Pub CCTV & Restaurant Security: The Complete UK Hospitality Guide 2026
Pub CCTV is not the same job as fitting cameras to a shop or an office. A licensed venue is open late, full of people who have been drinking, handles cash and stock behind a bar, and very often has a premises licence that tells the operator exactly what the CCTV must do and how long the footage must be kept. This guide is the UK installer’s reference for pub CCTV and wider hospitality security: what licensing conditions typically ask for, where every camera goes from the front door to the beer garden, how to size recording for 31 days, staff panic alarms, cellar and out-of-hours protection, guest Wi-Fi that stays away from the cameras, Martyn’s Law and GDPR — with the Hikvision, HiLook, Ajax and Reyee kit we stock for pubs, bars, restaurants and hotels.
What this guide covers
- Why hospitality CCTV is designed differently from retail or office systems
- Typical premises licence CCTV conditions and what each one means for the design
- A zone-by-zone camera plan: entrances, bar and tills, floor, cellar, kitchen, beer garden, car park and hotel areas
- Sizing storage for 31 days and getting footage to the police quickly
- Public-view monitors, staff panic buttons, talk-down speakers and when audio is (and is not) acceptable
- Out-of-hours intruder alarms, cellar leak detection and kitchen heat detection with Ajax
- Guest Wi-Fi and network separation with Reyee
- Martyn’s Law tiers, GDPR and ICO duties, upgrading older analogue systems
- Three reference builds and eight installer FAQs
Why pub and restaurant CCTV is different
Hospitality CCTV has to identify people at the door, protect staff behind the bar, satisfy licence conditions and produce evidence quickly — all in a building that is busiest after dark. A shop system is mostly about stock loss during the day; a pub system is mostly about people, at night, with alcohol involved.
Three things drive the design. First, the premises licence: many licensing authorities attach CCTV conditions that specify coverage, recording hours and retention, so the system is a legal requirement for the operator rather than a nice-to-have. Second, staff safety: bar staff, door supervisors and managers deal with conflict, and the system has to support them in real time, not just record what happened. Third, evidence: police and licensing officers will ask for footage after an incident, and a manager who cannot export a clip on the night creates a licensing problem of its own.
Get those three right and the same system also deals with the everyday hospitality losses — till errors, stock leaving through the back door, damage in the toilets corridor, disputes over a dropped glass or a slip on a wet floor.
What premises licence CCTV conditions usually require
Licence conditions vary by council and by venue, but most CCTV conditions ask for the same five things: coverage of every entrance with frontal identification, recording whenever the premises is open, a minimum retention period (commonly 31 days), immediate access to footage for the police, and a trained member of staff on site who can operate the system.
Harrow Council’s published pool of model conditions is a good example of the wording installers will meet. Its CCTV condition requires a comprehensive system covering all entry and exit points so that every person entering can be identified from the front in any light, continuous recording while the premises is open and customers remain, recordings stored for a minimum of 31 days with date and time stamping, and a monitor displayed in full view of customers. A separate condition requires a staff member who can operate the system to be on site whenever the venue is open, and the fuller version says CCTV faults must be repaired within two working days (Harrow Council Licensing Act 2003 pool of conditions). The same document stresses that these are not standard conditions to be imposed on every licence — they are a menu, and the actual licence is what counts.
So before you quote, ask the operator for a copy of the premises licence and read Annex 2 and Annex 3, where the conditions live. Then design to the wording.
