At a glance
| Dimension | Range (mm unless stated) | Basis | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Table, per diner and depth | 600 to 750 long per diner; 700 to 900 deep | Practice | Fine dining at the upper end. 750 deep is used in the drawings. |
| Dining chair footprint | about 450 wide x 520 deep | Drawing example | Take it from the chair maker's drawing; arms and swivel bases are larger. |
| Sitting zone (A) | 400 to 500 | Derived from chair depth | Table edge to the back of an occupied chair. |
| Chair pull-out (B) | 300 to 450 | Practice | The room to slide back and stand. Confirm on a mock-up. |
| Aisle (C) | 750 to 900 service; 1,000 to 1,200 main | Practice | Between the backs of occupied chairs. |
| Table edge to table edge (T) | 1,650 to 2,100 | T = 2 x A + C | Diners back to back. Not the aisle. |
| Dining floor per cover, four-tops | 1.2 to 1.7 m2 | Arithmetic from the module | Net: walls, bar and service areas add to it. |
| Escape route or exit width | 750 (60 people), 850 (110), 1,050 (220) | Approved Document B vol 2, Table 2.3 | Between fixed obstructions (D4). England. |
| Corridors and passageways | 1,200 unobstructed | Approved Document M vol 2, 3.14(b) | For the access consultant: does an aisle count? |
| Occupant number, restaurant | 1.0 m2 per person | Approved Document B vol 2, Table D1 | A counting factor, not a space per cover. |
Millimetres. The first seven rows are plan geometry and practice used in the drawings, to be confirmed by the partner workshop and the operator; the last three are from the documents named (England; editions in the notice).
Three zones, and what table spacing is measured from
"Table spacing" can mean two different things that differ by the width of two chairs: the gap between table edges, or the clear aisle between the backs of the chairs. Set a layout from one datum and write on the drawing which it is. The drawing works outwards from a table edge in three steps:
- Sitting zone (A). From the table edge to the back of an occupied chair. A dining chair about 520 mm deep, with the front of the seat tucked about 70 mm under the table, puts its back about 450 mm out. The planning range is 400 to 500 mm. Armchairs and swivel chairs need more, so take the footprint from the chair maker's drawing.
- Pull-out (B). The extra room behind the chair for a diner to slide it back and stand. About 300 to 450 mm is the range we plan to; it depends on the chair, the floor and the diner, so confirm it on a mock-up when the room is tight.
- Aisle (C). The clear width between the backs of the occupied chairs either side. We plan service aisles at 750 to 900 mm and main aisles at 1,000 to 1,200 mm. These are practice: where an aisle is also an escape route or an accessible route, the widths in section 3 apply.
The distance from one table edge to the next, with diners back to back, is T = 2 x A + C: with A = 450 and C = 900, T = 1,800 mm. Quote T and C separately in a brief, because a drawing that says "1,800 between tables" and a contractor who reads it as the aisle differ by 900 mm.
Space per cover: from the layout, and the fire factor
Area per cover follows from the same module. Take a table, add a 450 mm sitting zone on each chair side and an aisle on every side, and divide the cell by the covers. With our four-top and the aisle widths above:
| Layout module (aisle on all sides, 450 sitting zones) | Aisle 750 | Aisle 900 | Aisle 1,200 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Four-top 1,200 x 750, chairs on both long sides: m2 per cover | 1.17 | 1.34 | 1.71 |
| Two-top 700 x 700, chairs on two opposite sides: m2 per cover | 1.70 | 2.00 | 2.66 |
Two-tops cost more floor per cover than four-tops, which is why layouts push tables together. The figures are net: the entrance, bar, service stations, waiter routes and the way to the WCs all add to the area a real room needs. Published practice figures vary from about 1.0 m2 to 2.0 m2 or more per cover by service style, and none we could read was a UK primary source, so treat all of them, ours included, as a starting point to prove on a scaled plan.
The fire factor is a different number. Approved Document B volume 2, Appendix D, Table D1 gives a floor space factor of 1.0 m2 per person for a restaurant (0.3 for bar areas within 2 m of the serving point, 0.5 for bar areas without fixed seating), to count the occupants of a room when the number is not known (paragraphs D1 and 2.9). Note 1 allows the factor to be set from data on similar premises, and note 5 allows the number of fixed seats to be used where occupants will normally be seated. Loose chairs are not fixed seats.
The two numbers meet in the exit width. A 150 m2 dining room counts as 150 people by Table D1. Table 2.2 asks for at least two escape routes or exits above 60 people. Table 2.3 gives 1,050 mm for up to 220 people, with no interpolation below that, and paragraph 2.21 says to discount the largest exit, so each remaining exit must carry the whole room. Laid out at 1.34 m2 per cover, the same room seats about 112, so the exits are sized for more people than the table plan shows unless the fire engineer agrees a lower figure. This is arithmetic to show the coupling, not advice for any real room.
