Today I want to talk to you about what you need to run a pub in England & Wales. The first thing to look at is a premises license. If you’re taking over an existing premises… which is licensed. You need to look at the premises license, check any restrictions on it.

If they meet what you’ve been told during the buying process and they meet with what your expectations – of what are you going to do with the building are. There will be a map that shows the area covered by the premises license. You need to check that, that meets what you’re going to do with the building. If you’re gonna change the lay out at all.

So to make sure that any area you’re bringing in where you’ll be selling alcohol, is covered by the license. You’re solicitor should have a copy of that, or will be able to get a copy of that for you. If you’re bringing on board a new building or you’re converting from a retail unit into a licensed premises and it’s never had a premises license before, you will need to go through the whole process.

Speak to your local council they will take it, take you through. You might want to get a licensing specialist on board who, is used to drawing up the plans et cetera. Then you need a personal license. To do that, you need to get personal license qualification. It’s a level two qualification. If you go onto the Gov.uk website, you can find a list of accredited providers such as a the BII.

That’s just one of many. You need to get that qualification before you then apply to the local council where you live to get your personal license. You need to then think about food hygiene. I would recommend getting anyway, even if you plan to do food, because technically… drink is a food. It doesn’t cost a lot and you can do it online, even though I’d prefer usually to do person. You need to sort out

business insurance. Now, if you’re going to be taking on a tenancy and or lease, you might find that a pub co. as part of your rent, will sell out the building insurance or they will charge you extra for that. But don’t forget if you’re living above, you need to cover your personal effects, just what you would do if you were living in a house.

You need to think about health and safety. Make sure you’re up to date with everything. Where your chemicals. Again, plenty of advice on the Gov.uk website, You need to think if you employ staff, you need to think about HR. And again, there’s plenty of people hat are HR specialists and advice on the Gov.uk website. It might be worth going business networking locally to where your premises is

going to be, because you usually find some very good HR specialists that go to those. You need to make sure you understand the licensing law and how particularly affects your business. If there’s any restrictions on your license. Make sure your staff are aware of that. If you’re going to change the designated premises supervisor on the DPS, then you need to contact your local council.

From a business point of view, you need to register with HM Customs & Excise (the tax man) to make sure that they understand whether you’re going to be self-employed, partnership or limited company. And can send you out the written forms for that. I would also be looking at appointing professionals, so you might want an accountant and or a bookkeeper, and you would also need to be looking a stocktaker just to keep you on the straight and narrow and hopefully make you a successful business.

So this is just a very brief run through to things, the sort of things you need to be looking at for running a pub. But as always, do your research and seek professional advice first for the solicitor and / or accountant if you already have one. Look forward to talking to you next time.