| Typical condition | What it means for the design | Kit that answers it |
|---|---|---|
| All entrances covered, frontal ID in any light | A camera inside each door, at head height, facing people as they walk in; good low-light performance | DS-2CD2346G3-IZS2UY/SL motorised turret, DS-2CD23126G3-IS2UY/SL 12MP turret |
| Record whenever open and customers remain | Continuous recording, not motion-only; schedule must cover late licences and lock-ins | K-series AcuSense NVR on a 24/7 schedule with UPS |
| Keep recordings for 31 days | Storage sized for continuous recording at the real bitrate, plus headroom | DS-7716NXI-K4/16P/VPRO with four drive bays |
| Footage available immediately to police | Fast search, USB export on site, a documented procedure | AcuSeek / AcuSearch on the VPRO NVR, front-panel USB |
| Monitor in view of customers | A public-view screen near the entrance or bar showing live cameras | DS-D5022F2-1V2S or DS-D5032F3-1V0S monitor |
| Faults reported and fixed quickly | Health alerts for offline cameras and HDD errors, plus a maintenance contract | Hik-Connect / Hik-ProConnect exception alerts |
A zone-by-zone camera plan for pubs, bars and restaurants
The easiest way to design hospitality CCTV is to walk the building in the order a customer, a delivery and an intruder would use it, and give every zone one clear job: identify, observe or detect. Identification cameras are close and tight; observation cameras are wide; detection cameras raise an alert.
| Zone | Job | Suggested camera | Design note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Front door and lobby | Identify | DS-2CD2346G3-IZS2UY/SL | Inside the door, facing in, about head height; avoid pointing at bright glazing |
| Bar servery and tills | Observe + identify at the till | DS-2CD2386G2H-IS2U/SL or HiLook IPC-D149HAA-LU dome | One camera looking along the bar, one over each till drawer |
| Main floor and dining room | Observe | DS-2CD63C5G1-IVS 360° fisheye | Ceiling mount in the centre; one camera replaces several fixed views |
| Toilet corridor (never inside toilets) | Observe | HiLook IPC-T249HAA-LU | Covers the approach only; privacy-mask any door that opens into the facilities |
| Cellar, stores, office | Observe + detect | HiLook IPC-T280HA-LUF/SL | Covers the hatch, the safe and the stock; pairs with the intruder alarm |
| Kitchen back door and bins | Identify + detect | DS-2CD2T46G2H-IS2U/SL bullet | Deliveries, staff exits and bin-store fires; LiveGuard strobe out of hours |
| Beer garden and smoking area | Observe | DS-2CD2387G2P-LSU/SL 180° ColorVu | Colour at night under festoon lighting; one panoramic camera per garden |
| Car park | Observe + plates | DS-2DE7A412MCG-EB PTZ, iDS-TCM403-GIR ANPR | ANPR at the entrance for hotels and drive-thru sites |
For hotels, add reception (identify at the desk), lift lobbies and corridors (observe, with privacy masks over room doors where the operator wants them), back-of-house corridors, the laundry and any spa or gym entrance.
Entrance cameras: getting a usable face on every visitor
The entrance camera is the most important camera in a licensed venue, because it is the one the police will ask for first and the one most licence conditions describe. Mount it inside the lobby, facing the door, just above head height, so people walk towards it with their face lit by the room rather than silhouetted against daylight or a street lamp.
A motorised varifocal turret such as the Hikvision DS-2CD2346G3-IZS2UY/SL lets you zoom the frame in from the NVR until a face fills a sensible share of the picture, without going back up the ladder. Where the lobby is wide or there are double doors, the 12MP DS-2CD23126G3-IS2UY/SL gives enough pixels to cover the full width and still identify. Both are AcuSense models, so the recorder can search later for “people” rather than every flicker of a door closer.
Test the entrance view at the time the venue is busiest, with the door opening and closing, and check the image when the outside lights come on. A camera that looked perfect at 2pm on install day can be useless at 11pm when the porch light is behind every face.
Bar, tills and the main floor
Behind the bar you want one wide camera looking along the servery and a tighter view over each till, so that cash handling, refused sales and disputes over change can all be checked. In the customer area, a single ceiling fisheye usually does more than three or four fixed cameras.
The Hikvision DS-2CD63C5G1-IVS is a 12MP DeepinView fisheye: Hikvision’s datasheet lists a 3504 × 3504 maximum resolution, a 360° panoramic view that can be dewarped into multiple PTZ-style views, 15 m of IR, people counting and heat-map analytics, IP67 and IK10 ratings, and up to eight polygon privacy masks (DS-2CD63C5G1-IVS datasheet). The heat map is a genuine bonus for restaurant operators who want to know which tables and areas are used, and the people counting helps with capacity. The same datasheet lists four built-in microphones and a speaker — read the section on audio below before you leave them recording.
