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Pubwatch & BIG Banning Enforcement System

TownSafe enables Business Improvement Groups and Pubwatch schemes to automatically enforce existing exclusion bans across hospitality and retail venues.

Reduce repeat offender entry, improve staff safety, and support town-wide crime prevention using locally installed AI recognition technology.

Protect Your Town Centre

Enable participating businesses to automatically identify individuals who have been banned for violence, theft, harassment or antisocial behaviour - before incidents escalate.

  • ✔ Night-time economy safety
  • ✔ Retail crime prevention
  • ✔ Staff protection
  • ✔ Anti-social behaviour management
  • ✔ Town-wide collaboration
  • ✔ Multi-venue intelligence
  • ✔ Hospitality + Retail
  • ✔ SMS Alerting
  • ✔ CMS Dashboard

Supports Existing Pubwatch & Shopwatch Banning Schemes


TownSafe does not replace existing Pubwatch, Shopwatch or BIG exclusion schemes.

Instead, it enables participating venues to automatically enforce bans already agreed by local safety partnerships.

  • Automatically identify excluded individuals on entry
  • Discreet SMS alert to venue staff
  • Staff confirm or dismiss potential matches via CMS
  • Audit log of exclusion enforcement actions
  • Supports cross-venue collaboration

TownSafe provides an operational enforcement layer for exclusion policies already in place within local Pubwatch and BIG partnerships.

The Problem


Business Improvement Groups invest heavily in CCTV networks, town wardens, exclusion lists and radio schemes. Yet banned individuals frequently re-enter venues because:

  • Staff are busy with other duties
  • It's very difficult to recognise offenders from a long list on an App
  • Remembering peoples faces is very difficult

The Solution


TownSafe enables participating BIG members to:

  • Automatically identify banned individuals upon entry
  • Alert staff discreetly via SMS
  • Staff can confirm or dismiss alerts using CMS
  • Maintain GDPR-compliant access controls
  • Operate across hospitality and retail sectors

Supports BID Safety & Crime Reduction Objectives


TownSafe assists Business Improvement Districts in achieving measurable safety outcomes required for BID business plans and funding justification.

  • Reduction in repeat offender entry
  • Improved enforcement of exclusion policies
  • Improved staff safety in retail & night-time economy
  • Reduced police attendance for known individuals
  • Faster venue response to incidents
  • Improved reporting and audit trail

Supports BID objectives relating to:

  • Retail crime prevention
  • Night-time economy safety
  • Violence reduction initiatives
  • Police licensing partnership working
  • Safer Streets funding applications
  • Purple Flag accreditation

Governance & Data Protection


  • Facial comparison performed locally on-site
  • No live video streamed to the cloud
  • No remote facial recognition processing
  • Encrypted facial encodings only
  • Venue-level watchlist permissions
  • Staff audit logs of alert responses
  • DPIA templates provided
  • SOP documentation included
  • Retention policies configurable

Supports GDPR data minimisation and proportionality principles when used in conjunction with locally agreed exclusion policies.

Watchlist Administration & Venue Review

Pubwatch Admin CMS

Watchlist updates are managed by authorised Pubwatch or BIG safety partnership representatives in accordance with locally agreed exclusion policies.

  • Add excluded individuals name and photo
  • Delete excluded individuals name and photo
  • View last confirmed detection

Access controls ensure only authorised safety partnership staff may update shared exclusion records.

Venue Watchlist Users Page

Participating venues receive discreet SMS alerts when a potential match is detected upon entry.

  • Secure venue-level access
  • View potential matches
  • Timestamped alert images
  • Confirm or dismiss alerts based on comparision with Pubwatch App images
  • Equipment in venues has no access to excluded individuals photos

Human confirmation supports proportional enforcement of locally agreed exclusion policies.

How It Works


1. Local Exclusion Added

An individual is banned from a participating BIG venue.

2. Watchlist Updated

The exclusion is shared across authorised venues.

3. Entry Attempt

Entry camera detects and compares encrypted face encoding locally.

4. Staff Alerted

SMS alert sent if match exceeds confidence threshold.

Sectors Supported


  • Retail Units
  • Pubs and Bars
  • Restaurants
  • Hotels
  • Cinemas
  • Bowling Alleys & Snooker Halls
  • Taxi Ranks
  • Late-night food outlets
  • Event venues

BID Funding Options


TownSafe may be deployed as BID-funded safety infrastructure with no upfront cost to participating venues.

  • BID levy-funded deployment
  • Safer Streets funding support
  • Police & Crime Commissioner grants
  • Community safety partnership funding
  • Retail crime prevention initiatives

TownSafe can be delivered as a fully managed safety service including hardware, installation, software access and support.

Request a Demonstration

Arrange a TownSafe demonstration for your Business Improvement Group or Pubwatch scheme.

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