Visitor regulations

Conditions of entry

Conditions of entry for all visitors

All visitors are welcome inside our building and grounds. We allow wheelchairs, mobility scooters and assistance dogs inside, as well as children of all ages, as long as those under 16 years old are accompanied by an adult at all times.

For safety and security, certain items are not permitted in our building. When you enter, our security team will check your bags for any items that you are not permitted to bring inside (listed below).

They will also inspect containers of any kind that hold liquids, to ensure that their contents could not cause harm to our collection, building, staff or visitors.

We strongly recommend that you only bring what you need with you, so we can check your bags and containers more quickly.

If you have luggage that you are not permitted to bring inside, you can find nearby luggage storage providers by searching on www.stasher.com.

What you cannot bring in to our building

• Bags larger than 43cm x 42cm x 24cm in size
• Animals other than assistance dogs
• Wheeled vehicles or conveyances other than wheelchairs, mobility scooters, prams and pushchairs
• Foldable bicycles
• Sports or recreational equipment
• Large wheelie bags or boxes
• Aerosols or paint
• Laser pointers
• Signs, flags, banners or printed campaign materials
• Musical instruments, noisemakers, bullhorns or air horns
• Items or clothing that could be considered offensive
• Items or clothing affiliated to organisations that pose a physical threat to the collection
• Flammable liquids, fireworks, pyrotechnics, flare, or incendiary devices
• Weapons of any kind or facsimiles of weapons, including firearms, pellet guns, stun guns or martial arts weapons
• Knives, sharp objects or cutting instruments (except butter knives, which you can bring to eat with)
• Any items that are potentially harmful or dangerous, or that may present a risk to the collection, building, staff or visitors

Conditions of entry for exhibitions

In addition to the conditions of entry for all visitors, you must respect these conditions to visit our exhibitions.

• Do not bring rucksacks or large bags into our Exhibition Gallery. You can store them in a locker in our cloakroom for free.
• Do not bring food and drink into our Exhibition Gallery.
• Do not use any form of flash when taking photographs.
• Do not conduct any filming, recording or commercial photography without obtaining our permission for filming and images.

Conditions of entry for reading rooms

In addition to the conditions of entry for all visitors, you must respect these conditions to use our document reading rooms.

• You will only be admitted to the reading rooms with a valid reader’s ticket.
• You may only bring permitted items into the reading rooms (listed below), for the safety of our collection.
• Children more than 10 years old may be admitted to the reading rooms, with an accompanying adult, at the discretion of the Enquiry Service Manager.

What you can bring in to our reading rooms

• Graphite pencils, without erasers
• Notebooks
• Clear plastic folders
• Clear pencil cases
• Personal computers, tablets and mobile phones (in silent mode)
• Hand-held cameras
• Audio recorders

What you cannot bring in to our reading rooms

• Coats, bags and umbrellas
• Food and drink, including chewing gum and sweets
• Pens, or pencils with erasers
• Pencil sharpeners
• Sharp objects
• Devices that scan images
• Devices with an integral or external stand or extension (such as a tripod or selfie stick)
• Any other items, unless you have specific permission for them from the Enquiry Service Manager

Code of conduct

Code of conduct for all visitors

We expect all visitors to follow this code of conduct while at The National Archives.

Children

• Children of all ages are welcome, as long as those under 16 years old are accompanied by an adult at all times.
• Our conditions of entry and code of conduct apply equally to children, and they and their parent/guardian will be asked to leave if any regulations are broken.

Damage to records

• You must not deliberately, carelessly or negligently mark, soil, tear, cut, deface, damage, injure or destroy any record at The National Archives.
• Any action deemed to be inappropriate handling of a record will be considered a breach of this code of conduct.

Discrimination or harassment

• We take instances of discrimination or harassment, where behaviour is unwelcome or offensive to the individual receiving it, extremely seriously.
• We will not tolerate harassment or discrimination on the grounds of age, disability, sex, gender identity or gender expression, ethnicity or race, religion or belief, or sexual orientation.

Disruptive behaviour

• Anyone who, in the reasonable opinion of our staff, is causing a disturbance to others shall not remain at The National Archives after having been asked to leave by a staff member.
• You must obtain prior permission if you wish to display, distribute, or leave any bill, placard, notice or other documents in The National Archives, or offer anything for sale.

