Bomb Threat Procedure for UK Pubs 2026

Last updated: 11 April 2026

Most pub landlords hope they’ll never need this information, but a single unplanned incident can cost you thousands in lost trading and expose your business to serious legal liability if you’re unprepared. Bomb threats in UK pubs are rare, but when they happen—whether genuine or not—your response in the first 60 seconds determines whether your staff and customers leave safely and whether you comply with UK law. This guide covers what you actually need to do, why it matters legally, and how to prepare your team now so nobody has to figure it out under pressure. We’ve based this on UK police guidance, Health and Safety Executive requirements, and real-world operator experience managing a busy pub through emergency scenarios.

Your Legal Obligations as a Pub Licensee

The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 places a statutory duty on you to ensure, so far as reasonably practicable, the health and safety of all persons on your premises. This is not discretionary—it means you cannot delay evacuation to verify whether a threat is genuine. If you receive a bomb threat and do not evacuate, you are in breach of your health and safety obligations. If someone is injured as a result, you face both criminal prosecution and unlimited civil liability.

Your pub licensing law obligations under your premises licence include maintaining public safety. The Local Authority Coordinator of Regulatory Services (LACORS) guidance and HSE enforcement both confirm that evacuation must happen immediately. There is no “wait and see” option.

Additionally, Health and Safety Executive regulations require you to have a written emergency evacuation plan and to conduct evacuation drills at least annually. If police investigate a bomb threat at your premises and find you have no evacuation plan or evidence of staff training, the HSE can issue enforcement notices and fines reaching tens of thousands of pounds.

Your insurance policy almost certainly requires you to have a documented bomb threat and emergency evacuation procedure in place. If you evacuate without a plan and someone is injured in the process, your insurer may refuse to pay claims on the grounds that you failed to implement reasonable precautions.

Immediate Response: What to Do in the First Minute

The person receiving a bomb threat call should remain calm, not hang up, and immediately signal for help while keeping the caller on the line. Most threat calls last only 10-30 seconds, but the more time you keep the caller engaged, the more information you can gather for police.

If You Receive the Call

• Do not hang up immediately. Keep the caller talking if it is safe to do so. Gesture to a colleague to alert management or call 999 from another phone while you maintain the call.
• Write down everything: Exact time of call, background noises (traffic, music, machinery), accent or distinctive speech patterns, specific words used, any reference to a location or timeline for the threat.
• Ask clarifying questions if the caller allows it: “Where is the device?” “When will it go off?” “Why are you telling us?” These answers help police assess credibility and urgency.
• Note the phone number if visible. Do not put the call on speaker unless absolutely necessary—it can distort audio that police may later want to analyse.
• Do not tell the caller you are calling police. Simply end the call normally once you have extracted maximum information, or stay on the line until your manager takes over.

A real-world example: At Teal Farm Pub in Washington, Tyne & Wear, we conducted a bomb threat drill with staff. The test call came in during a quiet afternoon shift. The bar staff member who took the call panicked and immediately hung up, then forgot to note the exact time. When we reviewed what happened, we realised we had lost critical information that would have helped police. The drill revealed that a single unclear moment of panic could eliminate evidence. That’s why training is not theoretical—it’s the difference between helping police catch someone and giving them nothing to work with.

Evacuation Procedure and Staff Roles

Evacuation must begin immediately upon receiving a bomb threat, before any police have even arrived. You do not wait for confirmation that the threat is real. Your procedure must be clear enough that any staff member, from the youngest bar back to the most experienced server, can execute it without confusion.

The Evacuation Chain

First 30 seconds:

• Manager or senior staff member on premises takes control immediately and verifies the threat has been received.
• One staff member calls 999. This is not delegated—a named person does this, now.
• A second staff member activates the evacuation alarm or loud verbal signal (“Evacuation, everyone leave the building now”).
• A third staff member begins moving through the premises checking toilet areas, storage, kitchens, and any enclosed spaces where customers or staff may not hear the initial announcement.

Minutes 1–3:

• All staff move to the designated assembly point outside the premises, at least 200 metres away (roughly two-thirds of a football pitch) to account for blast radius.
• A named person (usually the senior staff member or manager) conducts a head count and lists who is accounted for. If anyone is missing, this information goes directly to police.
• Another staff member or the manager meets police on arrival, provides them with the threat information, your evacuation plan, and confirms everyone is accounted for.

Assembly point selection matters more than most licensees realise. Your designated assembly point should be upwind of the building (so you’re not in line with the building if there is an incident), in a visible location where police can easily find your group, and away from other buildings or structures that could be damaged. A pub car park 50 metres away is not adequate. A side street 300 metres away, visible from the road, is better.

When managing 17 staff across front of house and kitchen at Teal Farm, we found that the only way a head count works under pressure is if one person is solely responsible for it. When multiple people “help”, someone always gets missed or counted twice. Assign one person as head count officer, make sure everyone knows who that person is, and practice this role during annual drills.

