Low cost bar insurance

28 Oct 2009

To start with, you'll need to think through the sort of risks you face and therefore the insurance you need. Cost is very important but it may not always be advisable to think about insurance exclusively in cost terms whilst ignoring the risks side of the equation.

Just some of the insurance cover you will need to consider include.

• Buildings insurance. Your bar presumably operates from a building and buildings can suffer serious or sometimes even catastrophic damage running into hundreds of thousands of pounds or perhaps even millions. This can happen through natural causes or man-made accidents.
  

If you own the building, it would usually be second nature to ensure that you have good commercial buildings and fixtures insurance in place to help cover the costs of such calamities. If you do not own the building itself then checking the owner has covered such risks may be a good idea.

• Whether you own the building or not, you presumably have furnishings, contents and stock plus perhaps equipment for things such as lighting or music etc. If this is damaged by natural causes, stolen or vandalised, then you'll be writing some very large cheques unless you have commercialcontents cover insurance.
  

It is usually worth being cautious with assumptions that the building owner's insurance will cover you for these sorts of losses. It may well not do so.

You also need to make sure that you never underestimate the value of the buildings / contents. If you are underinsured, you may only receive a proportion of the insured amount in the event of a claim. Talking to a specialist such as ourselves may help.

• Whatever form of low cost bar insurance you select, it will need to cope with the very real risks you face arising from potential injury to members of the public or damage to their property while they are in or around your business venue - in other words public liability insurance.
  

Sometimes people find some forms of accident amusing. The person that slips on the wet patch on the floor or that has their chair collapse underneath them can draw an involuntary giggle. The trouble is, you won't find it at all funny when such an accident results in the person claiming tens or even hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of compensation from you as a result of injuries they sustained.

• Then there are your staff liabilities. Staff, like members of the public, can have accidents but they are particularly vulnerable in a bar environment. If for example, they are assaulted by a customer this could result in vast claims against you and this is covered by employers' liability insurance (which is, in most cases, a legal requirement if you have staff).
  

As a bar owner or landlord you probably know that alcohol, food and large numbers of people all coming together can constitute particular risks in all the areas above. These risks are not always easy to cover off through good effective competitive bar insurance. Some insurance companies in fact can be reluctant to provide insurance to such establishments or may charge very high premiums for doing so.

That's where we believe we can help. Not only do we have in-depth experience of this area but as part of Europe's largest independent insurance intermediary we know exactly what sorts of cover you'll need to consider and how to source it. This may be particularly important for hard-to-place risks, which is the category that bars sometimes fall into.     

We can help you find the right sort of insurance to cover your business and at a competitive price, leaving you free to get on with what you do best - running your bar.

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