What the browser leaves behind and what the desk does with it

On the nature of cookies and why this notice exists

A cookie is a small text file that a website places in your browser so that it can remember something about your visit — your preferences, whether you have already seen a particular notice, or aggregated information about how you navigate the site. The Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003 (PECR), alongside UK GDPR, require that websites obtain your informed consent before placing non-essential cookies, and that they tell you in plain terms what each cookie does. This page is that account.

BristolStakes uses a minimal set of browser storage mechanisms. There are no advertising networks here, no social media trackers, no retargeting pixels. What follows is a complete inventory.

Strictly necessary — the crumbs the desk cannot function without

These storage entries do not require your consent under PECR because they are essential to the basic operation of the site. You cannot opt out of them while continuing to use the site, but they store nothing personally identifying.

No session cookies are created for general browsing. The site does not require a login and therefore does not maintain session state between page loads.

Analytics cookies — only if you have granted consent

The desk uses Google Analytics 4 to understand, in aggregate, how visitors use the site — which pages attract the most interest, how long readers spend on the guide content versus the operator assessments, and where visitors come from geographically. This information is used solely to improve the quality and usefulness of the editorial content published here. It is not used for advertising or profiling.

Analytics cookies are placed only after you have actively accepted them via the consent bar. If you have accepted necessary cookies only, no analytics cookies are deployed in your session.

Google's IP anonymisation is enabled. The desk's GA4 data retention is set to twenty-six months; event-level data is purged automatically after that period. Google's full cookie and privacy information is available at policies.google.com/technologies/cookies.

Marketing cookies — not currently deployed

The consent bar includes a marketing cookie toggle. At present, no marketing cookies are deployed by this site. The toggle exists because the desk may in future accept tracking pixels from individual operators reviewed here — for instance, if an operator supplies a pixel that enables conversion measurement without cross-site retargeting. Should that change, this table will be updated before the pixel is activated, and the change will be flagged in the notice-revision banner described on the privacy notice page.

The desk's position on marketing cookies is conservative: we will not deploy them unless we are satisfied that doing so is consistent with the editorial independence on which this publication is built. A reader's browsing of operator reviews will not, in any current configuration, cause them to be followed around the web by operator advertisements.

Third-party cookies from linked content

Outbound links to operator websites (Sky Bet, Bet365, Ladbrokes, Betfair, Betway) open in a new tab and are not embedded in this site as iframes or loaded resources. Following those links will take you to the operators' own domains, which operate under their own cookie policies. The desk does not control and is not responsible for the cookies deployed by external sites you visit after leaving this one.

Google Fonts is loaded from Google's CDN. The connection to fonts.googleapis.com and fonts.gstatic.com may result in Google setting a cookie or local storage entry in accordance with Google's terms. The desk has implemented the font preconnect hints in a way that minimises data transmission, but readers who wish to prevent this entirely may use a browser extension that blocks third-party font loading.

On the matter of cookies and their removal — browser controls

Every major browser gives you direct control over cookies and local storage. Instructions for the most common browsers follow.

Google Chrome

Open Chrome and navigate to Settings → Privacy and security → Cookies and other site data. From here you can block all cookies, block third-party cookies, or see and delete cookies from specific sites. To clear local storage for this site specifically, go to Settings → Privacy and security → Site settings → View permissions and data stored across sites, search for this domain, and click the bin icon.

Mozilla Firefox

Navigate to Settings → Privacy & Security → Cookies and Site Data. Click Manage Data to search for and remove data from specific sites. Firefox's Enhanced Tracking Protection, set to Standard or Strict, will block some third-party analytics cookies automatically.

Apple Safari

On macOS: Safari → Settings → Privacy → Manage Website Data. Search for this site and click Remove. On iOS: Settings → Safari → Advanced → Website Data. Safari's Intelligent Tracking Prevention automatically limits cross-site tracking by default and partitions most third-party storage.

Withdrawing consent — the faster route

You do not need to reach into your browser settings to withdraw cookie consent. The cookie settings button in the footer of every page on this site will reopen the consent bar, where you can change your analytics and marketing preferences. Withdrawing consent stops new analytics data from being collected from that point forward. It does not delete data already collected before withdrawal.

You may also opt out of Google Analytics across all websites by installing Google's opt-out browser add-on, available at tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.