Christmas markets and seasonal events

Most Christmas markets are an open, free, walk-in affair — stalls along a street or round a square, nobody checking who comes in. On their own, those are not caught by Martyn’s Law: with no building and no entry check, they are neither a qualifying premises nor a qualifying event. The law bites in two cases — a ticketed market of 800 or more with controlled entry, or a market that fills a building past 200. And the thing to watch is the one that catches people out: the seasonal peak.

Is a Christmas market caught by Martyn’s Law?

Usually not, but it depends on the set-up. A market can be caught in one of two ways, and most open-air markets meet neither.

• As premises — only if the market is in a building (a covered market hall, a shopping centre, a hall) and 200 or more people may be present at the same time. Open land with stalls is not a building, so an outdoor market is not a qualifying premises.
• As a qualifying event — only if it expects 800 or more people, is open to the public, and controls entry (a ticket, a payment or a pass) behind a well-defined, secure perimeter. A free market people wander in and out of has no entry check, so it is not a qualifying event, however big the crowd.

So a free, open street market is out on both counts. A ticketed “winter wonderland” that expects thousands is in, as an event. A market inside a shopping centre rides on that building’s own duty. Our guides on markets and street markets and what counts as a qualifying event set out each test in full.

Why “it’s only once a year” doesn’t get you off the hook

This is the part that catches seasonal events out. The threshold is whether the number may be present “from time to time”, and the guidance is clear that this means occasionally — it can be met “only… at certain times of the year” and still count. A venue that is quiet for eleven months but packed for a Christmas market every December is caught, because December comes round every year: the peak is foreseeable and recurring, not a fluke.

The flip side is the genuine one-off. If numbers spiked once, unexpectedly, and could not reasonably be expected to happen again, that does not pull you in. But a Christmas market you run or host each year is the opposite of that — it is exactly the kind of regular seasonal peak the test is built around. So judge the market by its busiest realistic day, not the quiet weeks either side.

When does a Christmas market become a qualifying event?

When all three are true at once: 800 or more people expected, open to the public, and a real entry check — paid entry, a ticket or pass — behind a perimeter that makes the check mean something. That is the ticketed festive event, the paid winter fair, the ice-rink-and-stalls attraction you pay to get into. It carries the heavier, Enhanced-Tier-style duties: the four procedures and public protection measures, with a documented assessment.

Plenty of Christmas markets are a mix — open-access streets with a separate ticketed, controlled area inside them. There, it is that controlled area that counts: if the ticketed part expects 800 or more, it is a qualifying event, while the free streets around it are not. Count the part you actually control entry to.

What about the stalls, chalets and temporary structures?

They do not change the answer. Wooden chalets, marquees, a stage and an ice rink are a temporary setup, not a building, so an outdoor market stays judged as an event, not as premises. What matters is the peak headcount across the whole site at once — the public, the stallholders, the bar and food staff, the stewards and the organiser’s team all counted together — and whether entry to it is controlled.

Who is responsible?

Whoever runs the market and controls the ground it uses — the organiser or operator, which for a town market is often the council or a contracted events company. It is not the individual stallholders; they rent a pitch, they do not control the site. Where a council owns the square but hands the whole event to an operator under a contract, the operator who takes control of the space can carry the duty for it. Where more than one party is involved, the Act expects them to co-ordinate rather than each assume the other has it covered.

What would you actually do?

If the market is a qualifying event, the job is the same four procedures as any event, worked out for a cold, crowded, temporary site: how you get people out through the gates to a rendezvous (evacuation); when you would move or hold people in a safer part of the site instead (invacuation); how you hold the perimeter and stop someone getting in (lockdown); and how you get one clear instruction across a market full of people (communication). Because it is 800-plus, you also put proportionate measures in place — stewarding and monitoring, how the crowd flows in and out, physical security including something to stop a vehicle where one could reach the crowd, and keeping your plans and layouts secure. Our guide on outdoor and street events walks through running the response on open ground.

If instead you are a building that gets busy — a market hall or a hall hosting a craft fair — and you reach 200 from time to time, it is the lighter Standard Tier: the same four procedures, so far as is reasonably practicable, and nothing you have to buy.

You have time — but no reason to wait

Martyn’s Law is not in force yet. The duties won’t start before April 2027, after a minimum 24-month implementation period — so there is no deadline this Christmas. But a seasonal event is the best possible case for sorting it early: you build the perimeter, the gates, the stewarding and the rendezvous into how you run the market once, and it is ready every year after. Working out whether you are even in scope takes an afternoon, and if you are, the Standard Tier is mostly agreeing with your team what you would do. There is no reason to leave it for the deadline.

Where the definitive answer is

For definitive information about whether your premises or event is within scope and what is required, refer to the current statutory guidance issued under the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025.