Privacy
Three forms, three reasons, and nothing kept that we do not need.
Plain English, and no longer than it needs to be.
Who is responsible
The organisers of The Mercantile are the data controller for everything described here. Questions, and any request under clause 6, should go to hello@the-mercantile.co.uk.
The Roll
If you put your name to The Roll we hold your first name, your email address, the date you gave consent, and which page you entered from. We use them to send merchant announcements, admission notices, the house when it is announced, and first notice of later editions.
Our lawful basis is your consent, which you give by ticking the box and can withdraw at any time. You can unsubscribe from any email, and leaving is immediate.
Entering the same address twice updates the entry you already have rather than creating a second one.
An invitation to trade
If you introduce a business we hold the particulars you send: your name, the business name, email address, telephone number if you give one, your website or Instagram, product category, your account of the business, whether you are in Warwickshire or beyond, and any power or counter requirements.
We use them only to consider the introduction and to reply to it. Our lawful basis is our legitimate interest in assembling the list of merchants, and your consent to us holding the particulars while we do.
Admission
When you buy an admission we hold the number of admissions, the rate applied, the amount charged, the payment reference, and the name and email address Stripe passes back to us with the payment. We need them to sell you an admission and to honour it on the night. Our lawful basis is performance of that contract.
We never see your card details. Payment is handled entirely by Stripe, who are the controller of your payment information and hold it under their own privacy policy.
Who else sees it
Only the people organising No. I, and the services that run this site: our hosting provider, our database provider, and Stripe for payment. Nothing is sold, rented or shared for anyone else’s marketing.
We count visits, and that is all we count. Our hosting provider tells us how many people came, which pages they read, which site sent them, and roughly which country and kind of device they used. It is a tally, not a profile: there is no advertising tracker on this site, nothing follows you to any other site, and nothing is stored on your device — no cookie, no identifier, nothing to switch off. That is why the site has never asked you to accept anything, and it still does not.
Our WhatsApp group is a separate matter. Guests & Friends is hosted by WhatsApp, not by us, and it is open — anyone with the link may join, whether or not they are coming. We do not add anybody to it; you join it yourself.
If you join, WhatsApp holds your membership and your telephone number under its own privacy policy, and the other members of the group will see your telephone number and the name on your account. That is how WhatsApp groups work, and it is not something we can switch off. Leaving is done in WhatsApp and takes effect at once.
It is joined to nothing else here. Being in the group does not put you on The Roll, does not admit you to the evening, and tells us nothing about you that this site would otherwise hold. Nothing you write in the group reaches this site, and nothing this site holds is passed into it.
How long, and how to have it removed
Ledger entries are kept until you withdraw. Merchant introductions are kept for two years from the last edition they were considered for. Admission records are kept for six years after the occasion, which is what tax law requires of us.
You can ask to see what we hold about you, to have it corrected, to have it deleted, to restrict or object to how it is used, or to be sent a copy. Ask, and we will do it within one month at no charge.
If we get it wrong
Tell us first and we will try to put it right. You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office at ico.org.uk.