Cookie Notice
1. Who we are and how to contact us
Shop Regional Newspapers is part of the Reach group, which is made up of Reach plc and its subsidiaries. We, via our various subsidiary companies and brands, publish national websites and regional websites, and mobile applications enjoyed by millions every month.
You can see the list of websites and brands we publish here.
For any queries you have relating to this Notice, you can contact us using the contact information provided in the ‘Contact us’ section.
2. About this Cookie Notice
This notice explains how we use cookies and similar technologies (‘cookies’) on our websites (‘Sites ‘) and how you can manage the behaviour of these cookies.
With that in mind, we want you to feel in control of the information you generate when you use our Sites; this Notice is organised based on what you might want to know about how we use cookies, including how you can manage the behaviour of these cookies.
3. What is a cookie?
A cookie is a small data file sent from a website to your web browser. It is stored in your web browser’s cache and allows a website, or a third party, to recognise your browser, and to obtain data about your browsing activity.
Devices and browsers can be shared by a number of people, so cookies do not always relate to particular individuals. For a detailed description of how we use the personal data we collect, please see our Privacy Notice.
4. What types of cookies do we use?
We use three main types of cookies: essential, functional, and analytic.
4.1 Essential Cookies
These cookies are essential to provide you with the services that you have requested from us; because of their essential nature, they cannot be switched off.
4.2 Functional Cookies
These cookies enable us to remember some important information, such as your computer or mobile device when you visit a website, your registration and log in details, and your settings and preferences.
They are used by us to ensure that you don’t have to log in every single time you want to comment on our articles, and to ensure our interactive services work effectively.
4.3 Analytic Cookies
Analytic cookies retain information as you view different pages on our Sites, and they help us to paint a picture of how our readers use our Sites.
Additionally, these cookies help us to make the website work as efficiently as possible, and provide better content and services in the future.
4.4 Tracking Cookies
Tracking cookies enable us to collect information concerning some of our advertising campaigns, to determine the success of a particular campaign.
This information is used to optimise advertisements, retarget individuals that have not seen an advertisement in the past, and create so-called lookalike audiences to target as part of our advertising campaigns.
We use the Meta pixel to enable all of the above activities, if you do not wish to consent to this type of tracking, you can turn off tracking cookies using our on-site cookie banner.
5. Why do we use cookies?
The information generated from your browsing helps us to understand how people use our websites, and what we can do to improve them.
Examples of what we use cookies for include:
- If we can see that more users from London prefer football content on a Friday evening than Sunday morning, then we can change when and how much content we produce for London football teams on a weekday as opposed to a weekend;
- When we run a poll on a particularly contentious local issue, we can use cookies to prevent a device or browser voting hundreds of times to influence the poll results.
6. How can you manage your cookie preferences?
6.1 On Site
Our CMP helps you to manage what non-Essential cookies are placed on your device; you can decide whether to accept or reject a range of cookies with defined purposes.
Additionally, most web browsers will allow you to stop accepting cookies. This is normally controlled through the Settings or Help page of a browser; further information can be found using the below links:
- Microsoft Edge cookie settings
- Firefox cookie settings
- Chrome cookie settings
- Safari cookie settings
When managing Site cookies, it is important to be aware that switching off cookies may affect the way one of our Sites operates, and it may adversely affect the quality of your experience.
7. How long do cookies last?
Cookies are stored on your device until you delete them or until they expire, as a general rule we will not retain any data that has been captured through their use for any longer than necessary.
8. Are there any third parties involved?
When you provide us with permission, we will share data collected through the use of cookies and similar technologies on our Sites with selected third party partners.
9. Contact us
For any queries you have relating to this Notice, you can contact our Data Protection Team at: dataprotection@reachplc.com.