Hearing Information
This web page provides information for members of the public about the Nottingham Inquiry’s public hearings.
The hearings are taking place at Mary Ward House, 5-7 Tavistock Place, London, WC1H 9SN, which is close to mainline train stations and underground stations (further details below).
The hearings will commence on Monday 23 February and are expected to run until the beginning of June. The Inquiry will sit from Monday to Thursday and sometimes on Friday. There will be a break for Easter from 1 to 10 April inclusive.
Registering to attend
There is capacity for members of the public to attend on each sitting day. There are 9 seats available in the Hearing room, which is on the first floor of Mary Ward House, with a further 26 in a viewing room on the ground floor, which will show a livestream of the hearings. Priority will be given in allocation of seats to friends and family members of the bereaved and the survivors, and Nottingham residents. Thereafter, seats in the Hearing room and viewing room will be allocated on a first come, first served basis.
Children under the age of 18 should not attend the Inquiry’s hearings. Before attending yourself, you should be aware that evidence given in the hearings will refer to violence, deaths and other subject matter which may be distressing.
If you wish to attend one or more days of hearings in a particular week you must register your attendance in the previous week; you cannot register your attendance any further in advance.
Registration will open on Monday, when the Inquiry will release the names of the following week’s witnesses, and it will close at 16:00 on Wednesday. If your registration is successful, confirmation of allocation of a place will be sent by the Inquiry by email on Thursday or Friday.
To register, please complete this registration form:
Nottingham Inquiry Registration: 23/02/2026 – 26/02/2026 – Fill in form
If you have registered to attend a hearing but can no longer attend, please let the Secretariat know by emailing info@nottinghaminquiry.uk, with the subject title “CANCELLING ATTENDANCE”. Please include in your email the date / dates of the hearing / hearings you are registered to attend.
If you attend the Hearing venue without having registered in advance you may find that there are no seats available.
Reasonable adjustments
If you require any reasonable adjustments for attendance at the hearing, please ensure you have included these in the registration form in the “accessibility requirements” section.
Watching the hearings elsewhere
The hearings will be livestreamed on YouTube, with the link accessible via the Inquiry website, with the exception of any sensitive material subject to a Restriction Order under sections17-19 of the Inquiries Act 2005.
No registration is required to view the livestream but there will be a 10-minute time delay in the streaming.
A video of the livestreamed oral evidence will ordinarily be published on the Inquiry’s website the following working day.
Transcripts will also be published on the website.
The Inquiry’s Publication Protocol provides more detail on these arrangements.
Getting to the Hearing
Location
The location of Mary Ward House is shown on the map below.
Entrance
You should use the main entrance to Mary Ward House, which looks like this:
Transport to the venue
The closest public transport options to Mary Ward House are:
- Mainline train stations: Euston, King’s Cross and St Pancras
- Underground stations: Russell Square, Euston and King’s Cross St Pancras
- Buses: Numbers 1, 14, 205, 68, and 91 pass near Mary Ward House. To find a bus route, we recommend using Transport for London’s Journey Planner.
Timings of the hearing day
Mary Ward House will be open to the public at 09:15. Please arrive in good time to pass through security, as the hearings will start promptly at 10:00.
You will be able to enter the ground floor Viewing Room, if you are registered to sit there, once you have been through the security checks explained in the next section.
You will be able to enter the Hearing Room, if you are registered to sit there, from 09.45.
The morning session will run from 10:00 until around 13:00, with a short break at a convenient point in the morning. There will usually be a one-hour break for lunch each day. The afternoon session will run from around 14:00 until around 17:00, again with a short break. The timings of each session and breaks may vary slightly each day, depending on progress with the witness evidence being given.
You should leave promptly at the end of the afternoon session.
On Arrival at the Venue
Registration and Security Checks
When you enter Mary Ward House you will be asked to go through a security check, similar to airport security. You will then be directed to the registration desk, where you will need to provide your name and to present photographic identification such as a driving licence or passport.
If you previously registered to attend and received confirmation of your registration, you will be signed in.
If you have not registered to attend in advance, but turn up on the day, the Nottingham Inquiry team will check to see if there are available seats in the Hearing Room or the Viewing Room. If there are seats available, you will be allocated one, but if there are none available, you will not be able to attend the hearing that day and you will have to leave the venue. If you have a question about this, please email us at info@nottinghaminquiry.uk.
Provided there is a seat for you in the building, you will be given a lanyard indicating that you have a place to attend the hearing. You will then be directed to either the Hearing room or the Viewing room, as appropriate. If you are due to sit in the Hearing Room, but it is not yet open, you will be directed to the Dickens Library where you can wait.
The hearings will start promptly at 10:00, and members of the public with a seat in the Hearing Room must be in their seats before 10:00. Should you arrive too late for this, you will be directed to the Viewing Room instead.
Security Protocol
Please refer to the Security Protocol on the Inquiry’s website for additional information on the security checks at Mary Ward House including a list of prohibited items.
If you are in the Hearing Room
No food or drink may be taken into the Hearing Room, except for water. Once you are in the Hearing Room, please remain seated until there is a break in proceedings and the Chair of the Inquiry has left the room. Should you need to leave and re-enter the Hearing Room while the hearing is in progress you should do so as quietly as possible so as to minimise additional noise and disruption. No filming or recording is permitted in the Hearing Room.
If you are in the Viewing Room
No food or drink may be taken into the Viewing Room, except for water. Should you need to leave and re-enter the Viewing Room while the hearing is in progress, please do so as quietly as possible. No filming or recording is permitted in the Viewing Room.
There are no refreshments available to the public at Mary Ward House.
Toilets
There are toilets available on the ground floor of Mary Ward House just before the stairs up to the Hearing Room, although please note that they are limited in number and you may have to queue at busy times, such as during the morning and afternoon breaks.
Evacuation arrangements
Inquiry staff and Mary Ward House staff will direct attendees out of the building should it need to be evacuated.
There will be no planned fire alarm tests when the building is open to the public.
Wi-Fi
Mary Ward House has a public Wi-Fi facility.
Network: Mary Ward House
Password: THESETTLEMENT_1898!
These details will also be displayed at Mary Ward House.