How we got your details, and what we do with them.
If you have had a letter from us about a website with your business name on it, this page explains where your details came from and what you can do about it. You did not give them to us, so you are entitled to know. Last updated 27 August 2026.
Tell us to stop and we stop, permanently.
- Your details are public. We took them from listings that already exist; nobody passed them to us and we did not buy a list.
- We used them for one thing: to build a sample website for your business and show it to you.
- We write at most twice. If you do not respond, that is the end of it.
- You have an absolute right to object. Email hello@layerdigital.uk and we remove you. We do not get to weigh it against our own interests and there is no argument to have.
When you tell us to stop, we keep your business name and address on a do-not-contact list and delete the rest. That is not us holding on to something: it is the only way to be sure that the next time we look at public listings we recognise you and leave you alone.
The controller.
Layer Digital Ltd is the data controller. We are a private limited company registered in England and Wales, company number 17195070, with our registered office at 123 Spring Lane, Birmingham, England, B24 9BY.
Email hello@layerdigital.uk. A person reads that address; it is not a ticket queue. We do not have a Data Protection Officer, because we are not required to appoint one.
All of it is public.
Depending on your trade, some combination of:
- OpenStreetMap, for business name, trade and street address.
- The Food Standards Agency hygiene register, for confirmation that a business trades at an address, and for its hygiene rating.
- Public booking and listing pages, such as Fresha and Treatwell, for star rating and review count.
- Companies House and The Gazette, for company number and company status.
- Ordinary web and map searches, to check whether the business already has its own website.
We did not buy a list, and nobody passed your details to us.
The fields, named.
Your business name, the owner or proprietor name where it is published, the trading address, a public phone number, the trade, a public star rating and review count, a hygiene rating where one applies, company number and status, and our own notes: a score from 3 to 9 for how likely you are to want what we sell, and whether we have written to you.
One purpose, and the basis for it.
What we use it for. One thing. To build a sample website for your business and write to you once or twice to show it to you. That is our only purpose.
Our lawful basis is legitimate interests, under Article 6(1)(f) of the UK GDPR. The interest is direct marketing of a service to a business that we have checked does not already have its own website.
We think that is a fair use of published business details: the information is already public and published for the purpose of being contacted by customers, the contact is by post to a business address rather than to anyone’s home or personal phone, we write at most twice and stop if you do not respond, and we stop immediately and permanently if you ask.
If you disagree, the section on objecting below is the one that matters, and it is not a request we can refuse.
Nobody buys it.
We do not sell or share it for anyone else’s marketing. It sits in our own database, run for us by our hosting and infrastructure providers, who process it on our instructions and nothing else. Royal Mail delivers the letter. That is the entire list.
Where it is held. Our systems are hosted with providers who may process data outside the UK. Where that happens it is covered by the UK’s approved safeguards for international transfers.
Twelve months after the last letter.
If you do not respond, we delete your record 12 months after the last letter we sent you.
If you tell us to stop, we delete it straight away, except for the minimum needed to make sure we do not research and write to you again by mistake: your business name and address on a do-not-contact list, and nothing else.
If you become a customer, our customer privacy notice takes over.
Objecting is not a request we can refuse.
You can ask us for a copy of everything we hold about you, ask us to correct anything wrong, ask us to delete it, or ask us to restrict what we do with it.
You have an absolute right to object to direct marketing: if you tell us to stop, we must stop, we do not get to weigh it against our own interests, and there is no argument to have.
Email hello@layerdigital.uk, or reply to the letter, or ring the number on it. We will action it within one month and it costs you nothing.
The right to data portability does not apply here, because we rely on legitimate interests rather than consent or a contract.
A person checks every one.
We use software to find candidate businesses and to sort them by how likely they are to be interested. A person checks every one before anything is sent, and no decision that affects you legally or significantly is made by a machine.
You can go straight to the ICO.
If you are unhappy with how we have handled your details, tell us first and we will try to fix it. You can also complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office at ico.org.uk, or on 0303 123 1113. Complaining to us first is not a condition of complaining to them.
Want us to stop?
Email us and you come off the list the same day. No form, no reason needed.
hello@layerdigital.uk