top of the page. If the change is material — for example, a new category of data or a new purpose — we will say so explicitly at the top of the page for at least 30 days, and, where we rely on consent, ask for it again.
Contact
Questions, requests and complaints: hello@bighappy.com. See also the contact page.