Terms and data sources

Who we are

Chicago HH is published by Common Signal LLC, an Illinois limited liability company based in Chicago. “Chicago HH” and “Chicago Happy Hours” are the names Common Signal LLC uses for this site. Write to us at cheers@chicagohh.com.

What this site is

Chicago HH is a guide to happy hours and recurring specials at Chicago bars and restaurants. We gather the information from public sources, mainly each venue’s own website, show where it came from and when it was checked, and label what we haven’t verified. It is information, not an offer: the venue decides what it serves, at what price, and to whom. We’re not affiliated with the venues listed, and nobody pays to be included.

Verify before you go

Hours, prices and specials change without notice. Venues close, change hands and drop promotions. Treat every listing as a lead and confirm with the venue before you go. Our Disclaimer says more.

21 and over

This site describes alcohol promotions and is intended for people 21 and over. We don’t sell alcohol, or anything else. Please drink responsibly, and never drink and drive.

The Illinois happy-hour screen

Illinois law limits how a bar may run drink promotions (235 ILCS 5/6-28.5). We screen the drink-special schedules we list against those limits so that we don’t publish a schedule that could not exist as described. That screen is a check on our listing, not a legal determination about any venue; a listing that passes or fails it says nothing about whether the venue follows the law.

Using this site

You may read, link to and share this site freely. The listings, grades, text and design are ours. Venue names and marks belong to the venues, and the short excerpts quoted from a venue’s website belong to that venue; they appear here only to show where a listing came from. Please don’t copy the site or its data in bulk, republish it as your own, or build a product on it without asking. If you’d like to use our data in your own work, write to cheers@chicagohh.com.

Corrections and removals

If a listing is wrong, tell us. If you run a venue and want your listing corrected or removed, or want a quoted excerpt taken down, write to cheers@chicagohh.com with the venue name and what should change. We check against the source and update the site when the listings are next published, normally within a week. We keep correction emails as a record of why a listing changed.

Links to other sites

Venue websites, directions and phone numbers take you off this site. We don’t control those sites or what they collect; their terms and privacy policies apply there.

No warranty

Everything on this site is provided as is, with no warranty of accuracy, completeness or availability. The site may be wrong, out of date or unavailable at any time. Don’t rely on it for any decision where being wrong would cost you something.

Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, Common Signal LLC is not liable for any loss or damage arising from your use of this site, or from anything a venue does or doesn’t do.

Governing law

These terms are governed by the laws of the State of Illinois. Any dispute about this site belongs in the state or federal courts located in Cook County, Illinois. If any part of these terms can’t be enforced, the rest still applies.

Changes

We may change or take down any part of this site at any time. This page is dated at the bottom; the date changes when the text does.

Data sources and credits

Where every listing comes from, and the credits each source asks for. What we cover has the counts.

Venue websites

Most listings come from the venue’s own public website. Our software reads the page, pulls out the schedule and the deals, and keeps a short excerpt as evidence. The listing shows that excerpt, a link to the page it came from, and the date we read it. Each venue owns its website and the words on it; we quote only what is needed to show where a listing came from, and we take an excerpt down on request.

People

Some listings are checked by a person, and some are sent to us by the venue. Each listing says which (“Checked by us”, “Confirmed by the venue”).

City of Chicago

Our list of venues starts from the City of Chicago’s business license records, and our neighborhoods are the City’s 77 community areas, both from the City of Chicago Data Portal. The City of Chicago is not affiliated with this site and has not reviewed it. The City requires this notice:

This site provides applications using data that has been modified for use from its original source, www.cityofchicago.org, the official website of the City of Chicago. The City of Chicago makes no claims as to the content, accuracy, timeliness, or completeness of any of the data provided at this site. The data provided at this site is subject to change at any time. It is understood that the data provided at this site is being used at one’s own risk.

OpenStreetMap

The map is drawn from OpenStreetMap data, © OpenStreetMap contributors, available under the Open Database License, rendered from a Protomaps basemap that we host ourselves. We also used OpenStreetMap to find some venues’ websites and phone numbers. The venue websites, phone numbers, outdoor-seating and dog-friendly flags that came from OpenStreetMap are published as their own file, /data/osm.json, under the same Open Database License.

nflverse

Bears home game times are from nflverse’s schedule data, used under CC BY 4.0; we show only home games at Soldier Field, in Chicago time.

Google

We use Google’s Places service to look up each venue’s Google place ID. Where a venue page shows hours, phone and reviews from Google, that panel is provided by Google using that ID, and it carries Google’s own credits. Those panels are Google Maps features and content. Your use of them is subject to the current versions of the Google Maps End User Additional Terms of Service and the Google Privacy Policy. The Directions button opens Google Maps with the venue’s coordinates, or its name and address; it does not use Google data. Some listings began as leads from a venue’s Google listing: their days and times came from Google’s hours, we haven’t verified them, and they are labeled “Not yet verified · Google listing” with no text from Google. Some venue website links were first found through Google’s listing; each goes to the venue’s own site. Google Maps is a trademark of Google LLC. Google is not affiliated with this site.

Illinois law

The happy-hour screen described on What we cover uses the Illinois Liquor Control Act, 235 ILCS 5/6-28.5, as published by the Illinois General Assembly.

Readers and venues

Corrections and tips sent to cheers@chicagohh.com. We check them against the venue before anything changes.

Names and marks

Venue names and logos belong to their owners and appear here only to identify the venue. “Chicago HH”, “Chicago Happy Hours” and the Chicago HH mark belong to Common Signal LLC.