The Venue Pack

The Glitter Standard inclusion pledge

This venue welcomes everyone the law protects: whatever their age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy or maternity, race, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation. We put LGBTQIA+ inclusion and neurodiversity at the heart of how we train, because those are the guests most often failed on a night out.

We apply our own rules for entry, safety and behaviour fairly to everyone. Nobody is refused, removed or treated worse because of who they are.

Treating people fairly is not the same as treating everyone identically: some guests need something different from us to have the same good night. Within reasonable expectations we will try to deliver what a guest needs, without asking them to explain themselves, and where we cannot we will say so kindly and offer what we can.

The same welcome applies to our own staff. Nobody who works here is treated worse because of who they are, and every member of staff has a route to raise a non-inclusive incident, about a guest or a colleague, with someone other than their line manager.

Ask for Angela works here. Any member of our staff who is asked for Angela will take that guest somewhere safe, ask what they need and help them leave discreetly. Every member of staff is trained on it and we accept that The Glitter Standard will test it without warning.

We record any incident where a guest is targeted because of who they are as a non-inclusive incident, with its category, in our incident log, and we report it to the police with the consent of the person targeted.

We train every customer-facing member of staff, we keep one trained Inclusion Lead, and we act within sixty days on anything The Glitter Standard's testers or our own guests raise.

We accept unannounced testing by The Glitter Standard, its published complaints and delisting policy, and that the badge comes down if we stop deserving it.

At the door: our rules, applied fairly

Our rules are ours. Capacity, group size, stag and hen parties, intoxication, dress code, banned lists, a bad feeling about someone. Every one of these is a legitimate reason to refuse, and refusing someone because they are not dressed for our dress code is fine.

Apply the same rule to the next person in the queue. A dress code that is enforced for one group and waved through for another is not a dress code. That is where a refusal becomes discrimination.

Nobody is refused or removed because of who they are: their skin, their faith, their accent, their disability, their gender, who they love, or who they are with.

ID is about reasonable likeness and age. Does the photograph reasonably look like the person in front of you, and are they old enough? That is the whole check. The name and the gender marker on the ID are not part of it and are never commented on.

Take the time, discreetly. If you are unsure, step aside from the queue, keep your voice down and get the duty manager. Nobody is questioned in front of a queue.

Signs of autism or a disability are not signs of intoxication. Not making eye contact, unusual speech, rocking, flapping, going quiet, taking a long time to answer or needing a moment are none of them reasons to refuse or remove. Give the person time, out of the queue, with one member of staff rather than three: it keeps things calm and it avoids embarrassing anyone.

Searching is part of the job, and how you do it matters. See the search card.

Every refusal gets a reason in the refusal log, the one you already keep for Best Bar None.

Unsure? Get the duty manager. Never guess, never argue at the door.

Searching, done with dignity

Say what is happening before you touch anyone. "We search everyone tonight. Is that all right?" A guest who knows what is coming can tell you what they need.

Ask, do not assume, who searches whom. "Would you prefer a male or a female member of staff?" Take the answer at face value, without comment, whatever the person looks like or what their ID says. If nobody of that gender is on shift, say so and offer the alternatives: waiting a moment, a private search, or a manager.

Offer a private search to anyone, always. Somewhere out of the queue, with a second member of staff present. Never make a guest ask twice.

Never remove, lift, press on or comment on anything a guest is wearing on their body. That includes binders, packers, prosthetics, stoma bags, insulin pumps, catheters, medical devices and religious dress. If you need to check something, ask the guest to show you themselves, in private. Mobility aids, prosthetics and medical equipment are never treated as weapons and are never taken away.

Assistance dogs are not searched and are never separated from their handler.

Medication, sharps and medical equipment are expected. Do not challenge a guest about needles, pens or spare medication. Note it if your procedure requires and move on.

Sensory awareness. Say before you use a wand or a torch. Give a neurodivergent guest a moment and a clear instruction, one at a time. Do not stand behind someone to search them.

A refusal to be searched is a refusal of entry, not an accusation. Say it plainly and without an audience, and log it like any other refusal.