For a smaller restaurant or a café with low ceilings, the HiLook IPC-D149HAA-LU ColorVu dome is a tidy, discreet option over the counter. Over the tills, an 8MP turret such as the DS-2CD2386G2H-IS2U/SL gives the detail to read a note or a card terminal screen. Aim it so it records the drawer and the counter, not the customer’s PIN entry.
Beer gardens, smoking areas and car parks
Outdoor areas in hospitality are used most at night, so they need cameras that give a usable colour image under festoon lights and patio heaters, and they are where most closing-time disorder spills out. Panoramic ColorVu and a PTZ for larger car parks cover most sites.
One DS-2CD2387G2P-LSU/SL 180° panoramic ColorVu camera on the building wall will usually cover a whole beer garden or smoking shelter in colour. On the kitchen yard and rear door, the DS-2CD2T46G2H-IS2U/SL LiveGuard bullet adds a strobe and siren that can be armed out of hours to deter anyone in the yard. Our night vision CCTV guide explains when to choose IR, ColorVu or Smart Hybrid Light for each position.
Larger car parks at hotels, roadhouses and food-led pubs suit the DS-2DE7A412MCG-EB ColorVu PTZ, which can patrol presets and has a built-in speaker. Where the operator wants vehicle records — drive-offs from a hotel car park, unauthorised parking, or barrier control — add the iDS-TCM403-GIR ANPR camera at the entrance lane.
Recording for 31 days and getting footage to the police
A 31-day condition means 31 days of continuous recording at whatever bitrate the cameras really produce, so storage has to be calculated, not guessed. As a rule of thumb, one camera averaging 4 Mbps uses about 1.3 TB in 31 days; multiply by the number of cameras and add headroom.
The arithmetic is simple: 4 Mbps is 0.5 MB per second, which is about 43 GB per day and about 1.34 TB over 31 days. Use the actual average bitrate from the NVR’s channel status page after a busy evening, because H.265+ bitrates rise with movement and low light. The worked examples below use assumed average bitrates for illustration.
| Site | Cameras | Assumed average bitrate | 31 days continuous | Recorder |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Café or small restaurant | 4 | 4 Mbps each | about 5.4 TB | DS-7608NXI-K1/8P(E) |
| Community pub | 8 | 4 Mbps each | about 10.7 TB | DS-7616NXI-K2/16P(E) |
| Late bar or small hotel | 16 | 6 Mbps each | about 32 TB | DS-7716NXI-K4/16P/VPRO |
Recorder choice follows from the storage. The DS-7608NXI-K1/8P(E) has one drive bay that takes a disk of up to 16 TB (DS-7608NXI-K1/8P(E) datasheet), which suits small cafés. The two-bay DS-7616NXI-K2/16P(E) suits most pubs. For a busy bar or hotel, the DS-7716NXI-K4/16P/VPRO has 16 PoE ports, four SATA interfaces taking up to 16 TB each, and AcuSeek and AcuSearch across all channels (Hikvision DS-7716NXI-K4/16P/VPro datasheet).
AcuSeek is the feature that makes a licensing officer’s request painless: the manager types a description such as “man in a red jacket” and the NVR returns matching clips across the cameras, instead of someone scrubbing through hours of footage. Whatever recorder you fit, leave the site with a one-page export procedure, a USB stick by the NVR, NTP time sync switched on so timestamps are right, and at least two staff trained to use it — the Harrow conditions above expect someone who can show the police recent footage with minimal delay.
Public-view monitors at the door and the bar
A screen showing the live cameras where customers can see it is one of the cheapest deterrents in a licensed venue, and some licences require one. It tells every customer, at the moment they walk in, that they are on camera and recognisable.
