Cookies policy

Kew websites will work without cookies but if you choose to disable cookies you may lose some features and functionality.

What is a cookie?

A cookie is a simple text file that is stored on your computer or mobile device by a website’s server and only that server will be able to retrieve or read the contents of that cookie. Each cookie is unique to your web browser. It will contain some anonymous information such as a unique identifier and the site name and some digits and numbers. It allows a website to remember things like your preferences or what’s in your shopping basket.

What is a pixel?

A pixel is a snippet of code that enable cookies to be downloaded to your device. Pixel tags are usually third party tags which identify a device as it browses different websites, partly so that targeted advertising can be shown to the user of that device.

You can find out more information about cookies and pixels on the Information Commissioner’s Officer (ICO) website.

First Party and Third Party Cookies and Pixels

Some cookies and pixels are referred to as “first party” which means they are placed by the website you are visiting – so in our case first party cookies and pixels are placed by Kew’s own website. “Third party” cookies and pixels are placed by other organisations (with our permission) via the Kew website, such as advertisers and social media platforms. They work by collecting information from your device and passing it directly back to the third party.

See our privacy policy for more information about how we use these to advertise to you.

How does Kew use cookies?

Kew’s websites will work without cookies, but you will lose some features and functionality if you choose to disable them.

Kew has several websites, online databases, and commercial sites such as our online shop, ticket checkout and image library. Kew uses cookies to help improve your experience of using our sites.

We use cookies that:

· Are strictly necessary to enable you to navigate the site or provide basic features (such as the ability to opt in or out of cookies)

· Enhance your experience of the website, for example by storing preferences

· Analyse how you’re using our website so we can continue to improve our website design and functionality to provide you with tailored marketing about our products, events and services

· Review how many people are using our sites and what they’re doing when they visit them

· Help us advertise relevant products and events to you across the internet.

We don’t sell the information collected by first party cookies, nor do we disclose the information to third parties, except where required by law (for example to government bodies and law enforcement agencies) or where it is required when we work with third parties who provide services and support us to run our daily operations (for example helping us to build our websites). However some of the cookies on our website are placed there by third parties to help us to advertise relevant products and events to you across the internet and they have access to the data collected through these cookies. See the section on Targeting cookies below for more information on the third parties and how to manage their cookies.

How to manage cookies

We use OneTrust to manage how users opt in and out of the cookies on our website. You can update your preferences for the cookies on our website through your profile. Please note that our websites will work without cookies, but you will lose some features and functionality if you choose to disable them.

If you wish to restrict or block web browser cookies which are set on your device then you can do this through your browser settings. Here is how to do this for the most popular browsers, but if yours is not listed you should be able to find this in your browser’s Help section or on aboutcookies.org:

To update your preferences for the cookies on our website, please click on the button below:

How to update your preferences on third party cookies

These third party targeting cookies are governed by the digital advertising platform’s privacy policies and terms and conditions. Follow the links below to find out more about each advertising partner’s policy and how you can manage your advertising preferences on their platform: