Legal Guides - Public Place Naturism January 2019

There are three legal guides; one for Scotland, one for England and Wales and one for Northern Ireland. Please ensure that you download the correct version.

Here in the UK we are lucky enough to have a legal system that we believe can be relied upon to maintain order and to support us in times of need. We have confidence in the police, the Crown Prosecution Service and the Judiciary to act impartially and that their processes operate in a fair, consistent and transparent manner.

However this is not always the case when it comes to Naturism in public places. There are times when public nudity seems to be condoned or even positively supported by the police, such as during the World Naked Bike Ride events, and others when people are presumed to be breaking the law and arrested for no other reason than that they are naked in a public place.

"All too often we see innocent Naturists falling foul of the law, not because of their actions, but because of confusion within the law and a lack of understanding by the police and CPS" - Malcolm Boura, Campaigns Director.

Here at British Naturism we not only campaign to change and improve the law with regard to Naturism in public places, but are also working to help educate the police and magistrates with regard to the law, to try and overcome the presumption that public nudity is inherently illegal and those who practice it are inevitably up to no good. We do this both through proactive engagement with all branches of the legal system - including Parliament - as well as by providing legal advice and support to our members.

You may also be interested in legal guidance on Nudity in Public which has been produced by the Crown Prosecution Service following representations from British Naturism and others, and the College of Policing Guidance.

Please donate to support this work

British Naturism is an organisation run by volunteers with a small paid staff and we rely on income from members subscriptions to be able to do our work – on behalf of all Naturists. We’ve prepared this Legal Guidance for everyone and it is free to download from the button above, but please consider making a donation to our legal fund to help us defray the cost of producing it, we suggest a minimum of £2. If you are not a member of BN, please consider joining us, it only costs the equivalent of a few pounds a month but the support and help it gives us is invaluable.

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