Privacy Policy
Last updated: 18 July 2026
Tide Bistro, Aldeburgh ("we", "us", "Tide Bistro") takes care of your personal information the same way we'd want ours looked after. This page explains what we collect when you book a table, dine with us, or sign up for our emails, and what we do with it.
Who's responsible for your data
Tide Bistro is the "data controller" — we decide why and how your information is used. Our booking system is built and run on our behalf by Maltings Digital LTD, who act as our "data processor": they look after the technical side, but never use your information for their own purposes.
What we collect, and why
| Information | Why we ask for it |
|---|---|
| Name, phone number, email address | To take and manage your booking — confirmations and reminders |
| Party size, date, time | To seat you and plan the service |
| Allergies or dietary needs | We ask so we can keep you safe during your visit. This is never used for anything else. |
| Special occasions (e.g. birthdays) | So we can make a nice moment even nicer, if you'd like us to |
| Any notes you leave us | To help us look after you the way you'd like |
| Visit history | So we can recognise you as a returning guest |
| Marketing opt-in (only if you tick it) | To send you occasional emails about the restaurant |
Allergy and dietary information
This counts as "special category" health data under UK data protection law, so we treat it carefully: it's only ever visible to our staff when they're looking after your table, and it's never used for marketing or shared beyond what's needed to keep you safe.
Notes our staff keep
Occasionally, staff make a short note against your name — for example a preference you've mentioned, or something we'd like to remember for next time. These notes stay internal and are never shown to other guests. If you'd like to know what's recorded against your name, just ask us (see "Your rights" below).
How we use your information to tailor our marketing
We only ever send marketing emails to guests who have specifically opted in — you can tick this box when booking, and you're never signed up automatically.
If you have opted in, we may use what we know about your visits and preferences — for example, dishes you've enjoyed or things our staff have noted — to help decide what we send you, so it's more likely to be relevant rather than generic. Every marketing email includes a one-click way to unsubscribe, and doing so stops all further marketing emails immediately.
Who we share it with
We use a small number of trusted companies to run our booking system and send emails. None of them are allowed to use your information for their own purposes.
| Who | What they do |
|---|---|
| Maltings Digital LTD | Builds and maintains our booking system |
| Cloudflare | Hosts our booking system and database securely |
| Resend | Sends our confirmation, reminder, and (if you've opted in) marketing emails |
| Anthropic (Claude) | An AI assistant used by our developer, under a commercial data-processing agreement, to help build and maintain the booking system |
We don't sell your information, and we don't share it with anyone for their own marketing.
How long we keep it
We don't hold onto your details forever. Booking records are anonymised after 24 months of inactivity — your name, phone number, email, and any notes are removed, while anonymous statistics (like how busy a given evening was) are kept to help us run the restaurant well.
Your rights
Under UK data protection law, you can ask us to:
- See what information we hold about you
- Correct anything that's inaccurate
- Delete your information, where we're not required to keep it
- Stop receiving marketing emails at any time
- Receive a copy of your booking history in a portable format
To ask about any of these, just get in touch — see the contact details below.
Keeping your information safe
Your information is stored securely and access is limited to the people who need it to run the restaurant and the booking system. Any direct changes made to our systems are logged, so there's always a record of what was changed and why.
Cookies
Our website itself doesn't use tracking or advertising cookies. Our booking widget only uses what's technically necessary to take your booking.
Questions or concerns
If you have any questions about this policy, or want to exercise any of the rights above, please contact us:
110 High Street, Aldeburgh, Suffolk IP15 5AB
If you're not happy with how we've handled your information, you also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK's independent regulator for data protection: ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint, or by calling 0303 123 1113.
Changes to this policy
We'll update this page if the way we handle your information changes. The date at the top shows when it was last updated.