Mount a Hikvision DS-D5022F2-1V2S 22-inch monitor in the lobby or a DS-D5032F3-1V0S 32-inch screen above the bar, fed from the NVR’s second output or a decoder, showing the entrance and floor cameras. Leave the till cameras off the public screen. Our Hikvision CCTV monitor guide covers 24/7-rated panels, mounting and what to put on a public-view screen.
Staff safety: panic buttons, talk-down and the audio question
Bar staff and managers need a way to call for help without picking up a phone, and a fixed or wearable hold-up button linked to the alarm is the simplest answer. Audio recording, on the other hand, is rarely justified in a pub and should be off unless there is a documented reason.
The Ajax DoubleButton is a hold-up device that only raises an alarm when both buttons are pressed together, which stops accidental activations in a busy bar. Ajax quotes up to 1,300 m line-of-sight range to the hub, up to five years from the pre-installed battery, IP55 protection, and a confirmed hold-up alarm if it is pressed twice or two buttons are used (Ajax DoubleButton manual). Fix one under the bar and one in the office, and give the manager a wearable one on close. The single Ajax Button can also be set as a panic button for lower-risk venues. If the alarm is monitored, follow our Ajax PD 6662 and police response guide for hold-up alarm confirmation.
For talk-down, a Hikvision DS-QAZ1307G1T-E(C) PoE horn speaker on the beer garden or car park lets staff make closing-time announcements and challenge people in the yard after hours. Recording sound is a different matter. Licensing solicitors Freeths advise that pubs are unlikely to be able to justify audio recording in all but exceptional circumstances, giving staff-activated recording during verbal abuse as a possible exception, and that CCTV should not be used in toilets or changing rooms (Freeths: CCTV use in pubs and leisure premises). Many current cameras have built-in microphones — switch audio recording off in each channel’s settings unless the operator has a documented reason.
Out of hours: intruder alarm, cellar and kitchen protection
When the last member of staff locks up, the risk changes from conflict to burglary, water and fire, and a wireless Ajax system covers all three without chasing cables through listed buildings or busy trading areas.
Build the system around an Ajax Hub 2 Plus, with a KeyPad Plus at the staff exit so each keyholder arms and disarms with their own tag and the event log shows who closed up. Protect the cellar hatch and back door with DoorProtect Plus (which also detects shock and tilt), put a MotionCam U in the bar and office so an alarm arrives with photos the keyholder or monitoring centre can check, and fit a StreetSiren DoubleDeck on the front elevation. Our MotionCam photo verification guide covers the settings.
Cellars are where hospitality water damage starts — burst lines, failed pumps, keg washers and floods from street drains. An Ajax LeaksProtect on the cellar floor and under the glass-washer reports a leak to the manager’s phone at any hour; see our LeaksProtect guide. Note that LeaksProtect detects water, not gas: beer-cellar CO2 safety monitoring is a separate, dedicated system.
In the kitchen, smoke detectors cause nuisance alarms, which is why heat detection is the norm. Commercial premises need a fire detection system designed to BS 5839-1 by a competent person; where Ajax’s EN 54 range is specified, the Ajax EN54 FireProtect (Heat/Sounder) is the kitchen device. Our wireless fire alarm systems guide explains categories and design responsibilities.
Guest Wi-Fi and the CCTV network: keep them apart
Every pub, restaurant and hotel offers guest Wi-Fi, and the cameras must never be reachable from it. Put CCTV, tills and staff devices on separate VLANs behind a proper gateway, and give guests their own isolated SSID with a captive portal.
A Reyee RG-EG105G-P-V3 cloud-managed gateway handles the internet connection, VLANs and the guest portal for a typical pub. Feed cameras from a RG-ES210GS-P smart PoE switch on smaller sites, or the 24-port RG-ES226GC-P in a hotel comms cupboard. Indoors, RG-RAP2260 Wi-Fi 6 ceiling access points cover the bar and dining areas; outdoors, the IP68 RG-RAP6262 brings Wi-Fi into the beer garden. Our Reyee guest Wi-Fi and captive portal guide walks through the portal set-up, and the Reyee networking for CCTV buyer’s guide covers VLAN design.
