Last updated: 10th July 2026
Cheese Hub is a shared digital platform for cheesemakers, cheesemongers, suppliers and partners in the cheese sector. It is designed to provide practical support, shared campaigns, learning resources, community activity, digital tools and insights.
This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, store and protect personal information when you visit our website, join the Hub, take part in our community, download resources, attend events, complete forms, take part in campaigns, or contact us.
1. Who we are
Cheese Hub is operated by Lighthouse Digital Marketing Ltd.
For the purposes of data protection law, Lighthouse Digital Marketing Ltd is the data controller for personal information collected through Cheese Hub, unless we tell you otherwise.
Organisation: Lighthouse Digital Marketing Ltd
Trading/project name: Cheese Hub
Registered address: [Insert registered address]
Company number: [Insert company number]
ICO registration number: [Insert ICO registration number, if applicable]
Email: [Insert privacy/contact email]
When we say “we”, “us” or “our” in this policy, we mean Cheese Hub and Lighthouse Digital Marketing Ltd.
2. Personal information we collect
We may collect and use the following types of personal information.
Contact details, such as your name, email address, phone number, business name, role, website, social media handles and postal address.
Membership details, such as your membership type, account details, business profile, preferences, areas of interest, resources accessed and participation in Hub activities.
Payment and billing details, such as billing address, invoice details, payment status and transaction references. We do not normally store full payment card details ourselves. These are handled by our payment provider.
Community and contribution data, such as posts, comments, feedback, survey responses, event questions, campaign examples, shared resources, case study submissions and other information you choose to provide.
Campaign and engagement data, such as the campaigns you join, resources you download, emails you open, links you click, forms you complete, events you register for and content you interact with.
Technical and website data, such as IP address, browser type, device type, pages visited, referral source, approximate location, cookie identifiers and analytics information.
Communication data, such as emails, contact form messages, meeting notes, support requests and replies to surveys or feedback requests.
Marketing preferences, such as whether you have opted in to receive updates, newsletters, campaign alerts, partner opportunities or other communications.
We do not intentionally collect special category data, such as health information, religious beliefs, political opinions or similar sensitive personal information, unless you choose to share it with us in a message, community post or event discussion. If you do, we will only use it where necessary and in line with data protection law.
3. How we collect your information
We collect information when you:
visit the Cheese Hub website;
create an account or become a member;
complete a form;
join the mailing list;
download a resource;
register for an event, workshop or Helpout;
take part in a campaign;
post, comment or contribute inside the community;
complete a survey or feedback form;
contact us by email, phone, form or social media;
buy a membership, product, service or event ticket;
interact with our emails, website or campaign materials.
We may also receive information from third-party platforms we use to run the Hub, such as our CRM, email platform, payment provider, community platform, analytics tools or event tools.
4. Why we use your information
We use personal information to run the Cheese Hub and provide useful support to members, supporters, partners and visitors.
This includes using your information to:
manage your account or membership;
provide access to Hub content, playbooks, templates, campaigns and community spaces;
process payments, invoices and membership renewals;
send service messages about your account, membership, events or resources;
respond to enquiries and support requests;
deliver workshops, Helpouts, events and training sessions;
manage campaign participation and shared campaign activity;
personalise content, recommendations and communications where appropriate;
send newsletters, updates and marketing communications where we are allowed to do so;
understand how people use the Hub so we can improve it;
collect feedback and measure the usefulness of playbooks, campaigns and resources;
produce aggregated insights, benchmarks or reports;
protect the security and integrity of the Hub;
meet legal, accounting and tax obligations.
5. Our lawful bases for using personal information
We only use personal information where we have a lawful basis under UK data protection law. The ICO says organisations must identify and explain their lawful basis for using personal data. (Information Commissioner’s Office)
We may rely on the following lawful bases.
Contract
We use this when we need your information to provide a membership, event, resource, product, service or account you have asked for.
Legitimate interests
We use this where we have a reasonable business or community interest in using your information, and your rights do not override that interest. This may include improving the Hub, responding to enquiries, understanding engagement, protecting the platform, sending relevant updates to existing members or contacts, and developing useful resources.
Consent
We use this where you have actively agreed to something, such as receiving certain marketing emails or accepting non-essential cookies. You can withdraw consent at any time.
Legal obligation
We use this where we need to keep records or share information to comply with the law, such as accounting, tax, fraud prevention or regulatory requirements.
6. Marketing communications
We may send you updates about Cheese Hub resources, campaigns, events, membership, partner opportunities and related services.
We will only send marketing communications where we have a lawful basis to do so. This may be your consent, or in some cases our legitimate interests, where allowed by law.
You can unsubscribe from marketing emails at any time by using the unsubscribe link in our emails or by contacting us.
If you object to direct marketing, we will stop using your information for that purpose. The ICO explains that people have an absolute right to object to direct marketing when legitimate interests is being used. (Information Commissioner’s Office)
7. Cookies and analytics
Our website may use cookies and similar technologies to make the website work, understand how it is used, improve content and support marketing activity.
