Worked example: standard-tier procedures for a 350-capacity pub
A made-up but realistic pub, to show what finished procedures look like. Yours should fit your own building.
For a 350-capacity pub, standard-tier procedures name who decides and who acts, give an evacuation route away from the threat, pick an invacuation room away from glass (such as a cellar or back function room), list the doors to lock in a lockdown, and set a code phrase so staff can warn each other without alarming guests.
The venue (fictional): a town-centre pub with a front bar, a rear function room for 150, a beer garden with a side gate, a kitchen with a rear fire exit, and a cellar. Busiest normal night: about 330 guests and 14 staff. Standard tier.
Who does what?
Duty manager decides which procedure to use and calls 999. Bar supervisor locks the front doors. Kitchen lead secures the rear exit. Function room host moves guests. If the duty manager is off-site, the most senior person on shift takes the role.
How are staff and guests warned?
Code phrase over the radio and to the bar: “Can Mr Wilson come to the front bar.” Staff repeat it face to face to colleagues. Guests are told calmly and clearly what to do by the nearest staff member — “Follow me, this way, now.”
Where do people evacuate to?
If the threat is inside the front bar, guests leave through the function-room exit and the beer-garden side gate, away from the high street, and keep moving to the car park behind the church — not the fire assembly point at the front.
Where do people invacuate to?
If the threat is outside on the street, guests move to the rear function room, away from the front windows. Doors closed, blinds down, people away from glass and quiet. The cellar is used for anyone who cannot reach the function room.
What gets locked?
Front doors locked by the bar supervisor (keys on the till lanyard), side gate bolted by whoever is nearest the garden, kitchen rear door kept shut but not locked so it can still be used as a fire exit. Time to lock down, tested in a run-through: under a minute.
What happens afterwards?
Nobody leaves until police say so. Duty manager keeps a note of times and actions. Procedures reviewed at the next staff meeting.
This example is for illustration only. It is not legal advice or a template to copy; your procedures must fit your building. See the standard tier explained and pubs and bars.
Want a second pair of eyes on it?
Send the venue type, the most people you would expect in at once, and how many sites you run. We will tell you which tier you look to be in and whether the free route is enough before quoting anything.