If something goes wrong, the duty manager comes to the guest. Not the other way round.

Toilets: act on behaviour, never on who someone is

We keep every right to manage our toilets for safety. Checks for drug use, damage, more than one person in a cubicle, or anything our licence requires continue exactly as before.

Nobody is questioned about their body or their gender at a toilet door. Not by door staff, not by bar staff, not by cleaners.

If a guest raises a concern about another guest, take it to the duty manager. The manager handles it in private, calmly, with both people's dignity intact. Nobody is called out across a bar.

One private, lockable toilet is available to anyone. The accessible toilet counts. If someone asks where they can go privately, that is the answer, said kindly.

If something is happening in a toilet that breaks our rules, deal with the behaviour. Who the person is has nothing to do with it.

Small things we always offer, no questions asked

☐ A quieter table or spot, if one is free

☐ Tap water, always

☐ A large-print or digital menu, or a member of staff reading it out

☐ Ear defenders (if we hold them behind the bar)

☐ A moment outside with re-entry, at the duty manager's say-so

☐ A seat while waiting to order

☐ ____________________________________________

☐ ____________________________________________

Suggested wording

Before you visit. [Venue] is usually [quiet / lively / loud] with [low / normal / bright / flashing] lighting; [the back room / the garden / the front bar] is the quieter spot. Getting in: [there is usually no queue / there is often a queue after 10pm]; [we search bags / we do not search bags]; we check ID [on everyone / if you look under 25]. [There is / There is not] step-free access to [the bar / the toilets / everywhere], and [there is / there is not] an accessible toilet. Assistance dogs are always welcome. Alcohol-free drinks are always available and nobody is pressed to drink. We recognise the Hidden Disabilities Sunflower lanyard: if you wear one, let us know if there is anything that would help. We are a Glittered venue: theglitterstandard.co.uk.

Ask for Angela: what every member of staff does

1. Someone asks for Angela, or asks if Angela is working, or asks to speak to Angela. Treat it as exactly that, however calm they seem.
2. Say "Of course, come with me" and take them somewhere away from whoever they are with: the office, behind the bar, the kitchen door.
3. Ask what they need. It might be a taxi, a friend called, a quiet minute, or just to leave without being followed.
4. Get the duty manager. Help them leave discreetly if they want to; call a licensed taxi for them if they want one; do not send them back.
5. Log it in the incident log. Do not discuss it on the floor.

If The Glitter Standard is testing you, the tester will end it the moment you begin to respond, with the words "Thank you, I am fine, I thought I saw someone I know." Nothing else happens, and you learn it was a test from the report.

Non-inclusive incident response: the ten seconds after

A non-inclusive incident is anything a guest experiences as hostility because of who they are: race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity. It does not have to be a crime to be logged.

1. The person targeted comes first. Go to them. "Are you all right? I saw that. What would you like us to do?" Somewhere quieter if they want it.
2. Deal with the person responsible under our own rules, the same rules as for any other behaviour. That usually means they leave.
3. Log it as a non-inclusive incident with its category in the incident log you already keep.
4. Offer to report it to the police, and do so if the person targeted consents. Tell them about Report It (report-it.org.uk) if they would rather report it themselves.
5. Tell the duty manager and the Inclusion Lead. It goes in the next team briefing without names.

The venue record

Capacity, and whether you expect 200 or more people at any one time, or 800 or more. This tells us whether the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025 applies to you at the standard or enhanced tier.

Do you search guests? Yes or no. If yes, the search card applies.

Do your emergency procedures say how a disabled, deaf or neurodivergent guest gets out? Evacuation, moving people inside, lockdown. Yes, no, or working on it. We do not write your procedures and we do not assess them. We ask because most procedures do not say, and because the training will help you fix it.

Who is your accountable person and your Inclusion Lead?

Annual declaration

I confirm that the evidence this venue has uploaded for the Ten is true and current; that every customer-facing member of staff has completed the team module within the last year; that our Inclusion Lead is trained and attends the area sessions; that any finding from a test or our belonging score has been acted on within sixty days; and that our incident log records non-inclusive incidents with their category. I understand that a false declaration ends this venue's accreditation.