How to open a bar or pub in the UK in 2026

Opening a bar or pub in England means two licences before the first drink is poured: a premises licence for the building and a personal licence for the person authorising sales. The bigger decision comes earlier, between owning the business outright and taking a pub from a pub company, where the rent may be lower, but the beer has to be bought from the landlord.

---

The licensing rules for opening a bar below are those of the Licensing Act 2003, which covers England and Wales; Scotland and Northern Ireland run separate licensing systems. Business rates figures are for England, where pubs received dedicated relief in 2026. Tax and employment rules are UK-wide.

How to open a bar or pub in the UK, step by step

The checklist, in the order openings usually run:

• Route chosen: free house, tenancy, lease or management agreement
• Tie terms and rent compared on a per-pint basis
• Site found and licensing position checked
• Personal licence obtained
• Premises licence granted or transferred, with a supervisor named
• Mandatory conditions built into the operation
• Music, entertainment and food registrations in place
• Business rates checked, including the pubs relief
• Staff hired, with pay and tips rules set
• Opening trade built across drinks, food and events

What is a bar or pub business?

A bar or pub business sells alcohol for consumption on the premises under a premises licence, with every sale made or authorised by a personal licence holder, and it can be run as a free house owned outright, as a tenancy or lease from a pub company, or under a management agreement.

The difference between a bar and a pub is mostly one of style, but it carries a practical consequence in England: the 2026 business rates relief applies to a pub defined as open to the public, free to enter, allowing drinking without food and selling drinks at a bar, and it excludes nightclubs and restaurants.

Stage	What typically happens
Months 1 to 2	Route chosen, sites viewed, tied and free-of-tie terms compared, personal licence course taken
Months 2 to 4	Lease or agreement negotiated, premises licence application or transfer, consultation period
Months 4 to 5	Refurbishment, food registration, music licence, staff recruitment and training
Month 6 onwards	Opening, events calendar, margins reviewed against the first quarter of trade

1. Choose the route: free house, tenancy, lease or management

The route decides the capital required, who owns the business and how much of each pint the operator keeps. Star Pubs, the Heineken-owned pub company, publishes its terms pub by pub, which makes it a useful reference:

Route	How it works	Published example
Free house	The operator buys or leases the building and buys drinks on the open market	Capital set by the property market
Tenancy	The operator rents the pub and runs the business, usually tied for beer	Star Pubs Foundation Tenancy, Lambs Arms, Crawcrook: minimum ingoing costs about £10,338, rent £22,066 a year
Longer tenancy or lease	Longer term, more investment by the tenant	Star Pubs Investment Tenancy, Stockton: minimum ingoing costs about £47,145, rent £22,821 a year
Management agreement	The operator runs the company’s pub for a share of takings and profit	Star Pubs Just Add Talent: ingoing cost £4,000, of which £3,000 is a refundable deposit

Under Just Add Talent, Star says the operator receives a weekly fixed percentage of takings and an uncapped 20% quarterly profit share, pays the staff from that share, and leaves utilities, rates, food and drink to the pub company; around 220 pubs ran on the model in 2026.

Debbie Little, who took over The Welcome Inn in Letham, near Perth, on that agreement in 2019, told the Scottish trade press that after 20 years managing pubs for others, with a young family, she could not put all her savings into a pub, and the agreement let her run her own without that outlay.

2. Price the tie per pint before signing

A tied agreement usually pairs a lower rent with an obligation to buy beer, and often other drinks, from the landlord at its price. The comparison that matters is the margin on each pint. The worked example uses a pint sold at £5.60 and illustrative costs:

One pint at £5.60	Tied supply	Free of tie
VAT at 20%	£0.93	£0.93
Net price	£4.67	£4.67
Cost of the pint	£1.90	£1.40
Gross profit per pint	£2.77 (59.3%)	£3.27 (70.0%)

That £7,800 is what the lower tied rent has to be worth before the tie pays its way. In England and Wales, the Pubs Code applies to pub companies owning 500 or more tied pubs: their tenants are entitled to information before taking on or renewing a tenancy, a rent assessment, the option to price-match the premises insurance, and in set circumstances, such as a rent review or renewal, a Market Rent Only option to go free of tie and pay only a market rent. Disputes go to the independent Pubs Code Adjudicator. The British Institute of Innkeeping states that new tied tenants in England and Wales take pre-entry awareness training first.

