Martyn's Law for pubs: does yours hit 200, and what you actually have to do before spring 2027

Martyn's Law applies to your pub if you can reasonably expect 200 or more people on the premises at the same time, staff and beer garden included, even if that only happens on your busiest nights or a few weekends a year. If you're in, the job is smaller than the scare stories: tell the Security Industry Authority you're responsible for the building, and have simple plans your staff know for getting people out, getting people in, locking the doors and telling everyone what's happening. No mandatory training, no required building work. It isn't in force yet. Spring 2027 is the expected start.

The Morning Advertiser ran a piece on 27 October 2026 telling pubs to start preparing, and most of what's online is written by law firms and security companies, which is fine, but none of it does the bit a licensee actually needs first: sitting down with your own floor and your own busiest night and working out whether you're even in. So here's that, then the four plans on one page you can copy.

Is my pub in scope? The 200 test

The law is the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025. It got Royal Assent on 3 April 2025, and the duties aren't switched on until regulations bring them in. For a pub, the Home Office scope factsheet boils down to this:

It has to be a building used wholly or mainly for things on the Schedule 1 list, and food and drink is on it, so a pub qualifies on use straight away. Then 200 or more people have to be reasonably expected there at the same time, and the factsheet is explicit that staff count. And land attached to the building counts as part of the premises. The government's own example is "a pub with a beer garden".

800 or more and you're in the enhanced tier, which is a different and much heavier job. Very few pubs are there, so this guide is about the standard tier, 200 to 799.

The word that catches people is "reasonably expected". It isn't your average night. ProtectUK's guidance says the figure is about numbers that happen from time to time, that "time to time does not refer to an average attendance", and that a place can be in scope if it only hits 200 on certain nights or at certain times of year, as long as you'd expect it again. A one-off spike you don't expect to repeat doesn't bring you in.

So a pub doing 60 on a Tuesday and 140 on a Saturday can still be in, if the garden fills every sunny bank holiday or every big match day. And a pub with a licence for 300 that has never seen more than 150 in it may well be out. Your licence capacity isn't the test. What actually happens is.

Count it properly, two ways

The guidance lets you use any reasonable method, and names two you'll already know: the safe occupancy sums from your fire risk assessment, and your own historic numbers. I'd do both, because they answer different questions.

The fire sum tells you the ceiling. Fire risk assessments use floor space factors from Approved Document B. For pubs the ones that matter are:

Floor space factors from Approved Document B, as reproduced by Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue Service

Area	Square metres per person	People per 10m²
Bar area within 2m of the serving point	0.3	33
Bar area without fixed seating	0.5	20
Dining room or restaurant	1.0	10
Lounge or bar not in the above	1.0	10

A pub with a 60m² standing bar and a 40m² dining room comes out at 120 plus 40, so 160 inside at the absolute most. On that sum alone the building can't reach 200. Add a garden and it's a different conversation, because the garden counts and floor space factors don't really help you outside.

The clicker tells you the truth. On your next properly busy night, the one you'd expect to repeat, put a cheap tally counter on the door or do a head count at the peak, inside and out, and add every member of staff on shift. Write down the date, the time, the number and how you counted it. Do it again on the next big one. If your best recurring night comes out at 140, you've got a written reason you're out of scope. If it's 210 with the garden full and eight staff on, you're in, and now you know it before the regulator does.

One thing I'd watch: Christmas parties, a beer festival weekend, the summer fun day, the big match. If you do one every year, that's a recurring number. Count those too.

If you're in: what the standard tier actually asks

The Home Office standard duty factsheet, updated 24 July 2026, lists it plainly. The responsible person, usually whoever's in control of the premises, has two jobs.

Notify the SIA. When you become responsible for the premises, when you stop being responsible, and when anything you told them changes. The SIA says it'll publish how the notification system works closer to commencement, so there's nothing to fill in yet.