Aisles, escape and access: what the documents say
None of the three documents we read gives a width for an aisle between restaurant tables. They give widths for escape routes and for corridors and passageways, and say how to measure them. Whether a particular aisle is one of those, and how many people it serves, is for the fire engineer and the access consultant.
| Document | What it gives that touches a table layout | What it does not give |
|---|---|---|
| Approved Document B, volume 2 (2019 edition incorporating 2020, 2022, 2025 and 2026 amendments; England) | Table 2.2: one escape route or exit for up to 60 people, two for up to 600, three beyond. Table 2.3: minimum widths of 750, 850 and 1,050 mm for up to 60, 110 and 220 people, with no interpolation below 1,050 (note 3). D4: the width of a route not defined by walls is the minimum width of passage between any fixed obstructions. Table D1: restaurant 1.0 m2 per person. Table 2.1: travel distance 18 m in one direction and 45 m where more than one (purpose groups 4 and 5, 'elsewhere'). | A width for an aisle between tables. How loose chairs are treated when pulled out. |
| HM Government, Fire safety risk assessment: small and medium places of assembly (gov.uk, updated 28 August 2024; covers restaurants and cafes for up to 300 people) | Escape routes free from obstruction and at least two exits for more than 60 people (p. 60). Capacities by width (p. 64): 750 mm up to 100 people in normal-risk premises, 1,050 mm up to 200; ideally 1,050 and not less than 750, and 900 where wheelchair users are likely. Travel distance allows for walking round furniture (p. 64). Standing and sitting in gangways is not permitted (p. 60, in its text on seating and gangways). | A width for an aisle between tables. The 305 mm and 1.05 m figures on p. 60 are for fixed audience seating, not tables. |
| Approved Document M, volume 2 (2015 edition incorporating 2020 and 2024 amendments; England) | 3.14(b) and (c): corridors and passageways at least 1,200 mm unobstructed, with passing places 1,800 x 1,800 mm where narrower than 1,800. 4.16(a): all users have access to all parts of a refreshment facility. 4.14: self-service and waiter service both reachable. 4.15: changes of level acceptable if accessible. | A width for an aisle between tables, a table height, or space for a wheelchair at a restaurant table (the 900 x 1,400 mm in 4.12(g) is for audience seating). |
Approved Document B also has a route for small premises (section 4, paragraph 4.2, page 42): single occupancy, no more than a basement, ground and first storey, and no storey over 280 m2. For a bar or restaurant it plans the seating or standing accommodation for a maximum of 30 people per storey, or 100 on the ground storey if that has a final exit independent of the stair. A small restaurant can fall within it, so ask the fire engineer which route applies.
The two fire documents differ. Approved Document B sets 750 mm for up to 60 people. The HM Government risk-assessment guide lets 750 mm carry up to 100 people in normal-risk premises. One is design guidance for buildings under the Building Regulations, the other is guidance for assessing fire risk in existing premises under the fire safety order. Which governs a project is for the fire engineer, and the sheet shows both so that a designer sees why two consultants may quote different widths.
Loose chairs. Appendix D, paragraph D4 measures a route not defined by walls as the minimum width between "fixed obstructions", and the guide measures escape width at "the narrowest clear unobstructed width". Neither says how a pulled-out chair counts. The drawing shows the same 900 mm aisle with the chairs in and out: ask the fire engineer which state the escape width is checked in, and keep the aisle drawn in both. The guide also says that, where premises are licensed, the licence may add conditions on how seating is set out.
Rows across a 6, 8 and 10 metre room
Across a room, each row of four-tops measures 450 + 750 + 450 = 1,650 mm from chair back to chair back, and every row needs an aisle on each side, including along the walls. For n rows and an aisle a, the width needed is W = n x 1,650 + (n + 1) x a. The table gives the rows that fit, and the width left over:
| Room width (wall to wall) | Aisle 750 | Aisle 900 | Aisle 1,200 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6,000 | 2 rows, 450 spare | 2 rows, none spare | 1 row, 1,950 spare |
| 8,000 | 3 rows, 50 spare | 2 rows, 2,000 spare | 2 rows, 1,100 spare |
| 10,000 | 3 rows, 2,050 spare | 3 rows, 1,450 spare | 3 rows, 250 spare |
Spare width is not wasted: spread it into wider aisles or move it to where the service station goes. Along a wall, a fixed banquette replaces the wall-side aisle and one row of chairs, and the count changes: see banquette dimensions for its datums and the bar, counter and stool sheet for stool pitch at a bar. A table like this gets a layout started; a layout is proved on a scaled plan with the real chair and table footprints.
What to put on the drawing and in the brief
- Name the datum. For every dimension say from what to what: table edge, chair back, occupied position or pulled out.
- Dimension to the table edge, and draw the chairs at the occupied position, with the pull-out shown along main aisles.
- Mark the escape routes and their widths from the fire strategy, with the document and edition. Do not infer them from this sheet.
- Mark the accessible route and the accessible tables, and keep some tables with a chair that can be taken away so a wheelchair user can choose where to sit. The dimensions come from the access consultant: Approved Document M gives no wheelchair space at a restaurant table, and BS 8300-2:2018 was not read for this sheet.
- Give the chair and table footprints from the maker's drawings, and re-check the layout if either changes.
