A pub is two trades in one building: a bar that has to open clean and fast, and a cellar that has to be kept at the right temperature with lines cleaned on a strict cycle, or the beer goes off and the till feels it. The Sunday lunch rush exposes a bar that opened late. A skipped line clean shows up in the first pint of a slow-selling cask. A pub opening and closing checklist ties both together: it gets the bar trading, keeps the cellar sweet on schedule, and locks the place up with the cash counted and the lines protected.
This guide gives you the full pub opening and closing checklist, the cellar and beer-line cleaning schedule, the bar close, the cash-up and the fridge temperature checks. It is written for a licensee who wants the place to run the same whether they are behind the bar or not.
What good looks like
A well-run pub treats the cellar as the heart of the business, not an afterthought. The cellar is held at the right temperature, usually 11 to 13C for cask ale, and the beer lines are cleaned on a fixed cycle, typically every seven days, with the date recorded. The bar opens to a checklist: gas on, lines pulled through, glasses stocked, float set, fridges checked. The close reverses it and protects the lines overnight. Nothing rests on the licensee’s memory.
The failure points are specific to the trade. A cellar that drifts warm because the cooling was never checked, so the cask turns and a barrel gets poured away. Beer lines cleaned “around” the seven-day mark, sometimes nine, sometimes eleven, so quality wanders and regulars quietly drink elsewhere. A close where the bar is wiped but the lines are not pulled through with water and left charged, so the first pints next day are flat and cloudy. A cash-up left to the morning that never reconciles, because nobody can reconstruct a busy Friday night.
A council environmental health and licensing visit to a pub looks at a few things together. Is the food side, even if it is just bar snacks and a Sunday roast, run with proper temperature control and records. Is the cellar clean and the line-cleaning logged. And, for a new or recently changed site, is the business actually registered with the council as a food business. A pub that serves any food is a food business, and that registration is the first thing that should exist.
Opening checklist
The bar open, run in order so the place is trading on time and right.
- Lights, heating, music to opening level. Unlock and check the building is secure and undamaged.
- Cellar check: temperature in range, cooling running, gas (CO2 and mixed gas) connected and at pressure, no leaks, spare cylinders available.
- Pull each beer line through and pour off until the beer runs clear and bright. Taste the cask.
- Read and record fridge and bottle-cooler temperatures. Chilled 8C or below, freezers minus 18C if you have them.
- Stock the bar: glasses clean and ready, garnishes prepped and dated, ice topped up, spirits and mixers stocked.
- Check the cellar stock and connect any new casks or kegs, vented and settled as the beer needs.
- Set and count the float, check the card machines are online.
- Clean down the bar top, drip trays, hand-wash area and customer touchpoints. Set out the food allergen information if you serve food.
During trade
A few checks keep quality and safety steady through the session.
- Spot-check cellar temperature mid-session, especially in warm weather when cooling works hardest.
- Empty and rinse drip trays through the session, not just at close.
- Re-stock glasses, ice and garnishes ahead of the rush, not during it.
- Check gas pressure if pints start pouring slow or over-fobbing.
- Keep allergen information to hand for any food orders.
Cellar and beer-line cleaning schedule
This is the schedule that protects the product. Lines that are not cleaned on cycle ruin good beer.
- Clean every beer line on a fixed cycle, typically every seven days, and record the date each time.
- Use the correct line-cleaning fluid at the correct dilution and the correct soak time. Rinse fully until no cleaner remains.
- Clean keg couplers, cask taps, nozzles and spouts at the same time.
- Check and clean the cellar: floor, walls, drainage, no spillage left to sour.
- Record cellar temperature daily. Check the cooling is holding the cask range.
- Rotate stock first in, first out. Date casks and kegs as they go on.
- Service and check the gas system: pressure, connections, ventilation, no leaks.
A written line-cleaning log is worth keeping for two reasons. It proves the cycle is being held, and it is the first thing a brewery or a quality auditor asks to see.
