Privacy

Privacy and photo-use policy

Pubs with Playgrounds

Policy version: PWP-PRIVACY-2026-09-23

Who is responsible for your information

Pubs with Playgrounds is operated by Alastair Duncan. I am the data controller, which means I am responsible for how your personal information is used. You can contact me at hello@pubswithplaygrounds.com about your information, a photograph or this policy.

This policy explains how the service uses information and sets out the licence for photos you choose to upload. Accepting it does not mean consenting to every use of personal information. The lawful bases and your rights are explained below.

Your photos: ownership and permission to use them

You keep ownership of your photos. When you upload a photo after accepting this version of the policy, you grant me, as the operator of Pubs with Playgrounds, a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free licence to store, copy and display it in the app and on the Pubs with Playgrounds website, and to use it in the app’s own unpaid Instagram and Facebook posts promoting the app and its listed venues.

Non-exclusive means you can continue using the photo yourself and allow others to use it. Worldwide means that these online services and posts can be viewed around the world. Royalty-free means no payment is due for the permitted uses.

For these purposes, I may crop, resize and format the photo, add captions and app branding, and combine it with other images. Hosting and publishing providers may process it, and the publishing platforms receive the permissions their terms require to host and display the post. I will not sell your photo, use it misleadingly or license it for unrelated third-party advertising. Paid advertising and a sponsor’s independent use are outside this licence.

You must own the copyright or have the rights holder’s authority to grant these permissions. Do not upload a photo copied from another website or social account unless you have that authority. If a photo requires a particular credit or has other restrictions, contact me before uploading so these can be agreed. Credit is not guaranteed unless agreed.

These uses are part of the photo-upload terms, rather than a separate optional social-media permission. If you do not agree, do not upload photos. You can still browse and use the other available features.

The licence continues while the photo is used as a contribution to the service or in a permitted social post. Closing your account does not automatically remove those contributions or posts. You can contact me to request removal or report a rights concern. I will consider the request and remove material where required by law. This licence does not limit your statutory privacy, copyright or other rights. Copies independently shared by others may remain outside my control.

These terms do not retrospectively give me new rights over earlier uploads. An older photo can be used for promotion only where the earlier terms or a separate agreement cover that use, or the rights holder subsequently agrees.

What to upload and how content is reviewed

Please upload relevant photos of venues and play facilities. Avoid identifiable people, particularly children, and do not include private documents or other sensitive information. Where someone is identifiable, you must have appropriate permission to share their image; uploading a photo does not by itself establish permission to use everyone pictured in promotion. Social selections should show the venue and facilities without identifying people.

Do not upload unlawful, abusive, misleading or inappropriate material. Photos can contain embedded information, including location metadata; do not include information you do not want shared.

Contributions may be checked using automated tools, AI-assisted review and human review. I may hide or remove material because of safety, accuracy or rights concerns. Review copies and moderation records may be kept to investigate reports and explain decisions. Contact me if you want a decision reviewed.

Information the service uses

Account information includes your email address, account identifier, display name, sign-in provider and account activity timestamps. You can sign in using email and password, Google or Apple.

Contributions include photos, menus, reviews, venue submissions and corrections. Records can link a contribution to your account for management, moderation and rights enquiries. Published contributions are visible to other people, and reviews may show your display name.

Favourites can be stored on your device when you are a guest and synchronised with your account when signed in. If you allow location access, your location is used for nearby and current-position features. The app can remember your map position on your device. You can change location permission in your device settings.

Technical information includes app and device details, service requests, IP addresses, security identifiers, crash information and usage events such as viewed venues, favourites activity and link clicks.

When you contact me or report a listing, I receive your message and the contact or account details supplied with it. Research records can include survey answers, invitation records and requests not to receive further invitations. Survey answers are stored separately from invitation lists, but free text and technical records can contain identifying information.

Why information is used

Account details and information needed for features you request are used to provide the service under the service contract.

Security, moderation, responding to enquiries, keeping permission records and investigating errors rely on legitimate interests in operating a safe, reliable service and resolving problems. Usage analysis and optional service research serve the legitimate interest of understanding and improving the service. These interests must be balanced against your rights and reasonable expectations; you can object as explained below.

