The Law Nobody Argued With

Martyn Hett was 29 years old when he was killed at the Manchester Arena on 22 May 2017. He died alongside 21 other people at the end of a concert. His mother, Figen Murray, spent the years after that night campaigning for a legal duty on publicly accessible venues to plan for exactly the kind of attack that had killed her son.

The Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act, which the industry calls Martyn's Law, received Royal Assent in April 2025. The Security Industry Authority published detailed guidance for venues earlier this year. Operators in scope have until Spring 2027 to have their plans in place.

What the law requires

The legislation splits into two tiers based on expected capacity.

Venues where 200 or more people are expected to be on site at any one time sit in the lower tier. That includes most full-service pubs, restaurants, hotel dining rooms, and event spaces in the UK. The requirements at this level are practical: clear evacuation routes, staff who know how to respond in the event of an attack, and a method for communicating with guests in an emergency. Named responsibility, documented procedures, registration with the SIA.

Venues expecting 800 or more people fall into the enhanced tier: additional measures such as CCTV, bag checks where appropriate, and vehicle access controls. The kind of planning that large event venues have had in place for years, now extended to any space where a large crowd gathers.

The logic behind it needs no defending. People going out for dinner, a birthday, a Sunday lunch, or a drink after work have always assumed the room is safe. The Manchester attack happened in exactly that kind of space. Figen Murray spent seven years making sure the lesson from that night was written into law.

The context it lands in

The principle is right. The practical requirements are reasonable. The timing is, to put it plainly, a lot.

A hospitality venue with a dining room that holds more than 200 guests, running through the second half of 2026, is already carrying the following: a tipping policy awaiting a code of practice that the government pulled in July without explanation, zero-hours shift cancellation rights coming in October, a rates bill revised upward in spring following the 2026 revaluation, employer National Insurance at a higher rate than two years ago, a National Living Wage that increased again in April, food inflation that the Food and Drink Federation forecasts at nine percent by the end of the year, and a 20 percent VAT rate on every adult plate the kitchen sends out.

Martyn's Law is not the unreasonable item on that list. It is just the latest item to arrive.

The SIA has been clear that enforcement will begin with a supportive and advisory approach. There will be time and guidance before sanctions apply. That is the right way to bring a sector onboard with a serious new obligation. What it does not change is the staff time required to document procedures, complete training, and register with the regulator, against a calendar already full of things operators did not ask for.

The seat that pays for it

Every compliance cost gets absorbed into the fixed structure that runs whether the room fills or not.

The venue that trains its floor team in protective security, reviews its evacuation plan, and registers before the Spring 2027 deadline is doing the right thing. The cost of doing it does not disappear because service was quiet. It sits alongside the rates bill, the payroll run, the energy invoice, and the VAT return, and it runs regardless of what the booking sheet looks like on any given night.

The empty chair on a Tuesday evening funds all of it, equally and without contribution. The rota was set. The kitchen prepped. The fixed costs are fixed. A seat that stays cold pays back nothing, against a compliance base that keeps expanding.

Around 4pm, when the shape of the evening becomes clear, Halfseat asks venues to release the tables they expect to lose. Food at half price. Drinks at full price. A real cut of the booking fee goes to the venue. The seat earns something from a night it was going to earn nothing.

The law is right. It should be followed, and it will be. Spring 2027 is nine months away. The room is already running everything it costs to run.