Most pub insurance policies nowadays are packaged products, made up of the main types of cover you will, or may, need. Some of these are included as standard, and removing them from the policy has no effect on the premium payable.

One of these additional covers is loss of licence, but what exactly does this mean? Any establishment that sells alcohol effectively needs to authorised, or allowed, to do this. The local authority for where the business is based, will have a licensing committee, whose role it is to allow, or approve, a premises to be able to sell “intoxicating liquor”. It is not the premises that receives the licence, but an individual associated with the business.

So, there are two things that the committee takes into account. The suitability of the person and the suitability of the premises (ie where is it, what hours do they open, has the premises had trouble in the past etc).

In reality, it is a rubber stamping exercise and most licences are annually renewable. But, if the premises does not get it’s licence renewed, then the business will, usually, suffer a loss in profits. Without the licence, they cannot serve alcohol and this will usually mean less customers, or potential closure.

Business insurance policies will have loss of licence cover, usually for £50,000, £100,000 or £250,000. If the premises becomes un-licensed, a potential claim could be made.

But, and it really is a big but, this has to be something that is outwith the control of the person who has the licence. If you have had rowdy behaviour and police have requested remedial action, which has not been taken, this is within your control and your claim is not valid.

It is really important that you always read the policy wording. For loss of licence, this will only be a couple of pages, but you should make yourself aware of the exclusions that apply.

We all know that most suppliers will give you a discount if you buy in bulk. The question is one that you could consider for pub insurance as well as most other types of cover.

Of course, there is a difference between buying 20 tins of paint and getting a couple of business insurance policies. You have two ways of getting cover for your pubs, and both of them can offer different benefits.

The first one is to get a single policy, that covers both or more of your licensed trade premises. The good points are that you only have one policy to worry about, one premium to pay and one renewal date. The bad points are that your premium will be due once a year and unless you pay in instalments, this can take a fair chunk out of your cash profits. You also have the potential of having the whole policy premium increased, if one of the pubs has a claim.

If you have two, or more, separate policies you will need to declare to all insurers if you have had a claim or loss at any other location. But, there is less likelihood of all the policies having an increase applied.

Unless you are a serial “claimer” with an adverse history of claims, most commercial insurance companies will be more than happy to accept the fact that you have a claim or claims. After all, this is exactly why you buy the policy in the first place.

In most of our cases, we will offer individual, separate policies. The insurers will allow an additional discount of say 5 or 10% for every additional policy sold to the same customer, because as far as they are concerned, the loss likelihood is reduced across the range of policies.

When setting up a new business, there are a whole range of questions you will ask youself. Many of these are associated with whether you need to do or buy something and whether the business can afford the cost.

One of these, which will more than likely be at the top of your list, is the requirement for business insurance. Surely, if you do not legally need to have this cover in place, then why should you do this?

The first thing we need to do is to consider whether it is an absolute requirement. Each country around the world has different laws, rules and regulations. In the UK, one of the many laws associated with business, is that if you employ anyone, even if part-time, receiving dividends only or even voluntary, you need to have employers liability insurance in force. This needs to be through an approved insurer, and the minimum limit of indemnity, or level of cover, is £5,000,000 any one claim.

As well as employers liability, you will need to have motor insurance in force, if you own, operate, hire or lease business cars or vans.

Apart from these two main cover types, to answer the posed question, no you do not legally require cover.

There is always a but though, and today’s one cover two points. Firstly, you need to consider whether you can afford to trade without, for example, pub insurance? What happens if someone slips on spilled bear, breaks their back and then six months later you get a solicitors letter demanding damages. You do not legally need cover for this, but without it your business could be ruined.

The second point relates to loans and mortgages. If you have received funding from any source, the chances are, within the terms and conditions, it will state that you will need to have insurance in place (including accidental damage). What you do not want is for the bank to pull the plug on your lending, because you do not have the proper cover in place.