The same separation matters for cyber security: change every default password, keep NVR and camera firmware current, and use Hik-Connect or Hik-ProConnect for remote access rather than opening ports on the router.
Martyn’s Law: what hospitality operators need to know
Martyn’s Law — the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025 — applies to pubs, bars, restaurants and hotels once they can reasonably expect 200 or more people on the premises at the same time. CCTV is not a mandatory requirement of the standard tier, but it supports the procedures the Act asks for.
The Home Office statutory guidance sets the standard tier at premises that can reasonably expect 200 to 799 individuals at the same time and the enhanced tier at 800 or more, lists “food and drink” (bars, pubs, restaurants, cafés and food halls) and “hotels etc.” among the qualifying uses, and confirms that the Security Industry Authority will regulate the regime. When the guidance was published, the substantive duties had not yet been commenced (Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025 statutory guidance).
For the installer, the useful conversation is about procedures: how staff would evacuate, invacuate or lock down, and how they would communicate. Horn speakers, panic buttons and good entrance cameras all help. Capacity is the other question — a venue near the 200 or 800 threshold needs to understand its numbers. The DS-2CD6825G0/C-IS dual-lens camera counts people entering and exiting separately, filters targets by height and emails daily, weekly or monthly reports; at a 2.6 m mounting height its datasheet gives a detection span of about 2.3 m across the doorway (Hikvision DS-2CD6825G0/C-I(V)S datasheet). Our Martyn’s Law lockdown system guide covers the lockdown kit in detail.
GDPR, signage and the ICO: the operator’s duties
A hospitality business that runs CCTV is a data controller, so it needs a documented reason for each camera, clear signs, a retention period, a way to handle subject access requests and rules for who can view and export footage. The installer’s job is to build a system that makes those duties easy.
The ICO’s video surveillance guidance expects organisations to use surveillance only where it is necessary and proportionate, to build in data protection by design and default, and to complete a data protection impact assessment where the processing is likely to be high risk (ICO guidance on video surveillance). Freeths adds the hospitality-specific points: there may be more than one data controller where a tenant and a pub company share access to the system, staff must be told before footage is used for disciplinary purposes, and disclosure to the police should follow data protection law rather than a loose “on request” habit (Freeths). Freeths also points operators to the government’s Surveillance Camera Code of Practice as good practice.
In practice: signs at every entrance and in the car park, privacy masks over neighbouring windows, separate user accounts on the NVR for managers and staff, audio off, and an auto-delete set just beyond the licence retention period. Our UK GDPR and CCTV obligations guide goes deeper.
Upgrading an older analogue pub system
Many pubs still run an analogue DVR with a handful of old cameras on coax, and the coax can usually be reused. A Turbo HD upgrade gives a big image improvement for little disruption, while a move to IP makes sense when the bar is being refurbished anyway.
On existing coax, the Hikvision DS-2CE52K0T-LPS 3K Smart Hybrid Light fisheye replaces several old fixed cameras over a bar, and the HiLook THC-T257-LTS 3K turret adds two-way audio and light deterrence at the doors. Where the operator is refitting, run Cat6 and move to IP: HiLook IPC-T249HAA-LU ColorVu turrets and the IPC-T280HA-LUF/SL 8MP LiveGuard turret are cost-effective choices for corridors, cellars and stores. Our HiLook DVR troubleshooting guide helps when you are inheriting an older Turbo HD system.
Three reference builds: community pub, late bar and hotel
Most hospitality jobs fall into one of three sizes, and starting from a reference build makes quoting faster. Adjust camera counts to the walk-round, and always size storage to the licence.