- State the covers and the occupant number the fire strategy assumes, so the two can be compared.
- Prove tight rooms on a mock-up with the real chair, a table and a person, before production.
The partner workshop supplies furniture to the drawing. It does not check the layout against the fire strategy, the access consultant's drawings or the licence: those sign-offs sit with the design team and the premises' responsible person.
Specification wording
Paste into your schedule or specification and replace anything in [square brackets] with your own figures. Wording is a starting point: your specification governs.
Furniture layout as drawing [ref] revision [ ], dimensioned to table edges. Chairs shown at the occupied position (back of chair [450] mm from the table edge) and, along main aisles, pulled out [400] mm. Clear width between the backs of occupied chairs not less than [900] mm on service aisles and [1,200] mm on main aisles. Escape routes and exit widths as the fire strategy [ref, edition]. Layout subject to the approval of [building control body / fire engineer] and to the premises licence conditions.
Tables [1,200 x 750] mm (four-seat) and [700 x 700] mm (two-seat), top height [745] mm above finished floor level. Dining chair overall footprint [450 x 520] mm to the chair maker's drawing [ref]. Dimensional tolerance [ ] mm. Any change to a footprint to be re-checked against the layout drawing before production.
[ ] tables to be accessible, spread across the room as agreed with [access consultant], each with a chair that can be removed and a clear route from the entrance not less than [1,200] mm wide. Dimensions and knee space from [BS 8300-2:2018 / the access consultant's drawing], not from this specification.
Terms used on this page
- Chair pull-out
- The extra space needed behind a chair so a diner can slide it back and stand up. It is added to the table edge when planning gaps and aisles.
- Sitting zone
- The distance from a table edge to the back of an occupied chair. It is part of the layout that the diner uses, so it is counted with the table, not with the aisle.
- Aisle (circulation zone)
- The clear width left for people to walk between the backs of occupied chairs. Which aisles are also escape routes or accessible routes is decided by the fire engineer and access consultant.
- Floor space factor
- A figure in square metres per person, from Approved Document B volume 2, Table D1, used to count the occupants of a room when the number is not known. It is not a design allowance per cover.
Standards and sources
- Approved Document B, Volume 2: Buildings other than dwellings (2019 edition incorporating 2020, 2022, 2025 and 2026 amendments; England): Table 0.1, Tables 2.1 to 2.3, paragraphs 2.6, 2.9, 2.16 to 2.21 and 4.2, Appendix D (D1 to D4, Table D1) read.
- Approved Document M, Volume 2 (2015 edition incorporating 2020 and 2024 amendments; England): paragraphs 3.11 to 3.14 and 4.12 to 4.16 read.
- HM Government, Fire safety risk assessment: small and medium places of assembly: gov.uk page updated 28 August 2024; printed pages 60, 63 and 64 read.
- BS 9999, BS 8300-2:2018 and BS 5588-6: named in the documents above; not read: confirm against the current editions.
Questions we are asked
How far apart should restaurant tables be?
Measured from table edge to table edge with diners back to back, about 1,650 to 2,100 mm in our planning examples: two sitting zones of about 450 mm plus an aisle of 750 to 1,200 mm. That is practice, not regulation. Where the aisle is an escape route or an accessible route, the fire strategy and the access consultant set the minimum.
How much space does each diner need in a restaurant?
In our arithmetic for four-tops with aisles of 750 to 1,200 mm, about 1.2 to 1.7 m2 of net dining floor per cover, before the entrance, bar, service stations and routes to the WCs. Do not confuse it with the 1.0 m2 per person in Approved Document B, Table D1, which is used to count the people a room may hold for escape.
What is the minimum aisle width in a restaurant?
No document we read gives one for an aisle between tables. Approved Document B gives escape route widths by the number of people (750 mm up to 60, 850 mm up to 110, 1,050 mm up to 220: Table 2.3) and Approved Document M asks for 1,200 mm unobstructed in corridors and passageways (3.14(b)). Whether a given aisle is one of those is for the fire engineer and access consultant.
Does a pulled-out chair count in the aisle width?
Approved Document B measures a route not defined by walls between fixed obstructions (D4), and loose chairs are not fixed, but it does not say how to treat them. The HM Government assembly guide measures escape width at the narrowest clear unobstructed point and, in its text on seating and gangways, says standing and sitting in gangways should not be permitted. Ask the fire engineer which state is checked, and draw the aisle with the chairs in and out.
How many exits does a restaurant need?
Under Approved Document B, Table 2.2, one escape route or exit for up to 60 people, two for up to 600, and three above that, with the occupant number taken from Table D1 (1.0 m2 per person for a restaurant) when it is not known. Travel distance and the other provisions add to this, so the fire engineer fixes the number for the project.
Can the studio check my layout against the fire regulations?
No. We coordinate the manufacture of the furniture through our partner workshops to your drawing. The layout is checked by your fire engineer, building control, access consultant and licensing authority.
Download the factsheet
A two-page A4 PDF with the dimension table, the plan drawing, what the documents say and three specification clauses, to keep with your project file.