Emergency procedures

• You must observe emergency procedures and alarms, and follow the instructions of our staff if asked to evacuate the building, for your own safety.

Facilities

• You must not deliberately, carelessly or negligently mark, damage or destroy any furniture, fittings or other contents of The National Archives.
• You must not use our computer facilities or Wi-Fi network to access or view pornographic, unlawful, or offensive material, or online services that might harm or compromise our computer facilities.
• Please observe the opening times of the facilities that you wish to use, as published on our website.

Food and drink

• You must only consume food and drink in designated areas.

Lost property

• Please take all personal possessions with you at the end of your visit.
• If you think you have lost any property at the National Archives, please contact us to see if it has been handed in. We normally keep unclaimed lost property for one month, before disposing of it.

Photography and filming

• Professional filming or photography is only permitted by prior arrangement. Contact our Press and Media team to ask for permission for filming and images. All approved filming will take place in an invigilated area.

Smoking

• You may only smoke in designated areas of our grounds. Smoking, using e-cigarettes/vaporizers and the lighting of matches and cigarette lighters is not permitted in any part of our buildings.

Staff

• Please treat our staff with respect and follow their instructions – they are there to help. This includes allowing your bags, containers and other possessions to be searched at any time upon request.
• Any bags, containers and other possessions, including working papers, may be searched at any time at the request of our staff.
• You must not intentionally obstruct any staff member in the execution of their duty.
• You must not enter staff-only areas unless given express permission and are accompanied by a member of staff or other authorised person.

Code of conduct for reading room visitors

In addition to the code of conduct for all visitors, please respect these regulations when visiting our reading rooms.

• You must follow and use our regulations and handling aids for handling documents in our reading rooms.
• You must not remove or attempt to remove any record from the reading rooms.
• You may take reference material other than public records to another room with the permission of our staff.
• You must comply with the terms and conditions for the supply of copies of records provided by our staff or made by users.
• You may photograph or make a digital copy of a record with your own equipment, provided there is no threat of damage to the records and when copyright requirements are met.
• You must not make a tracing of any record.
• You may use audio recorders for dictation. You must not use them for recording interviews or conversations with staff.
• You must not order or be issued with more records than the prescribed limits.
• Please respect the designated areas for quiet research.
• Please report damaged, defective or misplaced records to our staff and complete our Document condition feedback form (also available on the homepage of our onsite computers).
• Please return all records to the document returns desk or the appropriate space next to the document collection counter ten minutes before closing time.

How we keep visitors safe

We understand that most visitors will behave responsibly and abide by these conditions of entry and code of conduct. However, anyone who contravenes them may be removed and immediately excluded from The National Archives for a minimum period of one month, pending investigation. We will ask visitors exhibiting these behaviours to stop or to leave the building, and in extreme circumstances we may call the police.

We reserve the right to consider the use of any of our policies including our harassment policy, unreasonably persistent enquiries policy, or other appropriate policies to manage or deal with any contraventions of the terms set out in these conditions of entry and code of conduct.

For further information on the regulations laid out on this page, including the exclusions and appeals processes, please see our detailed terms and conditions for visitors.

Security and emergency response

Working with our private security providers, we provide optimal access to the collection while ensuring the security of our visitors, staff and site, 24 hours a day.

We also work closely with other local security services and partners, including the police, to co-ordinate our security and emergency response.

Reporting suspicious activity

We are proud to support Counter Terrorism Policing’s Action Counters Terrorism (ACT) campaign. This campaign encourages the public to help the police to tackle terrorism and save lives by reporting suspicious behaviour and activity. Watch ACT’s film on how Communities Defeat Terrorism (external link, YouTube).

We encourage everyone at The National Archives to report suspicious activity or behaviour – anything that seems out of place, unusual or just doesn’t seem to fit in with everyday life.

Reporting is quick and easy. You can report online using the secure form on act.campaign.gov.uk.

Alternatively, you can call the police confidentially on 0800 789 321.

All reports are kept confidential and you can report anonymously.

In an emergency, always call 999.