The photo licence gives copyright permission for the specified uses. It is not blanket consent to process personal information about you or other people. Keeping uploader and permission records serves the legitimate interest of managing contributions and establishing the right to use them. A photo licence alone is not authority to feature identifiable people in promotion.

Where a legal obligation requires particular processing, that obligation is the basis. Where consent is used, such as optional website analytics storage, you can withdraw it. Accepting photo-use terms does not subscribe you to marketing emails or remove your privacy rights.

Analytics, crash reporting and website storage

The app uses Firebase Analytics to understand how features are used and Firebase Crashlytics to diagnose faults. Release builds enable these services automatically. Information can include usage events, app or installation identifiers, device details and crash records. Reports may be aggregated, but the underlying collection is not necessarily anonymous. The app does not currently have an in-app analytics switch. You can contact me to object to processing based on legitimate interests.

The website offers “Only essential” and “Allow analytics” choices. These control optional analytics storage. Google’s tag is loaded before a choice is made, with analytics and advertising storage set to denied by default; refusing analytics should not be understood as preventing every technical request to Google. Essential storage and security requests support the operation of the service.

Research participation is optional and separate from the photo licence. Survey invitations are currently stopped. A request not to receive further invitations can be retained so it is respected.

Services and people receiving information

Google Firebase supports accounts, databases, photo storage, analytics, crash reporting and technical security. Google Maps and Places support mapping and place search, and Apple supports Apple sign-in. Google Workspace is used for correspondence and operational records. Brevo has been used to deliver research invitations and manage suppression records.

Buffer is used to prepare and schedule social posts. Meta receives material published on Instagram and Facebook. These posts are public, and the platforms process information under their own terms and privacy policies. Other people may copy or share public content.

AI-assisted operational and content reviews use OpenAI’s Codex service. Material selected for review, including photos and relevant records, may be processed through that service. Working copies may also be held on my computer.

Information may also be disclosed where legally required or necessary to investigate abuse, respond to a rights claim or protect the service. Personal information is not sold.

These providers may process information outside the UK, including in the United States. The applicable arrangements depend on the provider and service. Google publishes its participation in the UK Extension to the EU–US Data Privacy Framework and its data-processing terms in its Firebase privacy information. Other providers’ applicable privacy and data-processing terms govern their handling of information. Contact me for information about the locations and safeguards relevant to your data.

Retention and account deletion

Account information is retained while providing your account. Public venue contributions and existing permitted social posts can remain after an account closes. Permission and moderation records may be needed while a contribution is used and to resolve related disputes.

Support, security and research records are retained according to their purpose, the need to investigate unresolved issues, applicable legal requirements and the need to establish or defend claims. Minimal suppression records may be retained to honour a request not to receive further invitations. There is no single retention period covering every record or provider.

You can request account deletion from the Account screen or by emailing me. Deleting an account does not automatically delete every photo, contribution, moderation record, correspondence record, backup, working copy or social post. Retained personal information remains subject to your rights, including the right to request erasure where it applies.

If you want a particular photo or other information removed, identify it in your request so I can review the relevant records and copies. Removing a photo from the app does not automatically remove it from social media, and deleting an account name does not necessarily make a photo anonymous.

Your rights and complaints

Depending on the circumstances, you can request access, correction, erasure, restriction or portability of your personal information. You can object to processing based on legitimate interests and withdraw consent where that is the basis. These rights are not removed by accepting the photo licence.

Email hello@pubswithplaygrounds.com to make a request or raise a privacy complaint. I may need information to verify your identity. Requests will be handled within the applicable legal time limits. Privacy complaints will be acknowledged within 30 days, investigated and answered with an explanation of the outcome.

You can also complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office at ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/.

Changes to this policy

Material changes will be brought to your attention. Where new photo-use terms require your agreement, you will be asked to accept the updated version before uploading further photos. Updating this policy alone does not extend the licence for photos uploaded under earlier terms.