Contact & help
Something not working, or a detail that needs changing? Let me know.
Get in touch
For a correction, include the place or page, what’s changed and a source link if you have one. For a website problem, tell me what you were trying to do and which browser you’re using.
Please don’t send benefit letters, medical records or other sensitive documents. General details are enough.
Using the guide
What does “Available now” mean?
It uses recently checked opening and offer times. It can’t tell you whether there’s a table, a ticket or stock left. Always check the place’s own website before making a special trip.
Why is a place missing from a £ filter?
The £ filters only include recently checked, complete prices. A known menu price can still appear in the guide as “excluding service”, but stays outside those filters if the full cost isn’t confirmed.
Where are my saved places?
Open Saved in the same browser and on the same device. Saves don’t sync between devices, and clearing site data removes them. If you remove something by accident, use Undo straight afterwards.
Can I use the guide without sharing my location?
Yes. Search a station or postcode, or browse by area in Eat & drink. Location access is optional.
Can I use Side Street as an app?
Add it to your Home Screen to keep it a tap away. You still need an internet connection. If you lose signal, leave your current page open and try again when you’re connected.
Privacy & your device
You don’t need an account to use Side Street. The guide doesn’t include advertising trackers or analytics scripts.
Basic visitor figures
The server counts public page views and estimates daily visitors for the private site dashboard. It briefly uses your connection’s IP address to make a keyed code that changes each UTC day. These codes are kept separately from page totals and aren’t linked to accounts. The counter doesn’t store readable IP addresses, browser details, search terms, locations or benefits-checker answers, and sets no analytics cookie.
Only today’s and yesterday’s codes are used; older codes and page totals more than 90 days old are removed on the next counted page request. Account and dashboard pages, recognised bots and requests with Do Not Track or Global Privacy Control enabled aren’t counted. Shared connections and changing IP addresses mean visitor numbers are estimates.
Optional free accounts
Accounts use a username, password and recovery code, with an essential login cookie. No email address is collected and payments are off. We keep the latest successful sign-in time and IP address for account security, replacing them on the next sign-in or removing them when the account is deleted. The site owner has restricted account-management tools; changes leave a limited 90-day action history, with older records removed at the next successful account login, signup or admin activity. See account privacy for what is stored and how to delete it.
Saved ideas and follows
When logged in, saved ideas are stored privately with your account and remain until you remove them or delete the account. They are available on other devices after login. Guest saves stay in this browser; clearing site data removes them. You can choose to add guest saves to your account from Saved. Follows and the Near me on/off preference remain browser-only. No precise location or benefits-checker answers are attached to accounts.
Location and search
You choose whether to allow device location. Near me can resume on your next visit if you left it switched on and your browser still allows access; switch it off with the same control. What leaves the page depends on the tool: Explore uses Postcodes.io to find a nearby postcode, while the guide’s Near me sorting and nearest-station lookup calculate distances in your browser. Entered postcode searches use Postcodes.io. Each tool explains this beside its controls.
The walking comparison sends the postcode centre points and venue points through Side Street to its routing provider, FOSSGIS. Opening directions shares the selected route with your chosen maps provider. Side Street doesn’t save your precise coordinates in browser storage or its application database.
The benefits checker
Your answers stay in the page’s memory. They aren’t saved to browser storage, added to shared links or sent to Side Street. Closing or reloading the page clears them.
External services and email
Hosting and external services receive the connection information needed to handle requests and may keep their own logs. Venue websites, maps, Postcodes.io, FOSSGIS and Ko-fi have their own privacy terms. If you email, your address and message are received in the Side Street mailbox so I can reply. Don’t include sensitive documents.
Using the site comfortably
You can zoom the page, use the keyboard to move between controls and press Escape to close Browse. The “Skip to content” link appears when you start tabbing. If your device has Reduce Motion switched on, the extra scrolling effects are switched off.
If something gets in your way, tell me about the accessibility problem. Include the page and what happened.
For venue access, concessions and support, use the Disability & benefits guide.