Some cookies are necessary for the website to function. Others, such as analytics or marketing cookies, may only be used where you have given consent.
You can manage cookie settings through our cookie banner or your browser settings.
A separate Cookie Policy should explain which cookies we use, what they do and how long they last.
8. Community content and member contributions
If you join the Cheese Hub community or contribute to discussions, events, campaigns, surveys or resources, the information you share may be visible to other members or participants, depending on the settings of that area.
You are responsible for the personal information you choose to share in community spaces.
We may use member feedback, comments, campaign examples or success stories to improve the Hub. We will ask for permission before using identifiable quotes, case studies or business examples in public marketing, unless the content has already been clearly submitted for that purpose.
9. Shared campaigns and partner activity
Cheese Hub may run shared campaigns involving cheesemakers, cheesemongers, suppliers, supporters or partners.
If you take part in a campaign, we may use your contact details, business details, submitted content, campaign preferences and engagement data to manage the campaign and communicate with you.
Where a campaign is sponsored or supported by a partner, we will not sell your personal information to that partner.
We may share aggregated, non-identifiable campaign results with supporters or partners, such as the number of participating businesses, downloads, clicks, examples submitted or general engagement trends.
If we ever intend to share identifiable personal information with a sponsor or partner, we will make that clear and ask for permission where required.
10. AI tools and generated content
Cheese Hub may provide AI prompts, templates, experiments or tools to help members create content, improve campaigns or work more efficiently.
If you use any AI-supported tools provided through the Hub, you should avoid entering sensitive personal information or confidential business information unless the tool clearly explains how that information will be used.
Where we use AI tools ourselves to support Hub content, campaign planning, member support or analysis, we will do so responsibly and with human review.
We will not intentionally use your private member data to train public AI models.
11. Who we share information with
We may share personal information with trusted suppliers and service providers who help us operate the Hub. These may include:
website hosting providers;
CRM and email marketing platforms;
community platform providers;
payment providers;
event and webinar platforms;
survey and form tools;
analytics providers;
accounting and bookkeeping providers;
IT support and security providers;
professional advisers, such as accountants, consultants or legal advisers.
We only share information where needed and we expect our suppliers to protect it properly.
We may also share information if required by law, regulation, court order, tax authority or another lawful request.
12. International transfers
Some of the platforms we use may process personal information outside the UK.
Where this happens, we will take steps to make sure appropriate safeguards are in place, such as using providers covered by UK adequacy regulations or approved contractual protections.
13. How long we keep information
We only keep personal information for as long as needed.
Retention periods may depend on the type of information, why we collected it and whether we need to keep it for legal, accounting, tax, contractual or legitimate business reasons.
As a general guide:
membership and account records are kept while your account is active and for a reasonable period afterwards;
payment, invoice and tax records are normally kept for up to 6 years;
marketing records are kept until you unsubscribe or we no longer need them;
enquiry records are kept for a reasonable period after the enquiry is resolved;
community posts may remain visible while the community is active, unless removed under our community rules or legal obligations;
survey and feedback data may be kept for improvement and reporting, especially where it has been anonymised or aggregated.
We may keep anonymised information for longer, as it no longer identifies you.
14. How we protect your information
We use reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect personal information.
These may include secure systems, access controls, password protection, staff guidance, supplier checks, backups and security monitoring.
No website, platform or email system can be guaranteed to be completely secure, but we take reasonable steps to reduce risk and protect the information we hold.
15. Your rights
You have rights under UK data protection law. These may include the right to:
ask for a copy of your personal information;
ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete information;
ask us to delete your information in certain circumstances;
ask us to restrict how we use your information;
object to certain uses of your information;
withdraw consent where we rely on consent;
ask for your information in a portable format in certain circumstances;
complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office.
The ICO provides guidance on individual rights, including access, correction, erasure, restriction, objection and portability. (Information Commissioner’s Office)
To exercise your rights, contact us at:
[Insert privacy/contact email]
We may need to verify your identity before responding.
16. Complaints
If you are unhappy with how we use your personal information, please contact us first so we can try to help.
You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office. GOV.UK explains that if you think your data has been misused or not kept secure, you can complain to the organisation and then contact the ICO if you are unhappy with the response. (GOV.UK)
ICO contact details:
Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Telephone: 0303 123 1113
17. Links to other websites
The Cheese Hub website may link to other websites, platforms or resources.
We are not responsible for the privacy practices of other websites. You should read their privacy policies before providing personal information to them.
18. Changes to this Privacy Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time.
When we make changes, we will update the date at the top of this page. If the changes are significant, we may also notify members by email or through the Hub.
19. Contact us
For questions about this Privacy Policy or how we use personal information, contact:
Cheese Hub Privacy Contact
Email: [Insert privacy/contact email]
Post: [Insert postal address]
I’d also create separate but linked pages for Cookie Policy, Terms of Use, Membership Terms and Community Guidelines, because this policy references areas that need their own rules.