| Venue | Cameras | Recording and display | Alarm and network |
|---|---|---|---|
| Community pub or restaurant | DS-2CD2346G3-IZS2UY/SL at the door, DS-2CD63C5G1-IVS fisheye, HiLook IPC-D149HAA-LU over the tills, DS-2CD2387G2P-LSU/SL in the garden | DS-7616NXI-K2/16P(E), DS-D5022F2-1V2S in the lobby | Hub 2 Plus, KeyPad Plus, DoubleButton, LeaksProtect; RG-EG105G-P-V3 + RG-RAP2260 |
| Town-centre late bar | DS-2CD23126G3-IS2UY/SL at each entrance, DS-2CD2386G2H-IS2U/SL along the bar, fisheye on the dance floor, DS-2CD2T46G2H-IS2U/SL at the fire exits and yard | DS-7716NXI-K4/16P/VPRO with AcuSeek, DS-D5032F3-1V0S above the bar | DoubleButtons at the bar and door, horn speaker on the smoking area; RG-ES210GS-P |
| Hotel with restaurant | Reception and lift lobbies, corridors, restaurant fisheye, DS-2DE7A412MCG-EB in the car park, iDS-TCM403-GIR at the entrance lane, DS-2CD6825G0/C-IS at function-room doors | DS-7716NXI-K4/16P/VPRO (or two), monitor at reception | Hub 2 Plus for back-of-house, EN 54 FireProtect heat in the kitchen; RG-ES226GC-P, RG-RAP2260 and RG-RAP6262 |
Hand over every build with the licence conditions written into the commissioning sheet: camera list against each condition, measured bitrate and calculated retention, the export procedure, the user accounts created, and the signage fitted. That one page is what the operator will show a licensing officer.
Frequently asked questions: pub and restaurant CCTV
Is CCTV a legal requirement for a pub?
Not by default, but it often becomes one through the premises licence. Many licensing authorities attach CCTV conditions covering entrances, recording hours, retention and police access, and the operator must comply with whatever is on their licence.
How long does a pub have to keep CCTV footage?
As long as the licence says — 31 days is a common figure in council model conditions such as Harrow’s (Harrow Council). Without a licence condition, keep footage only as long as needed for the purpose and document that period.
Can a pub record audio on its CCTV?
Rarely. Legal advice for the sector is that audio recording is unlikely to be justified except in exceptional cases, such as staff-activated recording during abuse (Freeths). Turn off audio recording on cameras with built-in microphones unless the operator has documented a reason.
Can I put CCTV in pub toilets?
No. Toilets and changing areas are private spaces. Cover the corridor approach instead, and privacy-mask any doorway that would show inside the facilities.
What size hard drive do I need for 31 days?
Roughly 1.3 TB per camera at an average of 4 Mbps of continuous recording. Eight such cameras need about 11 TB; sixteen cameras at 6 Mbps need about 32 TB, which points to a four-bay recorder such as the DS-7716NXI-K4/16P/VPRO.
Does Martyn’s Law apply to my customer’s pub or restaurant?
It applies to food and drink premises, including pubs, bars and restaurants, that can reasonably expect 200 or more people at the same time; 800 or more puts them in the enhanced tier (statutory guidance).
Which camera is best over a bar?
A ceiling-mounted fisheye such as the Hikvision DS-2CD63C5G1-IVS for the overall view, plus an 8MP turret over each till for detail. On older coax systems, the DS-2CE52K0T-LPS 3K Turbo HD fisheye does the same job without new cabling.
Should the CCTV share the guest Wi-Fi network?
Never. Put cameras, recorders and tills on their own VLAN behind a gateway such as the Reyee RG-EG105G-P-V3, and give guests an isolated SSID with a captive portal.
Related posts
- Ajax SmartPlug and Relay: The UK Installer’s Automation Guide
- Hikvision Wi-Fi Cameras: The UK Installer’s Guide to Wireless CCTV
- Remote CCTV Monitoring: The Complete UK Installer’s Guide 2026
- Retail Security Systems: The Complete UK Installer’s Guide 2026
- Hikvision DeepinView Cameras: The UK Installer’s Guide
Ordering
Netview CCTV stocks the Hikvision, HiLook, Ajax and Reyee cameras, recorders, monitors, alarm devices and networking in this guide in Leicester, with same-day dispatch on stocked lines. Browse the full range at netviewcctv.co.uk/brands, or contact us through the website for trade pricing.
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