Nottingham declares balaclava ban as wearers face mega £1,000 nice for face coverings
Council bosses in Nottingham said they had ‘listened to people who feel intimidated’ after a raft of anti-social incidents involving people wearing balaclavas in the city centre
Men wearing balaclavas at a recent protest in Dover
People caught wearing balaclavas in a major UK city could face a £1,000 fine under new powers coming into force.
Council bosses in Nottingham said they had “listened to people who feel intimidated” after a slew of complaints about anti-social behaviour in the city centre. From September 15, police and community protection officers will be able to ask people to remove non-religious face coverings if they have reason to believe they are hiding their identity to commit crime or intimidate others.
Anyone who refuses to remove a face covering could be issued with a £70 on-the-spot fine, or face prosecution with a maximum penalty of £1,000. Police and council officials said they had recorded over 180 anti-social behaviour and crime incidents in the city centre involving youths and gangs concealing their identities with balaclavas in the 12 months to June.
It includes one shocking episode last November which saw two groups of youths wearing balaclavas confront each other with machetes in full view of families and shoppers at the Winter Wonderland Christmas market.
Others incidents have involved people wearing balaclavas to intimidate shop workers, or to hide their faces as they break into buildings.
Councillor Neghat Khan, leader of the Labour-run council, said: “We have listened to people across Nottingham who have told us that they can feel intimidated when they see individuals wearing balaclavas, skeleton masks or other face coverings without a legitimate reason in our city centre.
“Our residents should be able to live, work and spend time in Nottingham without feeling frightened or unsafe. That is why we are taking decisive action and becoming one of the first cities in the country to introduce a restriction of this kind.
“This is not about telling people what they can wear or targeting those who have a genuine reason for covering their face. It is about giving authorised officers the power to act where a face covering is being used to help conceal a person’s identity in connection with crime or anti-social behaviour, or where it is worn in a manner that intimidates, harasses, alarms or distresses others.“
It comes on top of a Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) issued by the council this summer, which aimed to clamp down on aggressive charity collections, noisy buskers, public urination, and unauthorised magazine salespeople.
Recent anti-immigration protests, including one which saw hundreds of masked men cause disruption in Dover, have reignited the national debate over rules around face coverings.
There is no law banning the wearing balaclavas in public outright – but under the Crime and Policing Act 2026, a police officer with the rank of inspector or above has the authority to designate specific areas as a ‘mask-free zone’, where concealing your identity is a criminal offence.
Orders can be issued for up to 24 hours – but councils have the ability to use PSPOs to make these restrictions last longer. Exemptions are given for religious reasons, health conditions, and legitimate cultural events.
Similar balaclava bans have previously been announced in Wolverhampton and the London borough of Hammersmith & Fulham.
