A cookie banner is the notice asking whether a website may store cookies on your device. Under the UK Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations, anything that is not strictly necessary to run the site needs consent before it is set. The ICO on cookies, read 15 September 2026, which in practice means analytics, advertising and most embedded third party content.
When you need one and when you do not
Cookies that are strictly necessary, such as the one remembering what is in a basket, do not need consent. Analytics and advertising cookies do. Google Analytics is the usual reason a small business site ends up needing a banner at all.
So a plain trade website with no analytics and no embedded videos may not need a consent banner. The ICO sets out what counts as strictly necessary in its guide to cookies and similar technologies.
The better answer for most trades
Use analytics that does not set cookies at all. Several privacy friendly tools count visits without storing anything on the visitor device or tracking them across sites, which means no consent banner and nothing hiding your phone number on a small screen.
If you do need a banner, it has to work honestly. Rejecting must be as easy as accepting, nothing may be set before the visitor chooses, and it must not cover the content. A banner that blocks the top half of a phone screen costs you calls every day it is up.
A worked example
A builder site loads Google Analytics, an embedded map and a YouTube video, so it needs a consent banner. On a phone the banner covers the hero, the heading and the call button until it is dismissed.
Swapping to cookieless analytics, a static map image linking to the map, and a video that loads only when tapped removes the requirement. The first screen goes back to being the phone number, which is what it was meant to be.