Privacy Policy

v3.1 Last updated 5 August 2026

1. Who We Are

My Local Small Business (MLSB) operates an online platform that enables small businesses to create and manage their online presence.

For personal information relating to your MLSB account — such as your name, email address, login activity and subscription details — MLSB is the data controller.

Each business mini-site is run by its own business owner. When you contact a business through its mini-site, request a booking or event ticket, or subscribe to a business's newsletter, that business is the data controller for the information you provide, and MLSB stores and processes it on that business's behalf. Our UK GDPR & Data Rights page explains what this means when you want to exercise your rights.

If you have any questions regarding this Privacy Policy, please contact us using the details provided at the end of this document.

2. Information We Collect

Depending on how you use MLSB, we may collect the following information.

Account Information

When you register an account we may collect:

Your name
Email address
Password (stored only as a secure encrypted hash)
Telephone number (if provided)

Business Information

To create your website we may collect:

Business name
Business description
Business address
Contact details
Website links
Social media links
Opening hours
Images, logos and other uploaded content

Much of this information is intended to be publicly displayed on your website.

Mini-Site Visitor Information

Businesses use MLSB to collect information from their own customers and visitors. Where you give information to a business through its mini-site, we hold it on that business's behalf. This may include:

Messages you send through a contact form
Booking requests and event ticket requests
Newsletter subscriptions — the name and email address you provide, together with the record of your consent: where the subscription came from, the date you confirmed it, and whether you are currently subscribed

You are never added to a business's newsletter without confirming it yourself. We email you a confirmation link first, and you join the list only when you click it — including when the business owner enters your address rather than you signing up on their mini-site. Ignoring that email means nothing further happens. Every newsletter we send on a business's behalf carries a one-click unsubscribe link.

Technical Information

To help protect MLSB and your account, we may collect:

IP address
Browser type and version
Operating system
Device information
Date and time of requests
Login history
Security and audit logs

These records help us detect fraud, investigate suspicious activity and maintain the security of our services.

Website Usage

We may collect anonymous information about how visitors use MLSB, including:

Pages viewed
Referring websites
Approximate location
Browser language
Performance statistics

Wherever possible this information is aggregated and does not identify individual users.

3. How We Use Your Information

We use your information to:

Provide the MLSB service.
Create and publish your business website.
Authenticate your account.
Provide customer support.
Improve our platform.
Monitor platform security.
Investigate abuse or fraud.
Communicate important service updates.
Deliver messages, booking confirmations and newsletters on behalf of a business to the people who have contacted it or subscribed to its list.
Comply with legal obligations.

We do not sell your personal information, and we do not use a business's own subscriber list for our own marketing or share it with other businesses on the platform.

4. AI Services

MLSB may provide AI-powered tools to assist with creating website content, text or images.

Where AI services are used:

Your prompts may be processed to generate responses.
AI-generated content should always be reviewed before publication.
You remain responsible for all content you publish.

We recommend that sensitive personal information is not included in AI prompts unless absolutely necessary.

5. Legal Basis for Processing

Under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), we process personal information using one or more of the following lawful bases:

Performance of a contract.
Legitimate interests.
Your consent.
Compliance with legal obligations.

6. Cookies

MLSB uses cookies to:

Keep you signed in.
Remember your preferences.
Improve website security.
Measure website performance.

Where non-essential cookies are used, you will be given the opportunity to accept or reject them.

You may also disable cookies through your browser settings, although some parts of MLSB may not function correctly. See our Cookie Policy for details.

7. Third-Party Services

We may use carefully selected third-party providers to deliver parts of our service, including:

Website hosting
Payment processing
Email delivery
Analytics
Artificial Intelligence services
Content delivery networks

These providers only receive the information necessary to perform their services on our behalf.

8. Data Security

We take reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect your personal information.

These measures include:

Encrypted passwords.
HTTPS encryption.
Secure authentication.
Server monitoring.
Activity logging.
Routine backups.

While no online service can guarantee absolute security, we continually work to safeguard your information.

9. Data Retention

We retain personal information only for as long as necessary to provide our services and comply with legal obligations.

If you close your account:

Your website will be removed from public view.
Your account information may be retained for a reasonable period to allow recovery or resolve disputes.
Historical backups may continue to contain copies until automatically replaced.

If you unsubscribe from a business's newsletter, we keep a record that you unsubscribed rather than deleting your details outright. That record is what prevents you being added back to the same list, and it is kept for no other purpose — you will not be sent any further newsletters from that business. You can ask for it to be erased (see UK GDPR & Data Rights), though it does mean that business could add your address again in future.

10. Your Rights

Under UK GDPR you have the right to:

Access your personal information.
Request correction of inaccurate information.
Request deletion of your information.
Restrict processing.
Object to certain processing.
Request a copy of your data where applicable.
Withdraw consent where consent is the legal basis.

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us using the details below. See our UK GDPR & Data Rights page for the full list of your rights.

11. External Websites

MLSB may contain links to third-party websites.

We are not responsible for the privacy practices or content of external websites. We recommend reading their privacy policies before providing personal information.

12. Children's Privacy

MLSB is intended for business use.

We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under the age of 13.

13. Changes to this Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time.

When significant changes are made, we will notify registered users through the website or by email where appropriate.

14. Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or how we process your personal information, please contact us:

Email: support@mlsb.uk

We are committed to handling your personal information responsibly, transparently and securely while helping small businesses establish a professional online presence.

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