Martyn's Law for Restaurants: What You Need to Do
TL;DR
Restaurants with 200 to 799 people on site (diners plus all staff) fall under Martyn’s Law standard tier. Above 800 you’re into enhanced tier instead. You need procedures for evacuation, invacuation, lockdown, and communication. No equipment, no physical changes. Seated customers are easier to direct than a standing crowd, so you’re already ahead. Below: capacity counting, key challenges, and a worked example.
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If your restaurant regularly has between 200 and 799 people on site at the same time (diners, kitchen staff, front of house, and anyone else present), it falls under the standard tier of Martyn’s Law. Above 800 you’re into enhanced tier instead, which carries a heavier set of duties beyond the scope of this guide. Standard tier needs public protection procedures for evacuation, invacuation, lockdown, and communication.
Restaurants have some natural advantages here. Seated customers are easier to direct than a standing crowd. Staff are already trained to manage the dining room. Sight lines are generally clear. The main additions are invacuation and lockdown procedures, which most restaurants don’t currently have.
Does Martyn's Law Apply to Restaurants?
Restaurants fall under Food and drink (Schedule 1, paragraph 2) of the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025. If your restaurant regularly has between 200 and 799 people present at the same time, it qualifies as a standard tier premises. At 800 or more, you're into enhanced tier instead, which carries a heavier set of duties.
Standard tier means two duties: notify the SIA that you are a qualifying premises, and put public protection procedures in place covering evacuation, invacuation, lockdown, and communication.
No physical alterations. No equipment to buy. No consultants to hire.
How to Work Out Your Restaurant Capacity
Count every person present at peak times: diners at every table, waiting staff, kitchen team, bar staff, hosts, cleaners, and any delivery drivers on site. Don’t forget private dining rooms or outdoor terraces.
A restaurant with 160 covers and 45 staff across front of house and kitchen is over 200. If you run multiple sittings, the capacity is based on the maximum number present at any one time, not across the whole evening.
Use your booking system data, cover counts, or fire safety occupancy calculations. If you have fixed seating, simply count the seats and add maximum staff numbers.
Not sure where you fall? Use our free capacity calculator to work it out.
Key Challenges for Restaurants
Every restaurant is different, but these are the issues that come up most often:
Large windows and glass frontage
Many restaurants have floor-to-ceiling windows or glass frontage. During invacuation, glass is a fragment hazard from external explosions. Identify areas away from windows where people can shelter: kitchen corridors, interior rooms, or areas behind solid walls.
Kitchen as an exit route
The kitchen rear door is often the only secondary exit, but kitchens have hot surfaces, open flames, and wet floors. Staff need to know how to quickly make the kitchen safe for customers to pass through, or whether to use it as a staff-only exit.
Customers seated at tables
Seated diners take longer to move than a standing crowd. Tables and chairs create obstacles. During evacuation, staff need to give clear, calm directions and physically guide people if needed. Consider aisle widths and whether table layouts allow smooth flow to exits.
Multiple service periods
Lunch and dinner services have different staffing levels and customer numbers. Your procedures should work at both a quiet Tuesday lunch and a fully booked Saturday evening. The duty manager on each shift needs to know who is responsible for what.
Worked Example: Restaurant Procedures
A high street restaurant with 160 covers across a main dining room and private dining area, plus a kitchen, storage room, and staff area. Capacity 210 including 50 staff at peak.
| Procedure | Implementation |
|---|---|
| Capacity | 210 (160 diners + 50 staff) |
| Evacuation | Main entrance to public pavement; side door through corridor to alley; kitchen rear door to service yard. Staff guide diners to the exit furthest from any reported threat. Private dining room guests directed via main dining room or corridor exit. |
| Invacuation | Main dining area away from front windows; private dining room (interior walls); staff area and storage room at rear. Kitchen corridor as additional shelter. Staff close blinds or shutters on front windows if time allows. |
| Lockdown | Front door locked by host (key behind reception desk); side corridor door bolted (nearest waiter); kitchen rear door bolted (kitchen porter); any terrace access secured. Lights dimmed in front dining area. |
| Communication | Shift manager initiates response. Radio earpieces for front-of-house staff. Kitchen alerted verbally by runner or via kitchen intercom. Customers informed calmly by their server with clear, short instructions. Shift manager calls 999. |
| Training | New starters briefed during induction: exit routes, shelter areas, lockdown points, who is in charge. One-page procedure card in each staff area. Pre-service briefing includes a security reminder once a month. ACT Awareness e-learning recommended for all staff. |
This is one example. Your procedures should reflect your specific building, layout, and circumstances. Read our full guide to public protection procedures for a detailed breakdown of what to include.
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Front-of-house staff are your biggest asset. They’re already trained to manage the dining room, stay calm under pressure, and communicate clearly with customers. Adding security awareness on top of that isn’t a big leap.
Kitchen staff need to know their role too. In many restaurants the kitchen team is isolated from the dining room and won’t hear announcements. Agree a method for alerting the kitchen quickly: a runner, intercom, or radio.
If you have a private dining room that is sometimes hired out, make sure whoever manages the booking knows the procedures. Include a brief note in any hire agreement.
The free ACT Awareness e-learning (45 minutes) is a good baseline for anyone who wants to go further. It covers recognising threats, suspicious items, and what to do during an attack.
Quick Checklist
- Work out your maximum capacity (diners + full kitchen and front-of-house team at peak service)
- Map all exit routes, including the kitchen fire exit and any rear access
- List every entry point and how each locks: front door, delivery entrance, kitchen exit, terrace access
- Plan how front-of-house staff will guide seated diners out (consider pushchairs, high chairs, mobility issues)
- Identify your safest interior area for invacuation (away from street-facing windows)
- Create a communication plan that works during busy service (code words or discreet signals between FOH and kitchen)
- Brief all staff and keep procedure summaries in the kitchen and at the host station
- Plan for incidents at different times (a quiet Tuesday lunch vs a fully booked Saturday evening)
Getting Started
Compliance is not complicated. Here is what to do:
- Work out your capacity (try our free calculator). Under 200? You are not in scope.
- Write procedures for evacuation, invacuation, lockdown, and communication tailored to your restaurant.
- Make sure your staff and volunteers know the procedures. Brief them, put up posters, hand out one-page summaries.
- Keep records of what you have done and who has been briefed.
- Review at least once a year.
You can do this yourself, or use Standard Tier to document your procedures in 10 minutes, set up a training portal your staff and volunteers can access on their phones whenever it suits them, and keep a digital audit trail without chasing signatures or filing paperwork.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Does Martyn’s Law apply to my restaurant right now?
We only seat 150 diners. Are we under the threshold?
Do I need to change my restaurant layout or buy security equipment?
How is this different from my fire safety plan?
What if my restaurant is part of a hotel or shopping centre?
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Standard Tier (2026). Martyn's Law for Restaurants: What You Need to Do. Available at: https://www.standardtier.co.uk/guide/martyns-law-for-restaurants
Last reviewed: 19 March 2026. Based on the Act, the Home Office statutory guidance published on 15 April 2026, and the Home Office factsheets. Requirements may be refined as the SIA finalises its guidance.
This guide is general information about the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025, not legal advice. Duties under the Act rest on the responsible person for each venue and cannot be transferred. If you're unsure how a specific requirement applies to your premises, take advice from a solicitor or qualified security adviser before acting on anything you read here.
Standard Tier is an independent platform and is not affiliated with the UK Home Office, the SIA, or any government body.