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Does Martyn's Law apply to your venue?

This two minute questionnaire uses the official guidance criteria to see if your venue requires a plan for Martyn's Law. It's completely free, and your answers never leave the page.

This checker needs JavaScript. The short version: Martyn's Law applies to premises with a building, used for things like hospitality, retail, worship or leisure, where 200 or more people (including staff) can reasonably be expected at the same time, from time to time. 200–799 is the standard tier; 800+ is the enhanced tier. Read our plain-English guide.

Is there a building at your venue that the public can enter?

Ticketed, paid or members-only entry still counts as public access. Open-air sites with no building (a park, a ruin) are treated differently by the Act.

Yes — a building, or a building plus outdoor areas No — open-air only, no building

What is your venue mainly used for?

Pick the main use. If it has several uses, choose the principal one, judged over time.

Food & drink pub, bar, restaurant, café, food hall Hall or hireable venue village hall, community centre, conference venue Place of worship church, mosque, synagogue, temple, gurdwara Entertainment & leisure nightclub, theatre, cinema, gym, pool, arcade, golf or sports clubhouse Shop or retail shops, post offices, banks, fuel stations Sports ground open-air stadium or arena with stands/terraces for spectators Library, museum or gallery Visitor attraction cultural, historic or touristic Hotel, hostel or holiday park Healthcare hospital, clinic, GP or dental surgery Bus, rail or tram station Childcare nursery, pre-school Primary or secondary school Further education college University / higher education Public authority premises Aerodrome None of these

Do any of these describe your venue?

Tick all that apply — most venues tick none.

Open-air recreation ground with no entry checks Note: charging to hire a pitch doesn't count as an entry check on the wider ground Airport, national rail, underground or port already regulated under existing transport security law Parliament or devolved legislature/government premises Occupied by the Crown None of these

Is your venue its own site, or part of something bigger?

This changes whose numbers you count.

Standalone venue A unit inside a larger complex e.g. a shop in a shopping centre — count your own unit's numbers only Shares a building with other businesses Several buildings on one site, same operator count people across all of them together

How will you assess your peak numbers?

Important: fire capacity is a ceiling, not your answer. A venue with fire capacity 300 whose genuine busiest day is 150 people is out of scope. Use your busiest foreseeable times — not the average.

What we've actually had historic attendance — often the fairest method Fire safe-occupancy figure Fixed seating / standing capacity Tickets or pre-registration remember to add staff on top Premises licence capacity limit Another method needs written justification

Using that method: what's the most people you'd reasonably expect to be at your venue, on your busiest day of the year?

Consider your busiest day of the year (eg. Easter service for a church, an England matchday at a pub, a wedding at a golf club, etc). Include all staff in the number, as well as the public.

Peak number of people

One more — your biggest days. Could 800 or more people ever be there at once, even one day a year?

This is the trap in the Act: an event you expect to repeat — an annual festival, fireworks night, one huge booking every summer — counts as "from time to time", even if it's once a year.

No — 800+ at once just doesn't happen here Once, as a genuine one-off happened or might happen once, but we don't expect a repeat Yes — on a repeating occasion e.g. every year at our festival / big match / fireworks night

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This result is based on the criteria in the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025 and its statutory guidance (including the scope examples in supplementary document B). It's general information, not legal advice — unusual setups (nested premises, mixed uses, events) deserve a careful read of the official guidance.

Standard tier? We're building your next step.

The service turns your answers into site-specific procedures, staff records and review reminders — launching ahead of Spring 2027. Join the early list for founding-member pricing.

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Martyn's Law Plan

Plain-English compliance tools for standard tier venues under the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025: pubs, halls, churches, gyms, cafés and other places where 200 to 799 people can be expected.

We only ever quote what the law and official guidance actually say. No scare tactics, no invented requirements.

Official sources

Statutory guidance (GOV.UK)
ProtectUK
SIA (regulator)

© 2026 Martyn's Law Plan. This site provides general information about the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025 and is not legal advice. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.