What we keep, and why

We collect as little as we can, only to run the shop and its events.

Things you tell us

Orders — your name, pickup or delivery choice, and (for delivery or online payment) your address, phone and email, so we can fulfil the order. Card payments are handled by our payment provider; we never see your card details.

Event bookings — your name, phone and optional email, used only to manage that event.

Messages, book suggestions and reading lists you send in — the details you type, so we can reply. Reading lists are published only if you tick the box allowing it, with the name you choose.

Things that stay on your device

Your cart, “My shelf” and the trail of books you've looked at are stored in your own browser. They are not sent to us unless you place an order or send us a list. Clearing your browser data removes them.

Visit counts

To learn which books and lists people find useful, the site records anonymous events such as “a book page was viewed” or “a search for poetry found nothing”. We use no cookies for this, and we do not store your IP address, device details or anything that identifies you; a random number held only for the length of your visit lets us count visits rather than page loads. If your browser sends “Do Not Track” or “Global Privacy Control”, nothing is recorded at all. Words typed into search are kept for 90 days and discarded straight away if they look like an email address or phone number; staff only ever see searches several different visitors have made. All of these records are deleted after 180 days.

Questions

To see, correct or delete information you've given us, contact us using the details on the Visit page.