Terms & Conditions

1. About us

The Sourdough Hub is a trading name of a small business operating from Frome in Somerset. We sell sourdough starter kits and related products through our website at thesourdoughhub.co.uk. Our contact details are at the foot of this page.

2. What these terms apply to

These terms apply to every order you place with us through our website. By placing an order, you confirm that you accept these terms. If you don't agree with any part of them, please don't place an order — or contact us first to discuss.

These terms are designed for consumers buying for personal use. If you're buying as a business or for resale, please get in touch — we have separate wholesale terms.

3. How a contract is formed

The order process works like this:

1. You place an order through our website. At that point we send an email confirming we've received it. This is not yet a contract. It's an acknowledgement.
2. We check that we have stock and that we can dispatch to your address. In practice this is almost always automatic and immediate.
3. When we send the order to dispatch, we email you a dispatch confirmation. The contract is formed at that point.
4. If for any reason we can't fulfil the order — for example, the item is out of stock or there's a pricing error we caught in time — we'll email you and refund any payment in full.

4. Our products

We make every effort to describe our products accurately. The photographs on our website are representative but the kit you receive will vary slightly — flour batches differ in colour, the linen cloth is hand-cut, and the live starter culture changes character with the seasons. These are features of a hand-made product, not faults.

Our kits include a live sourdough starter culture. This is a living organism. It arrives dormant but can be woken up reliably with the instructions in the booklet. If you don't follow the instructions and your starter fails to wake, that is not a fault we can ordinarily refund — but please get in touch and we will help you troubleshoot.

5. Prices and payment

All prices are shown in pounds sterling and include VAT at the prevailing rate where applicable. Delivery to the United Kingdom is included in the prices shown. We don't currently ship outside the UK.

Payment is taken at the time of order through Shopify Payments, PayPal, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Klarna or Shop Pay. We don't store full card numbers. If a payment is declined, we won't be able to dispatch the order — you'll receive an email asking you to update your payment method.

If a price on our site is wrong because of an obvious error, we'll contact you before dispatching. You can choose to proceed at the corrected price or cancel the order for a full refund.

6. Delivery

Orders placed before 12pm on a working day are usually dispatched the same day; later orders are dispatched the next working day. Standard UK delivery takes 2–3 working days from dispatch.

Delivery is by Royal Mail or Evri, depending on the size and destination. We'll email you tracking when your kit is on its way.

If your delivery hasn't arrived within 7 working days of dispatch, please contact us and we'll investigate. We'll either resend or refund — whichever you prefer — without quibble. Our liability for late or lost delivery is the price of the order plus any direct, foreseeable costs you incur as a result.

7. Cancellation and returns

Under the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013, you have the right to cancel an order for any reason within 14 days of receiving the goods. To do this, send us an email at hello@thesourdoughhub.co.uk with your order number.

You then have a further 14 days to return the goods to us, in re-saleable condition. The return postage is your responsibility unless the goods are faulty or misdescribed. We'll refund the price of the goods (and the original outbound delivery charge if you cancel the entire order) within 14 days of receiving them back.

The cancellation right does not apply to the live starter culture once you've activated it (i.e. fed it). It does still apply to the rest of the kit.

8. Our 30-day guarantee

Beyond your statutory rights, we offer a 30-day happiness guarantee. If, within 30 days of receiving your kit, you're not delighted with it for any reason, contact us. We'll either refund you, replace the kit, or work with you to fix whatever's gone wrong. No questions asked, no scripts, no friction. We mean this.

9. Faulty or misdescribed goods

If your kit arrives damaged, missing parts, or doesn't match the description on our site, contact us within 30 days. Under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 you're entitled to a replacement or refund, and we'll cover return postage. We may ask for photographs to help us understand what went wrong — not because we doubt you, but because it helps us improve.

10. Our liability to you

Nothing in these terms limits our liability for: (a) death or personal injury caused by our negligence; (b) fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation; (c) defective products under the Consumer Protection Act 1987; or (d) any other liability that cannot lawfully be limited.

Subject to that, our liability for any loss or damage in connection with an order is limited to the price you paid for the order, plus any directly foreseeable costs caused by our breach. We are not liable for indirect or consequential losses (such as lost profits, lost time, or disappointment).

11. Events outside our control

We won't be liable for delays or failures caused by events genuinely outside our reasonable control — for example, severe weather, postal industrial action, supply chain disruption, or government restrictions. We'll keep you informed and offer the choice to wait or cancel for a refund.

12. Intellectual property

All content on our website — words, photographs, illustrations, recipes, the booklet, our brand name and logo — is owned by us or licensed to us. You may share our content for personal, non-commercial purposes (please credit us), but please don't republish it as your own or use it commercially without our written permission.

13. Reviews and user content

If you submit a review, photograph or other content to us — whether through our website, by email, or on a social platform when you tag us — you grant us a non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide licence to use it for marketing and editorial purposes. We'll always credit you visibly. You can ask us to take it down at any time.

You confirm that anything you submit is your own work, doesn't infringe anyone else's rights, and isn't unlawful, defamatory or misleading.

14. Changes to these terms

We may update these terms occasionally, for example to reflect changes in the law or our processes. The version that applies to your order is the one in force at the moment you placed the order. The "last updated" date at the top of this page reflects the most recent version.

15. Governing law and disputes

These terms are governed by the laws of England and Wales. Any dispute we can't resolve between us can be taken to the courts of England and Wales (or, if you live in Scotland or Northern Ireland, the courts of your jurisdiction).

Before any of that, please contact us. We are deeply committed to resolving issues quickly and fairly. We've never had a customer dispute we haven't been able to settle in conversation, and we'd like to keep that record.