Cover that survives a Friday night.
Public & products liability that reflects a busy bar on a Friday night, cover for the kitchen if you run one, and loss of licence that protects the business itself, placed by a broker who’s covered the licensed trade before.
Pub & bar insurance
Usually includes
Public & products liability
Employers’ liability
Premises & contents
Stock
Business interruption
Loss of licence
One
conversation.
You explain the business once, and we take it from there.
Bespoke service
for your business
No two businesses are the same, so we start with yours rather than with a template.
Everything
quoted together.
The premises, your liability, your stock and the trade you would lose, priced in one go rather than piece by piece.
Know your cover
What is pub & bar insurance?
Running a licensed premises means members of the public on site every trading day, alcohol involved, and for many pubs a kitchen too. Cover is built around that mix, not treated as a single generic risk.
Protects your customers
A customer injured on the premises, or made ill by food or drink served. Public & products liability is what your landlord and licence will ask to see.
Protects your staff
Employers’ liability is required by law the moment you take on staff, whether front of house, bar or kitchen.
Protects the business itself
Loss of licence cover reflects the reality that for a pub, the licence to trade is the business.
Who it’s for
Whatever kind of pub you run.
✓
Independent pubs
Free of tie, choosing your own suppliers, and carrying the full risk yourself, not sharing it with a pub company.
✓
Managed & tenanted pubs
The brewery’s building, your licence. The two don’t insure themselves the same way.
✓
Inns & licensed premises
Food, rooms, a bar. Three risk profiles under one roof.
✓
Bar management companies
Running someone else’s venue. The liability question gets asked twice, not once.
✓
Wine bars
Higher stock value per square foot than a pub, and insurers price it that way.
✓
Shisha bars
Naked flame indoors, on a nightly basis. A risk most brokers won’t have priced before.
What we cover
Cover built around your pub.
We get to know how you trade first, then build the policy around it.
Public & products liability
A slip on a wet floor, a dodgy prawn. This is the cover that answers for it.
Employers’ liability
Required by law the moment you take on staff. The law doesn’t care whether your bar staff are casual or full-time.
Premises & contents
The fit-out that took years to get right. The sum insured set to your real reinstatement value, so it’s rebuilt properly rather than cheaply, subject to insurer terms.
Stock
A cellar-cooling fault over a bank holiday can write off a barrel room. This catches it.
Business interruption
The repair bill isn’t the expensive part. The three closed weekends are.
Loss of licence
No licence, no pub. It’s the one figure that never shows up on a P&L until it’s gone.
Money & personal accident
Friday night’s takings, still in the till Monday morning.
Legal expenses
A licensing review, a staff dispute, and the cost of defending yourself before you’re even in the wrong.
Cyber & data
Card data, the booking and till systems, and the takings lost when they go down in peak trade.
Who this cover tends to suit.
This cover is generally bought by licensed premises. It brings together public & products liability, employers’ liability (where staff are used) and cover for premises, stock and loss of licence. It won’t suit every business. Later or later-trading venues, larger microbrewery operations, and premises letting more than a handful of rooms are usually a different fit. If your risk profile is different, tell us and we’ll pick it up when we speak.
Worth knowing
Check the details before you choose.
Late-night trading
Trading past the early hours may need a different fit.
Letting rooms
More than a handful of rooms changes the risk.
Microbrewery output
Wholesale brewing needs separate declaration.
Multiple sites
Same ownership, same renewal. Usually one policy.
Every venue has its own risks.
A quiet village local and a busy city-centre bar don’t carry the same risk, so we ask different questions for each.
Public house
Independent pubs
Managed pubs
Tenanted pubs
Inns
Licensed premises
Bar management
Wine bars
Public house
Independent pubs
Managed pubs
Tenanted pubs
Inns
Licensed premises
Bar management
Wine bars
Shisha bars
Gastro pubs
Sports bars
Micropubs
Country pubs
Freehouses
Brewpubs
Cocktail bars
Shisha bars
Gastro pubs
Sports bars
Micropubs
Country pubs
Freehouses
Brewpubs
Cocktail bars
Why Vara
Bespoke service for you & your business,
without the big-firm minimum.
01
Wet and food sales split the risk
Wet sales, food sales, door staff, entertainment. We know what moves a pub’s premium and what doesn’t.
02
Cover that reflects how you trade
Wet-led and food-led pubs carry different risk. We build the policy around your actual trading mix, not a generic licensed-trade template.
03
Staff cover that holds up
Bar staff, kitchen staff, door staff. Different roles, different risk. We set employers’ liability up properly across all of them.
04
We present the risk right
Trading hours, entertainment, door staff. How it’s presented to insurers changes what you pay. We know how to frame it.
You talk to a person. The machines do the typing.
Free review of your pub & bar cover and costs.
Told your pub’s too specialist to place easily? Not for us. Leave your details and we’ll call you straight back. One conversation covers the lot.
What the review covers
We go through the policy you have now, so you can see what it does and doesn’t cover against wet and food sales, cellar and stock breakdown and the loss of your licence to trade.
We point out the terms that catch pubs and bars out most often, how letting rooms or brewing on site is declared among them, so you can check yours.
We approach insurers on our panel who write licensed premises, and come back with what they’ll offer.
We explain each option in plain English, including what it doesn’t cover.
If it’s not a risk we can place, we’ll tell you straight away rather than leave you waiting.
No obligation to switch. You decide what fits.
Rather not wait? Call us on 0333 091 3663
Good to know
Pub & bar questions, answered straight.
What insurance does a pub or bar actually need?
What's loss of licence cover, and do I need it?
Does door staff or live entertainment affect my cover?
Am I covered if I brew my own beer on site?
What if I run more than one pub?
Vara Commercial Insurance · 0333 091 3663
Vara is a trading name of Koral AI Operating Company Limited. Vara is an appointed representative of Innovative Risk Labs Ltd, under Firm Reference Number 1060955. Innovative Risk Labs Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, under FRN 609155. We are registered in England and Wales under Registered Company Number 17256222. Registered office: 167-169 Great Portland Street, 5th Floor, London, W1W 5PF.