Protect guidance for leisure and hospitality
What the risk looks like in your sector
Leisure and hospitality venues often operate in busy environments, particularly during evenings and weekends. Large numbers of people, queueing areas and alcohol consumption can increase vulnerability and make incident management more complex.
Possible risks may include:
- suspicious behaviour or hostile reconnaissance
- unattended items
- vehicle access to pedestrian areas
- crowd congestion
- disorder during an emergency
What Martyn's Law may require
Leisure and hospitality venues that are open to the public and meet capacity thresholds may fall within the scope of the Act.
Where in scope, venues may be required to:
- register qualifying premises
- conduct a terrorism risk assessment
- put in place proportionate protective procedures
- ensure staff understand how to respond during an incident
- keep plans documented and under review
Enhanced tier venues may need to evidence more detailed protective measures and structured planning arrangements.
See our Martyn's Law guidance page for full details and thresholds.
Practical steps
- train front-of-house staff to identify suspicious behaviour
- ensure managers understand lockdown procedures
- check CCTV coverage and storage
- review entry points and queue management
- liaise with licensing and police partners
Training and resources
- complete ACT Awareness (opens new window) training
- ACT Security (opens new window) e-Learning for security staff
Access further support via our training and resources page.