Closing checklist
The close gets the cash counted and the lines protected so tomorrow opens clean.
- Last orders, time called, bar cleared of customers.
- Pull each line through with water and leave it charged, or follow your cellar protocol, so the beer does not sit stale in the line overnight.
- Turn off the gas at the bottle where your setup requires, or per your safe protocol.
- Empty, clean and sanitise drip trays, nozzles and the bar sinks.
- Wipe down the bar top, pumps, fonts, fridges and all customer touchpoints.
- Final fridge and cooler temperature reading, logged. Doors firmly shut.
- Glasswash final load, empty and leave the machine clean.
- Sweep and mop the bar floor, clear glasses from the floor and tables.
- Cash up: count the takings, reconcile against the till and card machine totals, set tomorrow’s float, secure the cash and lock it away.
- Final walk: cellar secure, lights and equipment off where safe, doors and windows locked, alarm set.
Fridge and cleaning checks
Any food you serve, and the bottle coolers, fall under temperature control. Read fridges and coolers at open and close, record the actual number, act on anything out of range. The bar runs a daily cleaning rota alongside the bar close: glasswash, drip trays, surfaces, floor, bins and the bin store, with the periodic jobs (deep-clean coolers, descale the glasswash, clear the cellar drainage) scheduled and signed off so they actually happen.
The law, simply
Before any of the day-to-day, there is a duty that comes first if your pub serves food: registration. Under Regulation (EC) 852/2004, retained in UK law, you must register as a food business with your local council.
In plain English: a pub that serves any food, from a packet of crisps and bar snacks up to full meals, is a food business. You must register with the council at least 28 days before you start trading. Registration is free, and it is a criminal offence to operate without it. It is not a licence to pass or fail; it simply puts you on the council’s list so your food safety can be checked. If you take over an existing pub, register the change too rather than assuming the previous licensee’s registration covers you.
This is the simplest legal duty a pub has, and the one most often missed by a new licensee focused on the bar. You can register and read the guidance at food.gov.uk.
Questions operators ask
How often should beer lines be cleaned? The standard cycle is every seven days for most lines, recorded each time. Some setups and some beers vary, so follow your brewery’s and dispense supplier’s guidance, but hold the cycle and log the date. Drifting to nine or eleven days is where quality quietly slips and regulars notice.
What temperature should the cellar be? For cask ale, generally 11 to 13C, held steady. Kegged products often want colder. The point is steadiness: check it daily and act if the cooling is drifting, especially in summer when the unit works hardest. A warm cellar turns good cask into poured-away cask.
Do I really have to register the pub as a food business if I only do crisps and a roast? Yes. Any food served makes the pub a food business, and registration is required, free, and a legal duty. It takes a few minutes online with the council. Do it at least 28 days before opening, or register the change of operator when you take over.
Why pull water through the lines at close? Leaving beer standing in a warm line overnight lets it go stale and lets yeast and bacteria build up, so the first pints are flat and cloudy. Pulling through and leaving the line charged per your protocol protects quality and lengthens the gap between deep line cleans.
The cash-up never matches on busy nights. What helps? Cash up at close, by the person who closed, against a written float and reconciled to both the till and the card machine totals. A busy Friday cannot be reconstructed on Saturday morning, so small errors become a gap nobody can explain. Doing it the same night, the same way, every time is what makes it balance.
Get the pack
The Upkept Pub & Bar Pack gives you the whole operation as clean, printable PDFs: opening and closing checklists, a cellar and beer-line cleaning schedule with a dated log, a cash-up sheet, a daily cleaning rota and a fridge temperature log. Plain English, built for the two trades a pub really is, so the bar opens fast, the cellar stays sweet on cycle, and the lock-up protects tomorrow’s first pint. Hand it to a new bar manager and the place runs the same whether you are pulling pints or not. Quiet order from open to last orders.