Inclusive team days: access, diet and alcohol-free

An inclusive team day is the ordinary one, planned by someone who asked specific questions early and wrote the answers down. Three things decide whether people can take part properly: everyone can reach the venue and move around it, everyone can eat, and nobody has to drink to be part of the evening. All three are much harder to fix once the booking is confirmed.

What the research says about alcohol at work events

The case for planning around people who do not drink is not a matter of taste. IPPR’s report Taking stock: counting the economic costs of alcohol harm, published on 8 October 2025, draws on a Public First survey of 2,083 UK working-age adults fielded between 25 and 28 July 2025 (checked 2026). It found that 24% of workers sometimes felt pressured to drink when they did not want to at a work event, rising to 38% among 18 to 24 year olds. 31% of workers had called in sick in the past year after drinking at a work-related event, and among 18 to 24 year olds that figure was 43%. A further 22% reported working while hungover, and 29% had seen colleagues tired or sluggish after drinking.

The same research, as reported by People Management, the CIPD’s publication, on 8 October 2025, found that 40% of workers said all their work social events centred around alcohol, and 41% said their employer had made no effort to make work events more inclusive for non-drinkers. 73% of workers told IPPR that employers have a responsibility to reduce alcohol harm, and over half said their employer had provided no guidance, training or inclusive alternatives.

The practical reading is blunt. If the only thing happening after 5pm is a bar, then a measurable share of your team is deciding whether to explain themselves or go home. Give the evening a second centre of gravity and the question disappears.

Ask early, and ask specifically

“Let me know if you have any requirements” gets you silence. A short list of concrete questions gets answers, because people can see what you are going to do with them. Ask once, keep the replies private, and tell people who will see them.

• –Step-free entry, lifts and accessible toilets at the venue and on the route in.
• –Whether anyone needs a seat, a quieter space, or a break from a loud room.
• –Dietary requirements, including allergies, and how the venue labels food on the day.
• –Whether anyone is not drinking, and what they would like instead.
• –Anything that would make a physical activity difficult, and what the alternative is.
• –Caring commitments that decide the start and finish times.

Then share what you found out. If the venue has three steps at the entrance, say so on the invite rather than letting people discover it on the day. Honest information is more inclusive than a hopeful one.

Access is a route, not only a room

The room is only half the question. TfL’s own guidance (checked 2026) says around a third of Tube stations have step-free access, along with about half of Overground stations and all DLR stations. All 41 Elizabeth line stations are step-free from street to platform, and the stations from Paddington to Woolwich, plus Heathrow, are step-free from street to train. TfL distinguishes the two: the blue wheelchair symbol means street to train, and the white symbol means street to platform, where a boarding ramp may be needed.

Check the stations on your actual route rather than the network averages, because per-station step-free status is not something to assume at the big rail termini. TfL publishes the Step-free Tube guide for exactly this, and it is the authoritative source per station. If a lift is out of service, TfL staff will help plan an alternative step-free journey and, where there is no reasonable alternative, will book an accessible taxi at TfL’s cost.

Plan the end of the evening too, because that is where inclusive plans usually fail. The Night Tube runs on Friday and Saturday nights only, on the Central, Jubilee, Northern, Piccadilly, Victoria and Windrush lines, and step-free access at those stations is the same as during the day, with stations staffed while trains run (checked 2026). Night Tube fares are off-peak, and a Day Travelcard is valid on the day of issue and for journeys starting before 04:30 the following day. Do not guess the journey time: check the line PDF or TfL Go, and put the last realistic departure on the invite rather than leaving it to the group chat.

Noise is the other access question. A loud room excludes people with sensory needs, hearing aids or a migraine trigger, and it excludes anyone who simply will not shout. Ask where the quiet space is, whether there is one at all, and whether the music can come down for the part of the evening when people are meant to talk.

Diet and drink, without the spreadsheet

Dietary requirements get messy because they arrive in ten different formats and reach the venue last. Collect them in one place with the booking, confirm them with the venue in writing, and ask how food will be labelled when it is served. A buffet where nothing is marked puts the burden on the person with the allergy to interrogate the staff.

• –Send one form or one message, with a deadline, and keep allergies separate from preferences.
• –Confirm the venue can handle each requirement before you pay, not after.
• –Ask for labels on the day, and for a named person the venue will answer questions through.
• –Order a real alcohol-free option rather than assuming soft drinks are enough.
• –Check that the alcohol-free option is actually served. A bottle at the back of the bar is not a plan.

Plenty of people do not drink, for health, faith, medication, pregnancy or preference. If the social part of the day is a bar, they are left explaining themselves. Ask partners what they can pour that is not alcohol, and treat the answer as part of the booking rather than a favour. Then put it on the invite next to everything else, so nobody has to ask at the table.

If you are supplying alcohol somewhere unlicensed, such as an office or a hired hall, GOV.UK’s alcohol licensing guidance says the person supplying it needs a licence or other authorisation, and a Temporary Event Notice costs £21 and must be applied for at least 10 clear working days before an event with fewer than 500 people at any time (checked 2026). That is one more reason to put the budget into food and a proper alcohol-free drinks list rather than a DIY bar.

For formats that work when the room is not drinking, see alcohol-free team socials in London. If a tasting is still the plan, wine tasting team events in London covers how to build a parallel alcohol-free flight so the non-drinkers are not left watching.

Design the day so nobody has to opt out

The kindest structure is one where every part of the day has a low-energy version, not a separate table for people who cannot join in but a real alternative sitting alongside the main thing. That usually means choosing formats that do not depend on standing, shouting or staying late, and small team activities is the faster filter when your group is under 20.

• –Pair a physical activity with a seated one that is genuinely as interesting.
• –Keep the competitive element optional, and never make the last-place team do something.
• –Build in a quiet room or a corridor with chairs, and say where it is.
• –Avoid making the whole evening depend on staying late.
• –Send the plan in advance so people can decide what they are doing before they arrive.

What to confirm with the partner

Supplier-confirmed detail is what turns an inclusive plan into an accessible day. Ask these before you book, get the answers in writing, and send them out with the joining instructions.

1. 1.Is the route step-free from street to train, and are the accessible toilets open during your slot?
2. 2.Where is the quiet space, and can the music come down?
3. 3.Can the kitchen handle every dietary requirement you have collected, and how is food labelled?
4. 4.What alcohol-free drinks are served, and is there more than a soft drink?
5. 5.What happens if someone needs to leave early or sit out part of the session?

Then put the answers where people will read them. A team day that works for the people who find these days hardest to attend tends to work better for everyone, and the team socials and food and drink hubs both let you filter by group size and area before you enquire. If your group is larger than 20, or the brief spans several venues, the concierge team will take the access and dietary questions off your desk entirely.