diff --git a/cookbook/templatetags/custom_tags.py b/cookbook/templatetags/custom_tags.py
index e76dc09a..dac2f47e 100644
--- a/cookbook/templatetags/custom_tags.py
+++ b/cookbook/templatetags/custom_tags.py
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ from gettext import gettext as _
 
 import bleach
 import markdown as md
+from django_scopes import ScopeError
 from markdown.extensions.tables import TableExtension
 from bleach_allowlist import markdown_attrs, markdown_tags
 from django import template
@@ -172,3 +173,5 @@ def user_prefs(request):
         return UserPreferenceSerializer(request.user.userpreference, context={'request': request}).data
     except AttributeError:
         pass
+    except ScopeError:  # there are pages without an active space that still need to load but don't require prefs
+        pass