Special Considerations

• Disabled customers or staff: If anyone has mobility difficulties, assign a specific staff member to assist them. This decision should be made during your annual drill, not during an actual emergency.
• Customers with children: Ensure all children are accounted for—a parent may have left a child with another adult. The head count person must ask whether any children belong to people in the group.
• Kitchen and cellar staff: These areas must be checked first. Do not allow anyone to remain in the building to “turn off the oven” or “close the cellar hatch”. Equipment can be replaced; people cannot.
• Customers in accessible toilet areas: If you have an accessible toilet, station someone outside it during evacuation to assist anyone who may need help exiting.

Communication and Reporting

The 999 call is the single most important action in a bomb threat response, and it must happen immediately, not after customers have left or police have already arrived. The police dispatcher will ask specific questions, and your answers determine the police response level.

What to Tell Police

When you call 999, have the following information ready:

• Exact time the threat was received.
• Method of threat (phone call, email, letter, in person).
• Exact words used by the person making the threat, or as much as you can remember.
• Any background noises, accents, or distinctive characteristics of the person who made the threat.
• Your premises address, postcode, and a description of the building (terraced pub, high street, residential area, etc.).
• Number of people on the premises (customers and staff).
• Whether the person making the threat is still on the premises (very unlikely, but relevant).
• Any previous threats or similar incidents at your premises.

The police will then provide you with specific instructions. In most cases, they will establish a cordon around the premises and conduct a search. You must not allow anyone to re-enter the building until police explicitly authorise it.

Notifying Your Insurance Provider

Within 24 hours of a bomb threat incident—whether it was serious or a hoax—notify your pub insurance provider in writing. Include a copy of the incident report and all details you provided to police. Your insurer needs this to process any claims and to assess whether follow-up action is needed.

Do not assume that because the threat was a hoax, there are no consequences. Your business interruption insurance may cover lost revenue during the evacuation and search. Without notification, you forfeit this claim.

Post-Incident Recovery and Incident Documentation

After police have cleared the premises and authorised re-entry, your responsibility is to document everything that happened and assess whether you need to make changes to your procedure.

Immediate Actions

• Write an incident report within 24 hours. Include the time of threat, person who received it, exact words, staff actions, evacuation time, number of people evacuated, any issues with evacuation, time police arrived, and time police cleared the premises. Include the name and contact details of the police officer who attended.
• Conduct a staff debrief. Ask staff what went well and what was confusing. If evacuation took longer than 5 minutes, find out why. If anyone was missed, identify what went wrong with the head count process.
• Check your emergency equipment. If you have an evacuation alarm, test it. If you have a written evacuation plan, print it and post it visibly.
• Review CCTV footage if available. Store any footage of the period before and during evacuation. This may be needed by police if they investigate further.
• Preserve the original threat information. Do not delete call logs, emails, or letters. Police may request these for forensic analysis.

Opening the pub after a bomb threat is emotionally difficult. Some staff may feel unsafe returning. Some customers may be hesitant to come back. Be transparent with your team: explain what happened, what you did, and what changes you’re making to prevent or better handle future incidents. This rebuilds confidence faster than silence.

Staff Training and Preparedness

The difference between a chaotic, dangerous evacuation and an orderly one is preparation. Pub onboarding training should include bomb threat response and evacuation procedure. You are not required to conduct a full evacuation drill with customers every year—but you are required to ensure staff are trained.

Annual Drill Requirements

• Conduct at least one staff-only evacuation drill annually. This takes 20 minutes: brief staff on the scenario, execute the evacuation, head count at the assembly point, and debrief on what worked and what didn’t.
• Rotate drill times. If you always drill on a Tuesday afternoon, staff may not take it seriously. Run one during a busy service to test whether your procedure works when the pub is full.
• Document the drill. Record the date, time, number of staff present, evacuation time from first alarm to final head count, and any issues identified. If HSE or police ever ask to see evidence of your preparedness, you need this documentation.
• Brief all new staff on evacuation procedure during induction. A single sentence in a staff handbook is not enough. Walk them through the assembly point, show them where the alarm is, and explain their role in evacuation.

If you use pub staffing cost calculator tools to plan your shift rotas, build evacuation drills into your planning. Schedule one drill per year, roster staff accordingly, and brief everyone on the purpose beforehand.

Communication During Crisis

During an actual bomb threat, communication breaks down quickly. Pre-assign roles so that every staff member knows what they are responsible for:

• The 999 caller: Usually the manager or senior bar staff. This person does not evacuate—they stay close enough to give police information on arrival.
• The alarm activator: The person who triggers the evacuation signal immediately when told to do so by the manager.
• The search/sweeper: The person who quickly checks kitchens, toilets, and storage areas to ensure no one is left in the building.
• The head count officer: The person who accounts for every person at the assembly point and reports missing persons to police.
• The customer communicator: If there are customers on premises, one staff member should calmly explain what’s happening as they guide people toward exits.

Write these roles into your emergency evacuation plan, and make sure the plan is displayed in your staff area. Laminate it so it survives years of use and handling.

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