Pub EPOS and bar POS systems: a UK buyer's guide

A pub EPOS (or bar POS system) is the till that runs your bar. It must open tabs, pour to legal measures, split wet and dry sales, handle tips and tronc fairly, and keep the bar moving on a Friday night. UK pub EPOS software costs from £0 to around £100 a month per till on published plans. Zonal publishes an all-in-one rental at £229 a month; Tevalis and Kobas quote. This guide shows what to check. It also covers order-at-table, which works on top of any till.

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What a pub EPOS must do

A pub till does more than a café till. Look for these:

• Tabs. Open a tab by name or table, keep a card behind the bar, and close it at the end.
• Table service. Take orders at the table on a handheld, and transfer drinks between tabs and tables.
• Measures. ⅓, ½ and ⅔ pint, or multiples of ½ pint, for draught beer and cider. 25ml or 35ml for gin, rum, vodka and whisky (pick one size for the whole pub). 125ml, 175ml or multiples of those for still wine by the glass.
• Wet and dry split. Drink and food sales reported apart. Brewery tenants and landlords often need this.
• Stock by measure. Track kegs, optics and bottles by what you pour, not just by sale.
• Tips and tronc. Record tips and service charge apart from sales.
• Staff controls. Logins, void and refund reports, and no-sale alerts.
• Fast keys. Your top 20 drinks on one screen. Speed at the bar is money.
• Food orders to the kitchen. By printer or kitchen display.

UK rules your bar till should help with

• Age checks. Every licensed premises must have an age verification policy. Many pubs use Challenge 21 or Challenge 25. Accepted ID must show a photo, a date of birth and a hologram or UV mark. Some tills prompt staff when an age-restricted item is rung up.
• Small measures. Beer and cider in ½ pints, gin, rum, vodka and whisky in 25ml or 35ml, and still wine in 125ml glasses must be available. Show them on your menu or price list too.
• No irresponsible promotions. Watch "all you can drink" style offers. Unlimited drinks for a fixed price, drinking games and similar offers are banned where they risk crime, disorder or harm. Keep happy-hour deals within the mandatory conditions.
• Tips law. Since 1 October 2024, the Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act 2023 says all tips and service charges must go to workers in full. Your EPOS should report them so you can show it.
• No card surcharges. Charging extra for card payments to consumers has been banned since January 2018.
• VAT. Drinks and food served on your premises are standard-rated at 20%.

UK pub EPOS and bar POS options compared (October 2026)

From each provider's public UK pages on 11 October 2026. Prices exclude VAT unless stated.

Comparing big names? See our best EPOS systems in the UK roundup and Epos Now reviews.

How to choose: three types of pub

1. Wet-led local. Mostly drinks, little food, regulars. You need fast keys, tabs and good cash-up. A simple tablet EPOS with a hospitality add-on is usually enough.

2. Food-led pub or gastropub. Food is half the takings or more. You need a table plan, courses, kitchen tickets or a KDS, split bills and a booking system. Look at the restaurant-style options in our restaurant EPOS guide.

3. Busy pub with a big garden. On a sunny Saturday, the bar queue is the bottleneck. Add order-at-table so guests order from the bench, whatever till you use.

Order at table: the add-on that works with any till

Guests in pub chains already order from their table on an app. Independent pubs can do the same, under their own name, with no app download.

How it works with Menuthere

• Put a QR code on every table and garden bench, such as "Garden 12".
• Guests open your menu on their phone and order drinks and food.
• Each new round joins the same open order. That works like a tab for the table.
• Guests pay at the bar at the end, and staff mark the order paid (cash or card) in the dashboard. Or guests pay online with your own Stripe account (Lite and above).
• Food prints in the kitchen and drinks print at the bar, on separate printers. Orders also ring on the bar phone or tablet.
• Age checks stay with your staff. Check ID when you take drinks to the table, as you would at the bar.

Read the full pub ordering system guide, and how order and pay at the table works.

What Menuthere does not do for pubs

• It is not a full pub EPOS. No keg or optic tracking, and no wet/dry or tronc reports. Analytics does rank your sales by menu category.
• No linked card terminal. Your bar card machine works separately.
• No UK EPOS integrations (Zonal, Tabology or others). Staff key table orders into the till if you need one set of figures.
• No age-check prompt on alcohol items.

Worked example: what the garden queue costs

A pub has 30 garden benches. On a sunny Saturday, guests skip about 25 rounds because the bar queue is too long. At £18 a round, that's £450 lost in a day. Over 10 sunny weekends, that's £4,500. Menuthere's QR table ordering is on the Free plan. (Illustrative figures. Use your own.)

print QR codes for the garden before the next warm weekend.

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Pub EPOS buying checklist

1. Tabs: by name, by table, card behind the bar?
2. Measures set up for beer, spirits and wine?
3. Wet/dry report in the format your landlord or brewery wants?
4. Stock by measure with keg and optic tracking?
5. Tips and tronc reported apart from sales?
6. Speed: can a new bartender ring up four pints and two packets of crisps in under 10 seconds?
7. Card rate and contract term, in writing.
8. Offline mode for when the broadband drops.
9. Order-at-table included, as an add-on, or via a separate tool?
10. Support at 10pm on a Saturday.

Price your drinks before you choose a till

A till shows what sells. It doesn't show whether each pint makes money. Check your margins with the drinks GP calculator, and plan bar cover with the staff rota maker.