Have public protection procedures in place, so far as is reasonably practicable. Four of them:

The four standard tier procedures, from the Home Office factsheet, with what they mean in a pub

Procedure	The legal meaning	In a pub, the questions to answer
Evacuation	Moving people out of the premises or part of it	Which exits, and which way you'd send people if the threat is at the front door rather than a fire in the kitchen
Invacuation	Moving people to a safer place inside	Which room is away from the street and the glass. A function room or a back lounge, not the cellar
Lockdown	Securing the premises so people can't get in or out	Who locks which door, where the keys live, how long it takes. Lock against entry, and never chain a fire exit
Communication	Telling people what's happening and what to do	How you tell a full garden and a busy bar the same thing at the same time, and how staff tell each other

Staff with a role in any of that need to know the procedures and their part in them. That's the training requirement, and the factsheet says outright there's no statutory requirement for specific training courses. It also says the Act doesn't require physical alterations or buying specific equipment, though some might be reasonably practicable for you.

And the penalties, from the regulator factsheet: up to £10,000 for a standard tier premises, plus up to £500 a day if you ignore a notice and carry on. The same factsheet says the SIA will "support, advise and guide" and save enforcement for serious or persistent non-compliance. I'd take that at face value but not rely on it. £10,000 is a lot of pints, over 4,000 at the £2.45 gross profit a typical pint leaves.

The whole plan on one page

This is what I'd write, and it should take an evening. Copy it into a document and fill the right-hand column in for your own building.

One-page Martyn's Law plan for a standard tier pub (my template, free to copy)

Heading	What to write
Responsible person	Name, and who covers when they're off
Our number	Busiest recurring count, staff included, date and method. Fire risk assessment figure alongside it
Evacuation	Each exit, and the alternative route if the threat is at that exit
Invacuation	The room, how many fit, who closes its door and keeps people back from windows
Lockdown	Every external door, who locks it, where the key is, time it takes
Communication	The words staff use, who tells the garden, who rings 999
Staff awareness	Who's been shown, when. A signed line on the rota is enough of a record to start
Review	Date to look at it again, and after any change to the building or the garden

Keep it with your incident log, because it's the same kind of paperwork and the same person will be asked for it.

One idea worth trying

Time a lockdown for real. One quiet night after close, start a stopwatch and have whoever's on lock every door that faces the outside, front, side, garden gate, the yard. Most pubs I know have at least one door where the key is on someone's personal bunch, or a garden gate nobody can find the padlock for. Ninety seconds on a stopwatch tells you more than any course will, costs nothing, and gives you a line for the plan: "all external doors secured in 1 min 40, keys on the hook behind the bar". It also helps the next time you have to clear the garden at closing for any other reason.

What to do now, and what to wait for

Do now: the count, the fire risk assessment check, the stopwatch test, and the one-page plan. Those are useful whatever the final guidance says. If you're planning your busy nights anyway, my match day guide and the Christmas TEN guide are the nights to count.

Wait for: the SIA's notification system and its final regulatory guidance. It consulted on draft guidance between April and June 2026, and the final version was still awaited in mid-October. The Home Office statutory guidance came out in April 2026 and was updated in August. Don't pay anyone for a "Martyn's Law certificate". There's no such thing in the Act.

Common questions

Does Martyn's Law apply to pubs?

Yes, if 200 or more people, staff included, can reasonably be expected on the premises at the same time. A pub qualifies on use as food and drink premises, and the government's own guidance says attached land like a beer garden counts. 200 to 799 is the standard tier.

When does Martyn's Law come into force?

Not yet. The Act got Royal Assent on 3 April 2025 but the duties start only when regulations bring them in. Spring 2027 is the widely expected date, with the SIA's notification system and final guidance due before then.

Do I count staff for Martyn's Law?

Yes. The Home Office scope factsheet says 200 or more individuals including staff, and ProtectUK's guidance says the assessment should include people working there.

Is my licensed capacity the Martyn's Law number?

No. The test is the greatest number you can reasonably expect from time to time, not your licence or your average night. You can use your fire risk assessment occupancy sums and your own historic counts as evidence.

What does a standard tier pub have to do?

Notify the Security Industry Authority that you're responsible for the premises, and have procedures for evacuation, invacuation, lockdown and communication that staff with a role know about, so far as is reasonably practicable. There's no required training course or building work.

What is the fine for not complying with Martyn's Law?

For standard tier premises, a penalty of up to £10,000, plus up to £500 a day if a notice is ignored, according to the Home Office enforcement factsheet. The SIA says it will advise first and enforce for serious or persistent non-compliance.