3. Check the site and its licensing history

A bar that already holds a premises licence can usually be transferred to a new holder for £23, which is faster and cheaper than a fresh application. The existing licence shows the permitted hours and any conditions, from door staff to closing times for outside areas, and the council’s statement of licensing policy shows whether the area is one where new or later licences face extra scrutiny. Planning use, the lease terms on alterations and the condition of the cellar are checked at the same stage.

4. Get a personal licence

Every sale of alcohol in a bar or pub must be made or authorised by someone holding a personal licence. The licence is issued by the council where the applicant lives, costs £37, and requires an accredited licensing qualification and a criminal record check. One personal licence holder must be named on the premises licence as the designated premises supervisor, the person the police and council deal with day to day.

Licences You’ll Need to Open a Pub

Opening a pub isn’t just about having your name above the door, rolling kegs into the cellar and chatting to customers about how their day’s gone. It’s about compliance and rightly so, given you’re dealing with people, serving alcohol and, in many cases, food.

Depending on your offer, you may need:

• A premises licence to sell alcohol;
• A personal licence to authorise sales;
• Food hygiene registration;
• Music licences (recorded and live);
• Licences for live entertainment or late-night trading;
• Fire safety and health and safety certification.

5. Obtain or transfer the premises licence

A new premises licence application goes to the council with a plan of the premises and an operating schedule setting out hours, activities and how the four licensing objectives will be met. The application is advertised, and the police, other authorities and residents can make representations. Fees are set nationally by rateable value:

Rateable value band	Application fee	Annual fee
A: up to £4,300	£100	£70
B: £4,301 to £33,000	£190	£180
C: £33,001 to £87,000	£315	£295
D: £87,001 to £125,000	£450, or £900 if mainly alcohol	£320, or £640 if mainly alcohol
E: £125,001 and over	£635, or £1,905 if mainly alcohol	£350, or £1,050 if mainly alcohol

6. Build the mandatory conditions into the operation

Every premises licence for alcohol carries the same mandatory conditions, and breaching one puts the licence at risk:

• Supervision: a designated premises supervisor holding a personal licence, and every sale made or authorised by a personal licence holder
• Age checks: an age verification policy requiring anyone who appears under 18, or an older age set in the policy, to show photographic identification; most operators use Challenge 25
• Free water: potable water provided free on request
• Small measures: spirits available in 25ml or 35ml, still wine in 125ml glasses, with customers made aware
• No irresponsible promotions: no drinking games, unlimited drink for a fixed price or free drink as a prize, and no sales below the price of duty plus VAT

7. Sort music, entertainment and food

In a bar or pub licensed to sell alcohol on site, amplified live music and recorded music need no entertainment licence between 8am and 11pm for audiences of up to 500; later music or larger audiences must be covered by the premises licence. That is separate from copyright: playing music, including a radio for staff, usually requires TheMusicLicence from PPL PRS. A bar serving food registers as a food business with the council at least 28 days before trading, and hot food after 11pm is late night refreshment, which also goes on the premises licence.

8. Check the business rates position

Pubs and bars in England fall under the retail, hospitality and leisure multipliers from 1 April 2026: 38.2p below £51,000 rateable value and 43.0p from £51,000 to £499,999. The pubs relief applies after transitional relief, and the government has announced a review of how pubs are valued for business rates, with any changes due at the 2029 revaluation. Business rates are devolved, so Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland set their own reliefs.

9. Recruit staff and set the pay and tips rules

• Pay: the National Living Wage is £12.71 an hour at 21 and over from 1 April 2026, and £10.85 at 18 to 20; tips never count towards it
• Employer costs: employer National Insurance at 15% above £5,000 a year, offset by the £10,500 Employment Allowance, with 0% for under-21s up to £50,270
• Tips: since 1 October 2024, all tips paid through the business must be passed to staff without deductions, under a written tipping policy where tips are regular
• Training: staff serving alcohol are trained on the age verification policy and refusals, and the records kept, because a failed test purchase is a common route to a licence review

10. Build trade across drinks, food and events

A bar that relies on drink alone carries the full weight of the tie or the wholesale price on every sale. Food lifts spend per visit and brings daytime trade, events fill quiet nights, and the music exemption up to 11pm allows live sets and quizzes without changing the licence. Tracking gross profit by category each week, wet and dry separately, shows whether the mix is working long before the annual accounts do.

Types of bar and pub business

Type	What sets it apart
Community pub	Wet-led, regular local trade; qualifies for the 2026 pubs relief
Gastropub	Food-led, higher spend per head and a full kitchen to run and register
Cocktail bar	Higher prices and margins per drink, later hours, skilled bar staff
Micropub or taproom	Small, often free of tie, low fit-out; a brewery taproom sells its own beer
Late-night venue	Hours past midnight, door supervision conditions; a nightclub is excluded from the pubs relief

How much does it cost to open a bar or pub in the UK?

