Pub and Bar Closing Checklist: What to Check and Record Every Night

By Angelo & Christie

Quick test: it's 1am, the last customer has gone, and you're cashing up. If you got hit by a bus tomorrow, could the opening manager tell what state the cellar's in, why the float was £40 short, or who got refused service at 11pm?

For most pubs, the honest answer is a mix of a notebook, a WhatsApp message and "I'll tell them in the morning".

The till tells you what you took. Not what it cost you.

A bar closes with three jobs happening at once: counting money, cleaning down and locking up. Everything that matters but isn't money (the keg that's nearly out, the line that's tasting off, the regular who was asked to leave) gets squeezed out because you want to go home.

Those are exactly the things the next manager needs to know before the doors open.

What to track in a pub or bar every night

1. 1Sales vs target, split by wet and dry if you serve food
2. 2Cash up and float. Counted, banked or safed, and any variance written down with a reason
3. 3Covers or customer count, so you can see spend per head, not just a total
4. 4Cellar and bar. Which lines were cleaned, which kegs are low or on, ice wells and drip trays done
5. 5Waste, spillage and comps in pounds
6. 6Security. Walkround done, fire exits clear, doors and windows secured, alarm set
7. 7Incidents. Refusals, ejections, accidents, anything that went wrong and what you did
8. 8Handover to the next manager. What needs ordering, fixing or watching

One thing worth knowing: the pressure on pubs is real

Pubs are closing at pace. According to figures reported by The Drinks Business, 209 pubs in England and Wales were demolished or converted in the first six months of 2025, about eight a week, and 2,283 have disappeared since the start of 2020. When margins are that thin, the small leaks (an unlogged variance, an unrotated barrel, a missed cellar check) are the ones you can't afford.

Many premises licences also carry conditions about incident logs, refusals or door records. Check yours, and use the same sheet every night so you are never hunting for it during a visit.

The part everyone skips: the handover

In a pub, the person who opens is often not the person who closed. The cellar is someone else's problem until it's your problem at 11:45 on a Friday.

A written handover means the opener knows the Guinness line is playing up, the new starter was shown the till but not the cellar, and the brewery delivery is on Tuesday not Wednesday. It also means the next manager, whoever they are, inherits the history of the pub rather than starting from zero.