Mixed-use premises: how the principal use test works

If your building has more than one Schedule 1 use, the principal use is the one that relates most closely to the purpose and nature of the premises. The Principal Use of Premises Regulations 2026 set that test. They come into force on 15 October 2026.

Who does this affect?

It affects the owner or manager of a hotel with a bar, restaurant and function suite, a pub with letting rooms, a venue with a café and a performance space, or any building with more than one Schedule 1 use.

Once you know which use governs, the free scope checker applies the capacity thresholds to your premises. It runs in your browser and stores nothing.

What problem do the regulations solve?

The Act applies to premises "wholly or mainly used" for one or more of the uses in Schedule 1. That is straightforward for a nightclub or a museum. It is not straightforward for a hotel with a public bar, a restaurant open to non-residents and a function suite hired out for weddings. That building has several Schedule 1 uses, and the Act gave no rule for which one governs.

The Terrorism (Protection of Premises) (Principal Use of Premises) Regulations 2026 answer that. They were made on 8 September, laid before Parliament on 10 September, and come into force on 15 October 2026.

What is the test?

Where premises are used for two or more Schedule 1 uses, the principal use is the one that

relates most closely to the purpose and nature of the premises

That use is then treated as the principal use for the purposes of section 4 of the Act.

"Purpose and nature" is not left entirely open. The factors you must take into account include whether the premises were built or adapted for the use in question. That is a question about the structure of the building, not about where the revenue arises.

Why does turnover not decide it?

It is tempting to reason from turnover. A hotel whose bar and function business earns more than its rooms might assume the hospitality and events side governs.

The regulations point elsewhere. A building constructed as a hotel, laid out as a hotel and adapted over time as a hotel has a purpose and nature that the accounts do not change. For most hotels the principal use will fall under Schedule 1 paragraph 8 (hotel, hostel, holiday park), not under the bar or the function suite.

That is a judgement on the facts of the building, not a formula. It is why the reasoning should be recorded when it is reached, not reconstructed later under pressure.

What do the regulations not change?

Two points are commonly confused.

• They do not change the capacity thresholds. Premises qualify if it is reasonable to expect that, from time to time, 200 or more individuals may be present at the same time. The enhanced tier still begins at 800.
• They do not override the Schedule 1 tier caps. Places of worship, early years and childcare provision, primary and secondary education, and further education are standard duty premises regardless of how they would otherwise be treated. A mixed-use building whose principal use is one of those does not enter the enhanced tier because a café inside it is busy. Higher education is not capped in the same way. Paragraph 16 fixes who the Responsible Person is, without addressing the tier.

What should you do about it?

No urgent action is needed, and nothing here carries a cost. Before 15 October, it is worth being able to answer three questions about any building with more than one Schedule 1 use.

1. Which Schedule 1 uses does this building actually have?
2. Which one relates most closely to its purpose and nature, and what does the way it was built or adapted indicate?
3. Where is that reasoning recorded?

The third question is the one usually missing. The decision itself is often obvious to the person who runs the building. The evidence that it was made deliberately, on the right test, at the right time, usually is not.

Where that record is required, a readiness assessment covers it as a matter of course.