About FreeOfTie Advertise Submit a story Contact

Advertisement

StaffRoom Reclaim Your Mondays.No More WhatsApp Chaos.Rotas, clock-ins, training and team chat in one app. Built by hospitality, for hospitality.Rotas & team chat in one app. Available on the App Store, coming soon to Android. Available on theApp StoreComing soon to Android

The Free House Weekly

The week’s trade news that matters, every Friday. Free.

Get the newsletter
FreeOfTie – Free of Tie: pub trade news and resources, for the free house
FreeOfTie

News & know-how for the free house

· Independent, and proud of it

This week on the hub

0 pubs to let0 suppliers0 jobs

Free newsletter

Ask for Angela: from a Lincolnshire poster to a licensing expectation

It started as a poster in Lincolnshire toilets in 2016. Ten years on, Ask for Angela is in thousands of venues, and some councils now expect it, or write it into licences. It isn’t the law of the land, though, and a poster on its own is worse than useless. Here’s where things stand and…

FreeOfTie.com
Ask for Angela poster on a pub wall

Where it came from

Ask for Angela was dreamt up in 2016 by Hayley Crawford, then Hayley Child, the sexual violence and abuse strategy coordinator at Lincolnshire County Council. She’s now a police inspector. She told Nottinghamshire Police it began as part of a wider project to cut sexual violence in the night-time economy.

The name honours Angela Crompton (née Phillips), who was killed by her husband in 2012. Her daughter Hollie told the BBC that finding out the campaign carried her mum’s name was “quite a sort of relief”.

The idea went viral almost straight away. By December 2016 the BBC was reporting it was being rolled out across the UK.

How it works

It’s simple, which is the point. Someone who feels unsafe, whether on a bad date, being followed or being pestered, goes to the bar and asks for “Angela”, a member of staff who doesn’t exist. That’s the signal.

According to the Metropolitan Police, a trained member of staff then helps. That might mean reuniting them with a friend, seeing them to a taxi, or calling security or the police. The person should be taken somewhere safe in the venue and asked what they need.

How it spread

The Met picked it up in 2016 through its police licensing officers. In 2017 it added Welfare and Vulnerability Engagement (WAVE) training, which now sits underneath the scheme. WAVE is delivered by Met licensing officers and the Safer Sounds Partnership, and covers what vulnerability looks like and how to step in. A Mayor’s answer to the London Assembly said 5,182 staff across 964 venues had done WAVE or Ask for Angela training between August 2021 and September 2022.

Public money followed. A BBC Freedom of Information request found about £13.1m from the Home Office’s Safer Streets Fund had gone to Ask for Angela projects across 22 police forces and local authorities since 2021.

It has gone abroad too. The BBC lists Australia, Canada and the United States among the countries using it. The scheme is now run by an Ask for Angela community interest company, which says it helped roll it out across Western Australia in 2026.

The wake-up call

In a BBC undercover investigation, researchers tested 25 London venues that advertised the scheme. Thirteen failed to respond properly. One bar worker told the BBC the posters went up, but training “would often not be passed on to new employees”.

That’s the bit that should make every licensee wince. A poster promises help. If the lad on his second shift doesn’t know what it means, you’ve let someone down at the worst possible moment.

So is it compulsory?

Not nationally. The Home Office told the BBC the scheme “is independent of government”. The Met said in a 2023 FOI response that “the scheme is voluntary”.

Locally, it’s a different story. After its investigation, the BBC contacted 340 councils. Thirty-four had made Ask for Angela a condition of granting new alcohol licences. Another 67 might follow, and 47 said they were testing venues. In February 2025 the London Assembly urged London councils to add it to licensing conditions.

Here’s how some councils actually word it:

  • Camden goes furthest. Its 2025-2030 licensing policy says evening and night-time premises “are required to adopt” the scheme and make sure key staff get WAVE training. Its model conditions include operating Ask for Angela and displaying the signage.
  • Windsor and Maidenhead‘s 2026-2030 policy “strongly” encourages it. New applicants are expected to adopt it, or set out how they’ll protect anyone who feels unsafe.
  • Southwark‘s 2026-2031 policy treats taking part in Ask for Angela as a sign of a commitment to good management.
  • Westminster‘s Good Operator Guidance (September 2026) says operators “may wish to participate”, and its checklist asks: “Do you operate the Ask for Angela scheme?”
  • Huntingdonshire‘s 2026 policy supports it and encourages licence holders to sign up.

Remember that a council can’t just add conditions to your existing licence because it fancies it. Conditions generally go on at a new grant or variation, or after a review. Check your own council’s statement of licensing policy before your next application.

Martyn’s Law? It’s a separate regime. The Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025 covers terrorism preparedness for premises expecting 200 or more people at once, and its duties aren’t in force yet. It isn’t an Ask for Angela requirement.

Getting it right behind your bar

  • Train, don’t just stick up posters. Book WAVE through Safer Sounds or your local licensing team. The CIC also offers online training.
  • Make it part of induction. Every new starter, every time, before their first Friday.
  • Pick your safe spot. The office or a quiet room where someone can wait, charge their phone and call a friend.
  • Agree who does what. Who takes over, who calls the cab, and when you ring 999.
  • Write it down. Keep a simple incident log. Greene King and Wetherspoon both told the BBC they had brought in recording.
  • Test yourselves. Some councils test venues, so get a mate to ask for Angela on a busy night before they do.
  • Refresh it. Run through it again at team meetings. Staff turnover is where this scheme falls over.
Sources (18)

The Free House Weekly

The week’s trade news for free-of-tie publicans, in one Friday email. Free.

Previous
Next

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *