Pub insurance

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Why do you need pub insurance?

Pubs. They’re a labour of love and need an expert hand, at the bar and on the business side. The clue’s in the name – you’re working with the public, and with that comes certain everyday risks. From a slippery floor to accidents in your beer garden, our licensed premises insurance can shield you from expensive claims, starting with public liability cover.

  • licensed premises and pub insurance (UK-specific) with a 24/7 claims team
  • quotes start at £4.74** a month
  • public liability insurance for pubs between £1 million and £5 million

Insurance for pubs – what’s covered?

We’ll start with public liability insurance (usually part of the pub insurance average cost), which can cover you against accidents in your pub, the beer garden or elsewhere on the premises. From there, you can add cover for your essential equipment and stock, as well as employers’ liability insurance for your team.

  • Public liability insurance for pubs

    In case your pub causes an injury, illness or property damage.

  • Employers’ liability insurance

    In case anyone gets ill or injured while working for your pub.

  • Building insurance

    In case something happens to your pub premises

  • Contents insurance for pubs

    In case something happens to your pub’s fixtures and fittings or office equipment.

  • Stock insurance

    In case something happens to your alcoholic and soft drinks, or food produce

  • Business interruption insurance

    In case you can’t trade, because of theft or damage to your pub’s essentials.

  • Legal expenses insurance

    In case you have to pay legal costs connected with your pub.

  • Personal accident insurance

    In case anyone you’ve covered is accidentally injured, at work or off-duty.

  • Public liability insurance for pubs

    In case your pub causes an injury, illness or property damage.

    What’s typically covered by product and public liability insurance for pubs?

    Claims against your business for:

    • damage to someone’s property, caused by your pub business
    • an injury or illness caused by your business activities or products
    • accidental damage or injuries caused by your employees

    For example:

    • a customer slips on some spilled beer, breaking their wrist
    • one of your employees accidentally splashes boiling hot water onto a customer while serving
    • you’ve put seafood on the menu and a customer sues you for causing their food poisoning

    What you’ll need additional cover for

    • If you do employ anyone, you’re usually required by law to have employers’ liability insurance too.

    Read more about public liability insurance

  • Employers’ liability insurance

    In case anyone gets ill or injured while working for your pub.

    What’s typically covered by employers’ liability insurance?

    Claims against your business for:

    • an injury or illness that happens as a result of working for you (including temps and casual workers)

    **Employers’ liability insurance is required by law if you have people working for you. Without it, you could be fined up to £2,500 a day for each employee.**

    For example:

    • you stack some spirit bottles on a wobbly shelf which leads to your employee injuring themselves – your employee then sues you for providing an unsafe work environment
    • your trainee chef cuts their hand while cleaning a kitchen blender

  • Building insurance

    In case something happens to your pub premises

    What’s typically covered by building insurance?

    • the cost of repairing damage to the structure of your building (or rebuilding it from scratch)
    • damage to fixtures and fittings
    • damage to underground pipes and cables you’re responsible for

    For example:

    • a deep fat fryer catches fire and damages your building, which will need to be completely rebuilt
    • you need to replace your pub’s floorboards and internal doors, due to flood damage
    • vandals break the glass in your pub’s street windows, and you need to close for repair work

    Read more about buildings insurance

  • Contents insurance for pubs

    In case something happens to your pub’s fixtures and fittings or office equipment.

    What’s typically covered by business and office equipment insurance?

    • accidental damage to your pub’s fixtures and fittings, or the equipment you use to run your business
    • theft, flood and fire damage

    For example:

    • a customer stumbles into your glass door, smashing the panels
    • your laptop and tablet are stolen from your pub overnight
    • an employee accidentally damages your gaming machine’s display unit, and you need to book repair work

    Read more about business and office equipment insurance

  • Stock insurance

    In case something happens to your alcoholic and soft drinks, or food produce

    What’s typically covered by stock insurance?

    • loss, damage or theft of things like your fresh ingredients, wine, beer and spirits or branded pub materials

    For example:

    • your refrigerated wines and juices go off due an electrical fault in your fridge, and you need to replace everything
    • a burst kitchen pipe causes a flood, destroying your dried ingredients
    • while in transit, a large crate of spirits gets ruined in the back of the delivery van

    Read more about stock insurance

  • Business interruption insurance

    In case you can’t trade, because of theft or damage to your pub’s essentials.

    What’s typically covered by business interruption insurance?

    • your business income, if you can’t trade because your stock, contents or buildings are damaged or stolen

    For example:

    • a flood damages the ground floor of your pub, and you’re forced to shut
    • there’s a leak in your bathroom which causes extensive water damage – you need to stop trading for a month while repairs are made

    Read more about business interruption insurance

  • Legal expenses insurance

    In case you have to pay legal costs connected with your pub.

    What’s typically covered by legal expenses insurance?

    • legal costs attributed to your business
    • property damage, nuisance or trespass – specifically, the associated legal claims and compensation payouts
    • tax and compliance disputes and investigations you need help with
    • includes a tax advice helpline, a 24/7 confidential legal helpline and crisis support to help you protect your reputation, as a much-loved pub

    For example:

    • HMRC take you to court for providing incorrect financial information, and you need to pay for a solicitor to represent you
    • you sack an employee and they take you to court, claiming it was unfair dismissal

    Read more about legal expenses insurance

  • Personal accident insurance

    In case anyone you’ve covered is accidentally injured, at work or off-duty.

    What’s typically covered by personal accident insurance?

    • accidental injury or death at or outside of work, for anyone covered on the policy
    • lost income, medical costs and hospitalisation benefit

    For example:

    • you slip on a wet floor in the kitchen, breaking your leg and keeping you away from work for a month
    • your Christmas temp is playing football while off-shift and fractures his knee, meaning he can’t work during the Christmas build-up

    Read more about personal accident insurance

This content has been created for general information purposes. Make sure you have the right level of business insurance by checking your policy documentation for details. Read our full Terms and Conditions

The average cost of pub insurance?

Find out how much you’ll pay by comparing prices from a range of trusted insurers. You choose what goes into your policy, so you only pay for what you need.

Prices start from £4.74 per month

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The price is for up to £2 million of public liability insurance – 10% of customers paid £56.82 or less annually between 1st Jan – 31st May 2024. Equivalent to £4.74 a month (and excludes the extra costs for paying monthly). 76% of customers have a £1 million limit and 24% £2 million. If you complete a quote, more types of cover will be available. These all have additional costs.

Example public house insurance quotes, real prices

zurich insurance

£150.96 /month

£1341.91 /year

A local pub employing a small team of staff and who use a deep fat fryer

  • 1-2 years’ experience
  • Limited company
  • 1 employee
  • Based in Slough

Public liability

£2,000,000

Employers’ liability

£10,000,000

Contents & business equipment

£15,000

Contract works

Not included

chiswell insurance

£559.40 /month

£4,972.47 /year

A local pub with restaurant and takeaway facilities, and an ATM on the premises

  • 5+ years’ experience
  • Limited company
  • 4 employees
  • Based in Swansea

Public liability

£5,000,000

Employers’ liability

£10,000,000

Contents & business equipment

£30,000

Contract works

£300,000

How we work out example quotes These examples are real quotes from our online system (created 20/01/2021). They’re based on a range of factors, like employees and location. Your own quote will be based on what you tell us about your business. Prices may go up or down from day to day, so the prices you’re quoted may differ to the ones you see here.

What kind of excess should I expect?

An excess is an amount you pay towards any claim you make on your insurance. For example, if your excess is £250 and you make a claim worth £1000, your payout will be a maximum of £750.

Insurance cover

Lowest excess

Highest excess

Main building

£200

£4000

Stock

£200

£4000

Contents

£200

£4000

Employers liability

No excess

No excess

Public liability

No excess

£750

The figures above are for guidance only and any excess applying to your quote may differ. You’ll get a breakdown of the excesses for each quote when you compare with us.

How it works

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How do I choose insurance?

Making sure you have the right type and level of business insurance can be the difference between getting a claim paid and having to cover the cost of an expensive accident yourself. Read our tips for guidance on what to consider when buying a policy.

  • Which type of workers do I need insurance for?

  • Does pub insurance cover my work correctly?

  • Do I need cover for other types of work?

  • Which public liability cover limit should I choose?

Talk to an expert

Our team of UK-based insurance experts are here to help, Mon 09.00am – 05.30pm, Tues 09.00am – 05.30pm, Weds 09.00am – 05.30pm, Thurs 09.30am – 05.30pm, Fri 09.00am – 05.30pm, Sat 09.00am – 02.00pm

Call our team

0333 043 8527

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Contact us on our website whenever suits you

Phone

Call our insurance experts during office hours (calls are charged at a local rate)

FAQs

Find answers to common insurance questions

How do claims work?

