Within a pub insurance policy, you will have a range of covers available, one of these covers is public liability insurance.
This will cover you for any claims made against you, as a sole trader, as a partnership or a limited company, for injury, illness, disease or damage to third party persons or property.
It does not matter if someone is inebriated and for example they trip over and injure themselves. If they can prove that you have been negligent, then you will have a valid claim against your insurance policy. With the increase in now win no fee solicitors, these types of claims are all to common.
Now imagine the situation, on a Friday night at chucking out time, you have a particular unruly customer who is forcibly ejected. Then three months later you get a letter from a solicitor alleging that you have caused the individual a serious injury.
If you have doormen then you will need to speak to them about what happened. In reality, they will probably say that they do not remember anything about this whatsoever.
This is where you will find it is a much better option for your business to get hold of doormen from a licensed agency as opposed to employing them yourselves. They will be used to this sort of action and their insurers will be able to deal with this directly.
If you do have directly employed doormen or doorstaff, then you will need to make sure that your business insurance policy not only includes public liability but in addition notes specifically that you need cover for the actions of doorstaff. Most pub insurance policies will automatically exclude cover for the actions of doormen.
Speak to your business insurance broker and make sure that they are fully aware of your business and what you do.