Privacy
What we do with your details.
Short version: we use what you send to answer you, and nothing else. No cookies, no trackers, no newsletter, nothing sold and nothing passed on beyond the payment page.
Last updated 6 October 2026
Who we are
This site is run by The Forge Studio, a website design studio based in Leicester, United Kingdom. We are the data controller for anything you send us.
For any question about this page, or to exercise any of the rights below, write to contact@theforge-studio.co.uk.
What we collect, and when
Only what you type into the form on the Let's start page, and any files you add there, and only when you press send. That is:
- Your name
- Your email address
- Your business name, if you fill it in — it is optional
- The package and monthly plan you selected, if any
- Your answers about the business and the site you want: what you do, who your customers are, the pages, features, look and wording you would like, your domain and Google details, and your timing
- Any files you choose to add: a logo, photographs, a brand guide or existing text
- Whether a payment was made, and its amount and reference. Your card details are typed on Stripe's page and never reach us
If you email us directly instead, we hold that email and whatever is in it. Nothing is collected while you simply read the site.
Why we hold it
To read your enquiry and reply to it, and — if you go ahead — to carry out the work and invoice it. Under UK GDPR the lawful basis is taking steps at your request before entering into a contract, and then performance of that contract. We do not use your details for marketing, so there is nothing to opt out of.
Where it goes
The form sends one email to our own inbox and one copy to you. Files you add are saved in a private folder on our hosting that is closed to the web, so nobody can open them through a link. Nothing is stored in a database on this website. Both the website and the mailbox are hosted by Hostinger, which processes the data on our behalf as part of providing that service. Payments are taken by Stripe, which collects your card details itself and tells us only that a payment was made and for how much; Stripe handles that payment data under its own privacy policy. Apart from Stripe, no other company receives your details.
We do not sell your details, share them with advertisers, or pass them to anyone else.
How long we keep it
If we do not end up working together, the files you added and your detailed answers are deleted within thirty days of our last message, and the enquiry email itself within twelve months. If we do work together, we keep your files and answers for the project and for twelve months after the final invoice, so that we can make changes you ask for. The correspondence and the invoices are kept for six years after the final invoice, because HMRC requires business records to be kept that long. You can ask for any of it to be deleted sooner, as set out below.
Cookies and tracking
This site sets no cookies and runs no analytics or advertising trackers. There is nothing to consent to, which is why you are not asked.
One small technical detail, for completeness: the site can store a value in your browser's own local storage to remember a preference between visits. It stays on your device, is never sent to us, and clearing your browsing data removes it.
The typefaces are loaded from Google Fonts, which means your browser requests those files from Google and Google sees your IP address as part of that request. If you would rather that did not happen, tell us and we will serve the fonts from our own server instead.
Your rights
Under UK GDPR you can ask us to:
- Tell you what we hold about you, and give you a copy
- Correct anything that is wrong
- Delete it
- Restrict what we do with it, or object to it
- Send it to you, or to someone else, in a portable format
Write to contact@theforge-studio.co.uk and we will act within one month. There is no charge. If you are not happy with how we have handled it, you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk or on 0303 123 1113.
Changes to this page
If what we do with your details changes, this page changes with it and the date at the top is updated. There is no version history to dig through — what is written here is what we do today.