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Piers Warne, Legal Director at TLT
The Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025, also known as Martyn’s Law, named after one of the victims of the 2017 Manchester Arena attack, is a wide-ranging law intended to strengthen the security of public premises and events.
It has officially been signed into law, beginning a likely two-year implementation process before the provisions of the law officially come into force. From a hospitality perspective – Martyn’s Law travels way beyond this sector – all premises need, as a minimum, to reflect upon whether they are required to act.
This includes:
- Pubs and Bars
- Nightclubs
- Hotels
- Restaurants
- Festivals and large-scale public events
- Experiential premises
- Gambling premises
- Event spaces
- Stadiums
Starting point (‘standard tier’)
The threshold for taking further action is where 200 persons may ordinarily be expected to be on the premises. There is no set means of calculating this, and the Guidance (when released) is likely to give more details, but a good start would be to consider your fire risk assessment maximum capacity. Whilst this may not provide a true reflection of the number actually on site, it sets a benchmark for whether further investigation is needed. It is expected that if your premises hosts more than 200 persons (members of the public and staff) on occasion, even perhaps only at Christmas, the threshold will be met and will require action.
Enhanced tier
Enhanced tier, which builds on standard tier requirements, will affect premises and events where over 800 persons would be expected to attend at the same time. The same rules apply about how this is calculated, but for events, as opposed to premises, the number of tickets offered for sale might be a good indicator as to whether the threshold will be met.
Enforcing body
The Security Industry Authority (SIA) has been tasked with managing Martyn’s Law and “walking those affected towards compliance”. They will also be the enforcing body the law once it is implemented. The SIA will have the power to levy financial penalties for non-compliance and some breaches will create criminal offences.
There will be a requirement to register standard and enhanced tier premises with the SIA when the legislation comes into force. Details will become clearer in regulations to be released before the scheme comes into effect in two years. At this stage, take note that a responsible person will need to complete the registration (which could be a corporate body). For enhanced tier premises, if a corporate body is registering, an individual with responsibility for implementation of the enhanced tier requirements will also need to be identified.
Requirements
Standard tier premises, as a bare minimum, will need to produce a counter-terrorism policy that deals with evacuation, invacuation (moving people to a safe place), locking down the premises, and communicating with individuals on the premises.
Enhanced tier premises will need to build on this and take such measures to prevent terrorist attacks as are reasonably practicable.
Reasonable measures will differ depending on a venue’s particular circumstances and further guidance is expected to be published between now and when the law comes into force. As always, we would advise that those affected watch out for updated guidance and seek professional legal advice as soon as possible.
Built into the legislation is the concept of joint responsibility, particularly for enhanced tier premises. Already there are questions around how this might look or work when several premises all exit onto the same street for instance. How this might affect standard tier premises that are also in the vicinity will also need clarifying. Operators of large hospitality centres and events with numerous different providers or defined spaces within will also need to carefully consider how these measures might affect commercial contracts, leases and insurance.
Complying with the spirit of the law
Given the laws’ stated purpose – to protect the public from terrorism and maximise confidence in safety when visiting public spaces – we would encourage all pubs and bars to follow at least the guidance for “standard tier” venues, regardless of whether they consider it likely they will meet the 200-person threshold, especially those in more high-risk city centres, for instance. It is hoped however, that Government will expressly state in the Guidance that this is not a matter for conditions on premises licences or planning permissions.
Conclusion
The sad fact is that terrorist acts are a part of modern life, and this legislation reflects that. Martyn’s Law is ultimately intended to help steer businesses, including hospitality, towards a better prepared and safer way of operating. Preparation ahead of any official deadlines is highly recommended for the safety of you, your staff and customers.
Get in touch
Please contact Piers Warne, Legal Director at TLT ([email protected]) if you have any questions or need advice or assistance.
TLT LLP
We’re a full-service law firm with over 25 years’ experience in the leisure, food and drink sector. Our clients range from national pub companies and leading restaurant chains to experiential leisure operators, sports venues and major festivals. We live and breathe your issues, using our sector knowledge and legal expertise to provide highly commercial advice.
