Pub business plan template (UK): free, with a worked example

A pub business plan sets out how you'll run the pub, who will drink and eat there, and whether the numbers work after rent, wages and the tie. Pub companies, landlords and lenders expect the same core sections: a summary, the pub and its agreement, your market, your offer, operations, licensing, a wet/dry sales forecast, a profit and loss, break-even and risks. Our free template below covers all of them, with prompts for each section and a worked example in £.

How to use this template

1. Read our guide on how to open a pub in the UK first, so you know which route you're taking (tenancy, lease, free of tie or freehold).
2. Get the pub's figures. Ask the pub company or agent for past trading (barrelage, wet and dry sales) and the "ingoing" cost in writing.
3. Fill in each section below. Keep it short and specific. 10–20 pages is plenty.
4. Replace every example figure with your own.

The template: section by section

1. Executive summary (write this last)

Prompts:

• The pub's name, address and the type of agreement (for example, a 5-year tied tenancy).
• Your concept in one sentence: "A community village pub with a strong Sunday lunch and a monthly live music night."
• Who you are and your relevant experience.
• How much money you need, what for, and where it's coming from.
• Year 1 sales, gross profit and net profit, in one line.

2. The pub and the opportunity

Prompts:

• Size, trading areas (bar, lounge, dining room, garden), covers, letting rooms, parking.
• Condition and any work needed before or after opening.
• Past trading: weekly sales, wet/dry split, barrelage. Why did the last operator leave?
• What's changing in the area: new housing, offices or a closed rival.

3. Your agreement and the tie

Prompts:

• Route: managed, partnership, tenancy, lease, free-of-tie lease or freehold.
• Term, rent, rent reviews, deposit, and who repairs what.
• The tie: which products are tied, tied prices against free-trade prices, and the yearly cost of that difference.
• Pubs Code rights if the pub company has 500 or more tied pubs in England and Wales.

4. Market and competition

Prompts:

• Your catchment: who lives and works within a 10-minute walk or drive.
• Your target customers by session: weekday lunch, after work, weekend evenings, Sunday families, dog walkers.
• Competitors: list the nearest five pubs and food venues, their prices for a pint and a roast, and what you'll do better.

5. Your offer: drinks, food and events

Prompts:

• Wet: cask ales, keg, wine, spirits, low and no alcohol. Price for a pint of your best seller.
• Dry: food style, menu size, serving times, Sunday roast, kids' menu. Kitchen run by you, a chef, or a kitchen residency?
• Events: quiz, live music, live sport, beer festival, private hire.
• Other income: letting rooms, room hire, gaming machines.

6. Marketing plan

Prompts:

• Launch: relaunch weekend, local press, community groups.
• Online: Google Business Profile, a pub website with menus and table booking, Instagram and Facebook.
• Repeat trade: loyalty points, a members' club, regular events, or your own branded pub app with push notifications.
• Budget: a monthly £ figure.

7. Operations

Prompts:

• Opening hours and food serving times by day.
• Staffing: roles, hours, wage costs, and your own hours. Plan it with a staff rota maker.
• Suppliers: tied brewer, wholesaler, butcher, greengrocer.
• Systems: till, card machine, stock control, table ordering and pre-orders.
• Cellar management and line cleaning routine.

8. Management and licensing

Prompts:

• Who is the designated premises supervisor (DPS), and who holds a personal licence?
• Premises licence: being transferred, varied or newly applied for? Any conditions?
• Food business registration with the council (28 days before you start serving food).
• Training planned: personal licence qualification, food hygiene, pre-entry training.

See our pub licence guide for the detail.

9. Legal and compliance checklist

• Premises licence, DPS and personal licence in place
• Food business registered; allergen information for all 14 allergens ready
• Music licence, TV licence and commercial sports subscription if showing sport
• Employers' liability, public liability and buildings/contents insurance
• Fire risk assessment
• Written tipping policy if you take tips more than occasionally (Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act 2023)
• VAT registration (threshold £90,000 taxable turnover)
• Business rates checked, including any hospitality relief

10. Financial plan

This is the section a pub company or lender reads first. Include:

• Start-up costs and funding
• A weekly sales forecast split into wet and dry
• A year-1 profit and loss
• A 3-year summary
• Break-even
• A month-by-month cash flow for year 1 (use the blank table below)

Worked example below.

11. SWOT

List 3–5 of each. Example prompts:

• Strengths: your experience, a garden, the only pub in the village.
• Weaknesses: tied prices, small kitchen, no parking.
• Opportunities: new housing, food-led trade, private hire.
• Threats: energy costs, a new chain pub nearby, rent review in year 3.

12. Risks and what you'll do

Prompts: for each risk, write the trigger and your response. "If wet sales are 15% below forecast by month 4, cut a closing shift and add a weekly food offer."

Appendices

CVs, licence copies, the pub company's trading figures, quotes for works, menus and sample price lists.

Worked example: a community pub on a tenancy

All figures are illustrative for a mid-sized community pub on a tied tenancy. They aren't benchmarks. Use your own.

Start-up costs and funding

Funding (illustrative): savings £25,000, a Start Up Loan £15,000 (Start Up Loans lend up to £25,000 at a fixed 7.5% a year), family loan £2,900.

Weekly sales forecast (wet/dry split)

Always plan on sales excluding VAT. Drinks and food served in a pub are standard-rated at 20%, and that VAT belongs to HMRC. Check product GP with our drinks GP calculator and food GP calculator.

Year 1 profit and loss (52 weeks)

3-year summary

Break-even

Weekly overheads are £178,552 ÷ 52 = £3,434. Each £1 of sales ex VAT earns 57.9p of gross profit. So you break even at £3,434 ÷ 0.579 = about £5,935 a week ex VAT, or about £7,120 inc VAT. The forecast is £7,000 ex VAT, so sales could fall by about 15% before you hit break-even.

Try your own figures in our break-even calculator.

Blank year-1 cash flow (copy or print)

Start month 1 with the cash left after start-up costs (funding minus start-up costs). Each month: closing cash = opening cash + cash in − cash out. The next month opens with that closing figure.

If any month's closing cash goes below zero, you need more working capital or a cheaper start.

What moves the numbers most:

• The tie. If tied prices cut wet GP from 55% to 50%, gross profit falls by £13,000 a year.
• Wages. Every extra 10-hour shift a week at £12.71 an hour costs about £6,600 a year before employer costs.
• Food. Growing dry sales lifts the blended GP, because food usually runs at a higher GP than tied drinks.
• Speed at the bar. On busy nights, people skip the second round if the queue is long. Order-to-table helps. See our pub ordering system.

Tips for a plan that gets approved

• Use real trading data. Base your forecast on the pub's past figures, then explain every change.
• Show your sums. "120 Sunday covers at £18.50" is better than "£2,220".
• Be honest about the tie. Pub companies respect a tenant who has priced it properly.
• Plan for a slow start. Most relaunches take months to build regular trade. Keep working capital.
• Show how you'll take money faster. Pre-orders for Christmas and Sunday groups, and table ordering in the garden, both protect weekend takings. Menuthere does both with 0% commission: table ordering is on the Free plan, and pre-orders and table booking start on Lite (US$17 a month, billed in US dollars; your bank converts it). Create your free ordering page or try Lite free for 7 days (a card is needed to start; nothing is charged until the trial ends).

Opening a café instead? Use our coffee shop business plan template.