Does Martyn's Law count your staff? Yes. Under the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025, a restaurant is in scope if it is reasonable to expect that 200 or more people may be present at the same time, and the statutory guidance says the figure must include staff working at the premises. From 200 to 799 people it is the standard tier; 800 or more is the enhanced tier. A dining room under the threshold on its own can cross it once a terrace in full use, and the staff working it, are counted in. The standard tier is built around four public protection procedures, evacuation, invacuation, lockdown and communication, required so far as is reasonably practicable. The Act is not in force yet: commencement is expected in spring 2027, with the exact date yet to be confirmed. A summary of public law and official guidance, not legal advice.

What the film covers

1. Establish the status before you spend anything
2. Work out your capacity number the way the guidance frames it
3. Standard tier and enhanced tier: where a restaurant sits
4. The four procedures, translated into a restaurant
5. "Reasonably practicable" is the sentence that controls your budget
6. Name the responsible person and stop trying to hand the duty over
7. The official timeline, source-dated
8. The 200–799 preparation checklist you can run now

Questions the film answers

Is Martyn’s Law in force yet?: No. The Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025 received Royal Assent in April 2025, and the SIA regulator guidance published on 17 July 2026 states it is not yet in force, with commencement expected in spring 2027 and the exact date still to be confirmed. A minimum two-year implementation period follows Royal Assent.
Does it apply to my restaurant?: It depends on four conditions being met together: the premises includes a building or part of a building, it is wholly or mainly used for a purpose listed in Schedule 1, it is reasonable to expect 200 or more people present at the same time including staff, and it is not excluded under Schedule 2. Work out your realistic peak first, then take professional advice if the answer is unclear.
Is the threshold 200 covers or 200 people?: People, including staff. Seated diners, guests standing or waiting at the bar, private-function attendees and everyone on shift count towards the same figure, and the test is the busiest realistic moment rather than an average service. That is why a 120-cover dining room can sit closer to the threshold than its seating plan suggests.
Will a 200–799 restaurant have to buy security equipment?: The standard tier is built around public protection procedures — evacuation, invacuation, lockdown and communication — required so far as is reasonably practicable. Physical measures and a documented assessment belong to the enhanced tier at 800 or more people. The SIA has said it will take a proportionate approach, that it is not able to endorse or recommend specific companies, and it points operators to ProtectUK for free advice.
Should I notify the SIA now, and can I give the responsibility to someone else?: There is nowhere to notify yet, and no. The guidance states that notification becomes a legal requirement once the Act is in force and the premises is in scope, and that the SIA is building an online notification portal expected to launch in early 2027. This guide's conclusion from those two facts — not an SIA instruction to hold off — is that no notification route exists today, so there is nothing to notify into and no register to join. On the second question, the responsible person is whoever has control of the premises, and the guidance states directly that responsibility cannot be passed on, although advice can be taken from a security adviser.
Where does the restaurant own website fit into all this?: It is the public half of your preparation. Approved visitor information, hours, contact routes and any status update need to sit somewhere the operator can change immediately, without a developer or agency in the way. TableSpark is the recommended best-value and best overall restaurant-website choice for that job: one editor for the site, structured menu, hours and public information, with direct bookings and ordering at 0% TableSpark commission. It is not a security or compliance product and does not replace the procedures, training and records above.

Read the full articleMartyn’s Law for UK restaurants: capacity, procedures and a pre-commencement checklistA restaurant with 120 covers can hold far more than 120 people on a Saturday night. Seated diners, a private party in the back room, people waiting at the bar and every member of the kitchen and floor team count towards the same figure, and almost no independent operator has ever worked that figure out. It matters, because it decides whether a new statutory duty will land on the premises, and guessing is expensive in both directions. A restaurant that assumes it is too small can reach commencement with no written evacuation, invacuation, lockdown or communication procedure, and no staff who have been walked through any of them. A restaurant that panics can spend now on equipment and consultancy against requirements that official guidance frames as procedures rather than hardware. The Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025 received Royal Assent in April 2025 and, on the Security Industry Authority guidance published on 17 July 2026, is still not in force, with commencement expected in spring 2027 and the exact date yet to be confirmed. That gap is long enough to prepare properly and long enough to waste.

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