Sevenoaks Online is published by the GOB Media Group. This page sets out what we hold, why we hold it, and how to get it removed. If anything here is unclear, email hello@sevenoaksonline.co.uk and ask.
Last updated 2 October 2026.
Reading the site
You can read every page here without telling us anything. There is no sign-in, no reader profile and no account. We only ask for a name if you choose to comment on a story, review a business in the directory or send the newsdesk a tip, and what happens to it then is set out below.
Counting page views
On 3 September 2026 we added Google Analytics to the site, so this page changed with it. Until that date the site set no cookies at all, and this section said so.
Analytics tells us which stories are being read, roughly where in the country a reader is, and whether they are on a phone or a computer. It tells us that a page was read, not who read it. We do not use it to advertise to you, we do not join it to anything else we hold, and there is nothing in it that names you or that we could work back to you.
To do that it sets two cookies on this domain, _ga and _ga_YFRDVR159S. Both hold
a random number, so that four pages read in one visit are counted as one reader
rather than four. The tag is set to anonymise IP addresses, so your full IP address
is not stored alongside the measurement.
If you would rather not be counted, any one of these works and the site behaves exactly the same either way: block cookies for this site in your browser settings, read it in a private window, or install Google’s opt-out add-on.
Who else sees a page load
Three other companies see something when a page loads, because the page uses their service:
- Cloudflare hosts the site and serves every page, so it handles your request and keeps the standard server logs any host keeps for security and reliability. It also runs the service that takes comments, reviews and tips (see Comments, reviews and tips).
- Google Fonts supplies the typefaces. They are fetched from Google’s servers, so Google receives your IP address and basic browser details when a page loads.
- OpenStreetMap supplies the map on a business directory profile. That map loads only if you scroll down to it, and when it does, OpenStreetMap receives your IP address.
The share buttons on a story are ordinary links, not embedded widgets. WhatsApp, Facebook, X and Bluesky learn nothing until you actually click one.
The weekly email
If you sign up, we take your email address and nothing else. It is stored with Resend, the service that sends the email for us, and it is used for one thing: sending you the Sevenoaks Online weekly email. We do not sell it, rent it or pass it to anyone else.
The email is running. It goes out on a Tuesday morning and covers the seven days behind it, a quiet week makes a shorter email rather than a padded one, and a week with no stories at all means no email. Every issue is archived in full on the newsletter page, so you can read one before you decide.
Every issue carries a one-click unsubscribe link. You can also email hello@sevenoaksonline.co.uk at any time and we will take you off the list.
Comments, reviews and tips
The comment box under a story, the review form on a directory listing and the Got a story? form all send what you type to a small comments service we run on Cloudflare. Here is what each one takes:
| Form | What you give us | What is published |
|---|---|---|
| Comment on a story | Your name, your email address, your comment | Your name, the date and your comment |
| Review of a business | Your name (optional), a star rating, your review | Your name, the date, the rating and your review |
| Tip to the newsdesk | What is happening, roughly where, your name, your email address | Nothing as sent: a tip is a lead, and any story is written and checked by us |
Your email address is never published. On a comment or a tip we use it to tell you when your comment is live or to come back to you about the tip, and for nothing else unless you tick the weekly email box, which adds you to the list described above.
With each form the service also records the IP address it came from, the type of browser and the time. We use those only to stop spam and repeat posting (an address can send five a minute, five an hour and forty a day). Everything waits in a queue until it has been read, usually within the hour, and is then deleted from the queue, whether it was published or not. Anything left unread is deleted automatically after 30 days. A comment or review we turn down gets no reply.
What we do keep is a one-line record of each submission in our moderation log: the name given (and the email address, for a tip), the IP address, the story or listing it was about and whether it was published. That is how we spot one person posting under several names. A tip we decide to follow up is also kept as a lead while we report it.
The thumbs up and thumbs down on a published comment store only a count. To stop one person voting over and over, the IP address behind a vote is held for a day and then deleted on its own.
If you want a published comment or review taken down, email hello@sevenoaksonline.co.uk with the page it is on and we will remove it.
Booking an advert
The book an ad form is not stored by the site at all. It is emailed straight to the newsroom inbox, through Resend, with your address set as the reply-to so we can answer you, and we keep it as we keep any other email.
Emails you send us
Tips, corrections and responses to a story arrive in the newsroom inbox. We keep them so we can reply and follow the story up. If we publish a selection of responses to a story we will not publish your email address, and if you would rather not be quoted at all, say so and we will not quote you.
Your rights
Under UK data protection law you can ask us what we hold about you, ask us to correct it, or ask us to delete it. Email hello@sevenoaksonline.co.uk and we will deal with it. If you are not happy with how we have handled a request, you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office at ico.org.uk.
Changes
If this notice changes in a way that matters, the date at the top changes with it.