Hi there, I was wondering if anyone could help. I am looking into opening up a new bar in Congleton, Cheshire and I need some advice on fire regs. The building is an ld restaurant over three floors. we would only be using the ground floor with has two entrances on either side. We wanted to position the bar on the back wall which would be infront of one of the entrances. This door leads to a cellar type area and then outside to the street, There is also a front entrance with an existing fire exit sign. Really what I need to know is whether I need to have both doors publically accessible or whether I can have one for staff and deliveries only. If none of this makes sense I do have a pdf of the floor plan which I could send to anyone who thinks they may be able to help.

Many Thanks,

Emma

I am unable to give a definitive response because simple fire safety situation you need to consider many things and without a physical survey you can never be certain, however I can hopefully give you some pointers that should take you in the right direction.

The two areas you are likely to be involved with, is building regulations, and fire safety guidance uses Approved Document B (Fire Safety) volume 2. The second is conducting a fire risk assessment to meet the requirements of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 and the guidance is Office and Shops.

A few points to consider, you must consider the whole of the building you cannot deal with the ground floor in isolation. You have to calculate the numbers of persons you have to provide escape for. You have to consider travel distance which is the furthest a person has to travel to get to a place of safety, in your case outside the premises. You have to consider the width of doors which will decide how many persons can escape. If the travel distance is short and the door is wide enough you could accept travel distance in one direction requiring only the front door. You have to consider fire hazards like the kitchen/ other hazards, because they could prevent persons escaping. Other things to consider are fire compartmentation if required, means of warning in case of fire and fire fighting equipment which can be found in the above guidance. This is not totally inclusive but covers most of the areas for consideration.