What is the law on nudity in public?
Being clothes free in public has never been illegal. However, historically naturists have sometimes been charged with things like "outraging public decency", though there have been no successful prosecutions of naturists for several years.
Prosecutions were previously attempted because it was assumed that simple nudity was immoral or damaging. This assumption is slowly changing. The interpretation of the law has changed in recent years - simply put we're a more tolerant and accepting society, and there are bigger things to worry about than a harmless naked body.
Nudity, whether in public or private, only becomes potentially illegal if your actions are sexual or someone was caused genuine alarm (and it could be proved that alarm was reasonable).
Simply being clothes free isn't illegal and the police and CPS give examples of going for a walk in the countryside, or a bike ride, as acceptable nudity. So what does this mean in practice? If a flasher jumps out in front of someone waving their bits, that is obviously intended to cause offence and is rightly illegal. Going for a walk or bike ride or a wild swim naked isn't.
If you're interested in nudity and the law then check out our photos where's we've uploaded an image of the police flow chart used for dealing with cases of nudity.
