Equality law - Theatres and other entertainment venues

Equality law applies to any business that provides goods, facilities or services to members of the public.

This includes a wide range of different businesses and services. Within this, it would include lots of different entertainment venues both large and small, such as:

• theatres
• cinemas
• music venues – everything from a large opera house through to a local jazz café
• comedy clubs
• arts festivals, including music and children’s festivals.

This also applies to places that are not usually used for entertainment but have occasions when members of the public do use them for that purpose. For example, a church which holds lunchtime music recitals or an empty shop which is opened up for an arts festival.

It doesn’t matter whether the service is free, for example, a free concert, or whether it must be paid for – it will still be covered by equality law. 

First, use the list on page What equality law means for your business to make sure you know what equality law says you must do as a business providing goods, facilities or services to the public.

You may need to work out if you are an association or a service provider.

Because your activities take place at a particular place, you will need to make sure a venue is accessible to disabled people by making reasonable adjustments. You cannot wait until a disabled person wants to use your services, but must think in advance about what people with a range of impairments might reasonably need, such as people who have a visual impairment, a hearing impairment, a mobility impairment or a learning disability.

Even though you may describe yourself as a ‘club’ (and many clubs are what equality law calls associations), you are really a service provider if you are offering a service to any member of the public, for example, by:

• charging them an entry fee to watch an event
• allowing anyone to join your jazz club provided they pay for the service

even if the charge is described as a membership fee, or if the service is free. If, for example, you allow a person to watch a concert for free, you are still providing them with a service.

If you are not sure whether you are a service provider or an association, then ask yourself:

• Are there 25 or more members and is membership regulated by rules – for example, do all the members have to decide who becomes a new member?

If the answer to that is ‘yes’, then you should read the guide on associations instead.

It is possible to be both an association and a service provider.

If you are both an association and a service provider, the question you need to think about is whether your services are provided to the public or to your members, associate members and their guests or people who want to become members or guests.

If it is the public, then this is the right guide for you to read.

If it is your members or their guests or people who want to become members or guests, you should read the guide on associations instead. 

Reasonable adjustments are not just about changes to physical features or the addition of auxiliary aids such as a hearing loop, although these can be important to some disabled people. Consider providing information (such as programmes and publicity material) in alternative formats and offering an additional ticket for free to a disabled person who needs to bring an assistant. 

If your venue is of a type that means that you need to restrict services based on health and safety considerations, make sure that any action taken in relation to health or safety is proportionate to the risk.

Disabled people are entitled to make the same choices and to take the same risks within the same limits as other people. Health and safety law does not require you as a service provider to remove all conceivable risk, but to ensure that risk is properly appreciated, understood and managed. Don’t make assumptions; instead, assess the person’s situation, and consider reasonable adjustments to reduce any risks, your duty not to discriminate and, where appropriate, the disabled person’s own views. There must be a balance between protecting against the risk and restricting disabled people from access to services.