Protective Security for Pubs, Bars and Restaurants Is your venue actually prepared?

For most pubs, bars and restaurants, security isn’t a single thing.

It’s a combination of people, procedures, physical measures and technology all working together to reduce risk and help people respond effectively when something goes wrong.

You may already have CCTV.

You may have an alarm.

You may employ door supervisors.

You may have fire procedures and an emergency plan.

But an important question remains:

Do all of those measures work together as part of a coherent approach to protective security?

That is where a security review can add real value.

Hospitality venues face changing risks

Every hospitality venue is different.

A local pub, a city-centre bar, a restaurant, a nightclub and a venue that hosts occasional events will have different operating environments and different risk profiles.

Even within the same premises, the risk can change throughout the day.

A quiet weekday afternoon may look very different from:

• Friday and Saturday nights

• bank holidays

• sporting events

• live music

• private functions

• seasonal celebrations

• unusually busy periods

Protective security therefore needs to reflect how the venue actually operates, rather than simply how it looks on paper.

Start with the people

Your staff can be one of your most valuable security resources.

They know the premises.

They interact with customers.

They see what is normal.

That means they may also be among the first people to notice something unusual.

This doesn’t mean turning hospitality staff into security specialists.

It means giving them enough awareness to recognise concerns and know what to do next.

For example:

What should a member of staff do if they notice suspicious behaviour?

Who should they report it to?

What information should they provide?

What happens if there is an emergency?

Who makes the decision to evacuate, lock down or otherwise respond?

Clear answers to relatively simple questions can make a significant difference.

ProtectUK provides free security awareness resources for organisations and their staff, including ACT Awareness training.

Look at the premises differently

A security assessment doesn’t need to involve complicated terminology.

Walk through the premises and look at it from a different perspective.

Entrances and exits

How many are there?

Are they all normally used?

Could people become congested around them?

Are staff able to monitor what is happening?

Customer areas

Where do people naturally gather?

Are there areas that become particularly crowded?

Could people move away quickly if required?

Staff areas

Are staff-only areas appropriately controlled?

Could an unauthorised person gain access?

External areas

What happens immediately outside the premises?

Are there areas where people gather?

Are entrances clearly visible?

Is lighting appropriate?

Vulnerable areas

Are there locations, assets or activities that would benefit from additional protection?

The objective isn’t to find reasons to spend money.

It’s to understand where vulnerabilities exist.

Don’t forget the changing environment

One of the biggest challenges for hospitality businesses is that their security environment can change considerably.

A pub might have 30 customers at lunchtime and several hundred people later that evening.

A restaurant might normally operate quietly but host a large private function at the weekend.

A venue may also experience increased footfall around sporting fixtures, festivals or other local events.

This matters because protective security should be based on the actual operating environment.

That includes understanding when your venue is busiest, how people move around the premises and what changes during special events or unusual circumstances.

What happens if something serious occurs?

Protective security isn’t simply about preventing an incident.

It’s also about being prepared to respond.

Ask yourself:

Could staff communicate clear instructions to customers?

Do people understand the evacuation arrangements?

Could the venue respond appropriately to a threat outside the premises?

Could people be moved away from danger?

Could access to parts of the premises be controlled if necessary?

Does everyone know who is responsible for making decisions?

These questions become particularly relevant when considering the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025.

Martyn’s Law and hospitality

The Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025 is commonly referred to as Martyn’s Law.

The legislation establishes a framework for certain qualifying premises and events, with requirements differing according to the applicable tier.

The Act received Royal Assent in April 2025 but is not yet in force. The Government has provided an implementation period of at least 24 months.

The current statutory guidance describes:

Standard tier

Qualifying premises where there is a reasonable expectation that 200–799 people may be present at the same time, subject to the detailed statutory criteria and exclusions.

Enhanced tier

Qualifying premises where there is a reasonable expectation that 800 or more people may be present at the same time, again subject to the detailed statutory criteria and exclusions.

For standard-tier premises, the legislation focuses on appropriate public protection procedures, so far as reasonably practicable.

These cover:

• evacuation

• invacuation

• lockdown

• communication

Enhanced-tier premises have additional requirements, including measures intended to reduce the vulnerability of the premises or event to acts of terrorism.

What if your venue is below the threshold?

This is where some businesses can fall into a trap.

“We’re under 200, so this doesn’t apply to us.”

That may be relevant when determining whether the Act applies, but it shouldn’t be the end of the security conversation.

The statutory guidance points organisations outside the scope of the Act towards ProtectUK and other security guidance for good security practice.

A venue doesn’t need to be legally required to implement a particular measure before it can benefit from sensible protective security.

The same principle applies to businesses that are within scope.

Compliance should be the foundation — not necessarily the ceiling.

A practical security framework

For a pub, bar or restaurant, a useful starting point is:

1. IDENTIFY

What risks are relevant to your premises?

Consider both terrorism and wider security risks.

2. ASSESS

How vulnerable is the venue?

What existing measures are already helping?

Where are the gaps?

3. TREAT

What reasonable and proportionate measures could reduce those risks?

This could involve people, procedures, physical measures, technology or a combination.

4. RECORD

Document your decisions.

What did you identify?

What did you decide?

Why?

What actions have been completed?

Good records can help demonstrate that security decisions were considered rather than simply assumed.

5. REVIEW

Security isn’t static.

Review arrangements when circumstances change.

That might include:

• changes to the premises

• changes in occupancy

• new events

• changes to operating hours

• significant incidents

• changes to the local environment

• lessons identified from exercises or real incidents

ProtectUK promotes this type of structured approach to managing terrorism risk.

Security doesn’t have to be complicated

For a smaller hospitality business, protective security can sometimes feel like another obligation competing for attention alongside staffing, licensing, health and safety, food safety and the day-to-day running of the business.

It doesn’t have to be.

Effective security can start with relatively simple questions:

What could happen?

How could it happen here?

What are we already doing?

What could we improve?

Who needs to know?

What would we do if something happened tomorrow?

Those questions can provide a much clearer picture of where a venue currently stands.

What good looks like

There is no universal checklist that makes every pub, bar or restaurant secure.

Good protective security is risk-based and proportionate.

For one business, the priority might be improving staff awareness.

For another, it might be reviewing emergency communications.

Another may need to look at access arrangements or external vulnerabilities.

Another may need to establish whether its operating model brings it within the scope of Martyn’s Law.

The important thing is to make those decisions deliberately and based on evidence.

How Meraxes Secure can help

At Meraxes Secure Ltd, we work with organisations to help them understand their protective security position and identify practical improvements.

For pubs, bars, restaurants and other hospitality businesses, that can include:

• protective security assessments

• site inspections

• vulnerability identification

• security maturity reviews

• emergency and response planning

• staff awareness considerations

• Martyn’s Law scope and readiness discussions

• practical recommendations

• evidence and documentation

• review and improvement planning

Our approach is simple:

Understand the risk.

Understand the business.

Identify the gaps.

Improve what matters.

Because effective protective security isn’t about having the most security.

It’s about having the right security for the risks your organisation actually faces.

Meraxes Secure Ltd

Protecting People. Places. Purpose.