No official UK average start-up cost exists for a bar or pub, because the range runs from a £4,000 management agreement to buying a freehold. The figures that can be stated are the statutory fees and what pub companies publish:

Cost line	Published figure
Personal licence	£37
Premises licence	£100 to £635 to apply, £70 to £350 a year, higher for alcohol-led premises in bands D and E
Licence transfer, or a new premises supervisor	£23 each
Management agreement	Star Pubs Just Add Talent: £4,000, £3,000 of it a refundable deposit
Tenancy, examples	Star Pubs listings: minimum ingoing costs from about £10,000 to £47,000, rents from about £22,000 to £45,000 a year
Business rates, England	38.2p or 43.0p multiplier, less the 15% pubs relief in 2026/27
Staff	£12.71 an hour at 21 and over; employer NI 15% above £5,000

The lines that move a budget most are:

• The ingoing payment: deposit, fixtures and fittings, and rent in advance on a tenancy or lease
• Refurbishment, often a condition of a longer agreement
• Opening stock of drinks, and kitchen equipment where food is served
• Cellar equipment and line cleaning, which decide beer quality
• Professional fees for the lease, licensing and any planning work
• Working capital for the first months of wages and supplier payments

Bar and pub equipment checklist

Part of the kit in a bar is set by law. Under weights and measures rules, draught beer and cider can only be sold in a third, a half or two-thirds of a pint, or multiples of a half, through government-stamped meters or stamped brim or lined glasses. Gin, rum, vodka and whisky are sold in 25ml or 35ml measures, with one size used throughout the premises and a notice saying which, through stamped spirit measuring instruments or thimble measures. Trading Standards checks both. The rest of the list:

• Cellar: cooling, gas supply for dispense, beer lines and a line-cleaning routine, which decide what the pint tastes like
• Bar: dispense fonts, glass washer, ice machine, back-bar fridges, and stamped glasses and measures in every size on the menu
• Till: an EPOS system with card payments, set up to track sales and gross profit by category, wet and dry
• Kitchen: where food is served, extraction, refrigeration and probe thermometers for the temperature records an inspector asks for
• Front of house: furniture, lighting, outdoor seating, and CCTV where the premises licence requires it

Opening a bar on a low budget

The lowest-cost entries avoid buying anything. A management agreement such as Just Add Talent costs £4,000 to start, with the pub company carrying utilities, rates and stock; a short tenancy on a pub that already trades and holds a licence avoids a new application; and a micropub in a small unit keeps the fit-out and the licence fee in the lowest bands. Start Up Loans lends up to £25,000 per applicant at a fixed 7.5%, unsecured.

Bar and pub franchise opportunities in the UK

Most branded pubs in the UK are run through tenancies, leases and management agreements from pub companies rather than classic franchises, and the Pubs Code covers the largest of those landlords. Franchised bar brands sit alongside the other food and drink networks recruiting UK operators.

Franchised bar concepts do exist alongside them, and the difference matters: a franchise agreement is governed by general contract law, with no statutory code or adjudicator, as set out in an in-depth guide to franchising in the United Kingdom.

The practical difficulties operators report

• The tie and the rent move together: a lower rent can cost more than it saves once the price of tied beer is counted per pint
• Licensing is local: hours, conditions and the welcome for new venues depend on the council’s policy and on residents’ representations
• Rates rose at the 2026 revaluation: the government introduced the 15% pubs relief because some pubs faced sharply higher bills from April 2026
• Staff costs are fixed to the hour: the wage floor rises each April, while trade follows the weather, the calendar and the football
• One test purchase can trigger a review: a sale to a minor puts the premises licence in front of the licensing committee
• Late hours carry conditions: trading past midnight usually brings door supervision, dispersal plans and closer attention from the police

The bottom line

Opening a bar or pub in England needs a personal licence at £37 and a premises licence priced by rateable value, with mandatory conditions on supervision, age checks, free water and small measures. The larger decision is the route: a free house carries the capital and keeps the margin, a tenancy lowers the rent but ties the beer, and a management agreement such as Star Pubs’ Just Add Talent starts at £4,000.

On illustrative figures, a 50p difference in the cost of a pint is worth £7,800 a year at 300 pints a week, which is the sum a tied rent has to save before the tie pays. Operators weighing a branded route instead can compare the brands recruiting partners in the UK.