Unlike price comparison websites, we take the hassle out of claims for you. We know how important it is to get your business back on track quickly – and with a minimum of fuss. That’s why you get access to your dedicated claims any time, day or night. Call them on 0333 207 0560 or claim online. They’ll do their best to be fair and supportive. The figure below is rounded across our range of products. Our claims process may vary for different products and operates on a ‘claim by claim’ basis.

£51 million in claims paid out in 2023

83% of claims were settled in 2023.

The figure above is rounded across our range of products. “Settled” covers paid, declined or withdrawn. Our claims process may vary for different products and operates on a ‘claim by claim’ basis. Our specialist partner Sedgwick will pay the claims on behalf of the insurer. Reviewed on 24/04/2024.

Example claim

Having pub insurance through Simply Business has saved businesses thousands of pounds when the unexpected happened.

Imogen saved more than £23,000

Imogen (not her real name) shut her pub after discovering serious water damage on her pub’s ground floor, due to drainage from the business next door. The escape of water damage was covered by her public house insurance policy.

Insurance payout

£23,000.00

Covering the cost of escape of water

Insurance payout

Covering the cost of escape of water

Covering the cost of escape of water

Chosen by nearly 1 million small businesses and landlords

We started out as a team of five back in 2005. We’ve grown since then, with nearly 1 million customers across 1,500 trades now trusting us to provide their business insurance.

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Pub insurance FAQs

Whether you’re new to buying business insurance or you’ve been trading for a while, here are the answers to some commonly asked questions about business insurance for pubs. You can also check out our business insurance FAQs.

Public and product liability insurance is often an important cover for pubs – it’s designed to protect you if someone is injured or suffers an illness, or their property is damaged, because of your business.

Are you hiring staff? If so, you’re usually required by law to take out employer’s liability insurance, even if it’s for a contractor team member, or casual and temporary staff. You’ll face fines of up to £2,500 a day for anyone you haven’t covered correctly.

From there, you can pick and choose from other specific protection for your pub’s stock, equipment, fixtures and fittings and the building(s) you use. Our licensed premises insurance policies are flexible – you can bundle everything into one policy or go for just one or two covers, depending on what you need.

A deep fat fryer is a high-risk piece of kit, so there are lots of safety measures you have to follow when you use one. If you’re claiming for unexpected costs through your insurance and you’re discovered not to have met these conditions, it could invalidate your policy. This means you wouldn’t get a payout.

To avoid this, you’ll need to check the requirements for the make and model of the fryer you’re planning to use at your pub. If you don’t have access to the manual, you can call the manufacturer and ask them for the information.

The top six criteria you may need to comply with are:

  1. cleaning schedule
  2. service record
  3. safety equipment
  4. volume of use
  5. replacement of oils
  6. contractors who are registered to work on fryers

Each insurer looks at CCJs and IVAs differently – some apply stricter rules than others, but having a CCJ or IVA doesn’t necessarily mean you won’t be able to buy insurance.

You can choose the payment type that suits your business and cash flow best. Some customers prefer to pay in one go, while others prefer to pay a regular monthly amount, like you do with lots of other bills. Simply Business offer three ways to pay for your policy:

  • one-off credit or debit card payment
  • BACS payment
  • Direct Debit

If you choose to pay by Direct Debit, our credit provider, Premium Credit, pays Simply Business the full amount for your policy up front. You then repay Premium Credit in 10 monthly instalments.

This will depend on whether you have employers’ liability insurance in place. Public liability insurance is designed to protect your business against the consequences of legal action brought by members of the public for injuries or damage to their belongings. But when it comes to your employees causing injury or damage, this protection only activates if you also have employers’ liability insurance.

If you employ people, you’re required by law to have employers’ liability insurance.

There’s one exception here. Family businesses that aren’t incorporated as a limited company are not legally required to have employers’ liability insurance. The government defines a “family business” as one where all your employees are closely related to you (as a spouse, civil partner, sibling, child, parent, grandparent, grandchild, step-parent, stepchild or half-sibling). So if you run an unincorporated family business and you choose not to get employers’ liability insurance, it’s important to know that your public liability insurance wouldn’t cover you against damage or injury caused by your team.

We create this content for general information purposes and it should not be taken as advice. Always check policy documentation for details and seek professional advice. Read our full Terms and Conditions

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