Fairs, fêtes and community events: are you in scope?

A one-off fair or fête is rarely a “qualifying event” in its own right — that needs 800 or more people and controlled entry. The quieter risk is the premises it is held at: one busy day a year can push a hall or recreation ground over the 200 threshold and into the Standard tier. The test looks at your peak, from time to time — not your average.

The short version

• Your fête is probably not a “qualifying event”: that category needs 800 or more expected at once and controlled entry (ticket, pass or membership) behind a secure perimeter. A free, open fair is not that.
• But premises come into scope on their peak, “from time to time” — so one big day that reaches 200 or more at once can put the hall or ground into the Standard tier, even if it is quiet the rest of the year.
• Count everyone present at the peak: the public, stallholders, volunteers and staff — not just ticket-buyers.
• The responsible person is whoever controls the site for the event — usually the organising committee or body, co-ordinating with whoever owns the land.
• Standard tier is light: evacuation, invacuation, lockdown and communication procedures so far as reasonably practicable — no mandatory kit, training or building works. It is not in force yet (spring 2027 at the earliest).

Is a fête a “qualifying event”?

Usually not. A qualifying event is a specific thing: open to the public, 800 or more people reasonably expected at the same time, and entry controlled by a check that someone is entitled to be there — they have paid, hold a ticket or pass, or are a member or guest — behind a well-defined, secure perimeter. A typical village fair or church fête is free, open and uncontrolled: people drift in and out, and there is no entry check to speak of. That fails the test, so it is not a qualifying event, whatever the crowd. There is more on this in What counts as a qualifying event?

The real question: does the big day put your premises in scope?

This is where fairs and fêtes actually matter. A premises is in scope if it is reasonably expected that 200 or more people may be present at the same time, from time to time. “From time to time” is the key phrase: it does not have to be most days, or even many days. If your summer fair or Christmas market is the one occasion a year your hall, club or ground is packed, that occasion is what counts — you do not get to average it down across the quiet months.

So a hall that normally sees forty people, but reaches 300 on fair day, is looking at the Standard tier on the strength of that day. The way to settle it is to count your realistic peak honestly and write the reasoning down. We walk through exactly that in How to work out if you reach 200, and what it means for a community building in Martyn’s Law for village & community halls.

Who is responsible on the day?

The duty sits with whoever has control of the premises for the event — the right and ability to decide how the space is run while the fair is on. For a committee-run fête that is usually the organising body, not every individual stallholder. Where the land or hall is owned by someone else — a parish council, a landowner, a school — the Act expects the organiser and the owner to co-ordinate rather than each assume the other has it covered. If you are not sure who holds control when a site is hired, start with Hall hire: who is responsible? and Who is the Responsible Person?

Open land, rec grounds and the village green

The Act covers premises made up of a building, land, or both, so a recreation ground or showfield used for a fair can be premises in the same way a hall is. The same two questions decide it: is the site used, on these occasions, for one of the law’s listed uses, and is it reasonably expected to reach 200 or more people at once? A genuinely open, uncontrolled gathering with no organiser in control of the space is a harder case — but in practice, if a named committee runs an event on a defined site and draws those numbers regularly, that is the situation to plan for.

What being in scope actually means for a fair

Less than people fear. The Standard tier asks for procedures, not purchases: a sensible, written plan for how you would get people away from danger (evacuation), move them to a safer spot (invacuation), secure the site (lockdown) and pass clear instructions (communication) — so far as is reasonably practicable for a volunteer-run event. There is no mandatory equipment, no required training course and no building work. For a fair, most of this is briefing your stewards on what to do and who makes the call, and knowing your exits and a rendezvous point.

You have time, but build it in once

Martyn’s Law is not in force yet. The statutory guidance was published on 15 April 2026, and commencement is expected in spring 2027 at the earliest, after a minimum 24-month implementation period. For a recurring event, that is time to build the arrangements into how you run the day — once — so it becomes part of the set-up rather than a scramble before each fair.

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.