Bar & pub accountants for London. Wet-led, licensed, late-night.
Cocktail bar in Soho, gastropub in Hackney, sports bar in Islington, traditional boozer in Camden — alcohol-led venues run on margins generalist firms don't see. Beer cellar variance, late-night levies, multi-rate VAT splits, premises licensing, gaming machine income and tronc all matter. Open Mon-Sat 10am-7pm, same-day responses, chartered specialists.
Pubs and bars carry variables generalist firms ignore. We don't.
Premises licensing. Late-night levies. Beer cellar variance. Multi-rate VAT splits. Gaming machine income. Four problems below show up in every wet-led onboarding call from a venue that's been with a generalist firm.
"My beer cellar variance is killing my margin and nobody's flagged it."
A well-managed cellar runs at 2-5% variance — yield loss from line cleaning, ullage, comp drinks, the natural slip. Anything above 8% signals theft, over-pour, or stock not getting recorded at the till. Most generalist firms never even look at it. We feed monthly stocktake variance straight into your P&L so you see margin slipping in real time.
"VAT is a mess because alcohol and food are different rates."
Alcohol sits at 20% standard VAT. Hot food at 20% if eat-in or takeaway-hot, 0% if takeaway-cold. Cold drinks vary. Off-sales differ from on-sales. EPOS systems split these correctly but only if configured properly — and the resulting VAT return needs the splits handled in the right boxes. Mid-complexity hospitality VAT is exactly what our VAT Plus tier was built for.
"I need certified accounts for a premises licence transfer and my accountant doesn't know what that is."
UK alcohol licensing applications, premises transfers, designated premises supervisor changes and personal licence renewals all require certified accounts. We produce premises-licence-ready accounts certified on chartered headed paper for £195 one-off — usually within 48 hours. Generalist firms either don't know how or charge £500+.
"Late-night levy in my borough hit me as a surprise and gaming machine income is a mystery."
Several London boroughs charge a late-night levy on premises serving alcohol after midnight (calculated on rateable value, paid annually to the licensing authority). Gaming machine takings are subject to Machine Games Duty reported separately to VAT. Both are routine for us, invisible to generalists.
Beer cellar variance. Where the margin actually goes.
If your accountant doesn't put a variance figure on your monthly P&L, they don't know your real margin. Here's why it matters.
Stock variance is invisible until you put a number on it.
Every keg, bottle, wine and spirit moves through cellar → bar → till → cash. Variance is the gap between what should have sold (based on stock movement and recipe yield) and what was actually rung through the EPOS.
A clean operation runs 2-5% — natural ullage, line cleaning, comp drinks, the genuine slip. Anything north of 8% means money is leaving the building. Common causes: free pours to friends, over-pour without measure, drinks given on the house and never logged, EPOS short-keys and voids that don't get reviewed, and occasionally outright theft.
We pair monthly stocktake (via your existing stocktaker or one of our partners) with a variance line on your monthly P&L. The first month's reduction often pays the annual fee back several times over.
Everything a pub or bar actually needs. Bundled, not à la carte.
Click any service to read the dedicated page. All services delivered in-house by chartered accountants who specialise in licensed hospitality.
Hospitality Bookkeeping
EPOS-integrated daily reconciliation, beer cellar variance feed, multi-rate VAT splits. From £195/month.
View service →Weekly Payroll
Weekly RTI for shift teams, holiday and SSP tracking, tronc integration. From £12/employee/week.
View service →Multi-Rate VAT
VAT Plus tier handles alcohol/food/off-sales splits, partial recovery. From £295/quarter.
View service →Annual Accounts & CT600
Limited company year-end accounts and corporation tax filing from £1,200/year.
View service →Tax Planning Workshop
Bespoke £1,200 strategy — capital allowances on fit-out, group structures, pricing optimisation.
View service →Business Mentor
Free for every client. Drinks pricing, supplier negotiation, events programming, growth review.
View service →Find your wet-led service mix and fee. Five questions, one minute.
Answer five quick questions about your venue, turnover and operations. We'll show you the right service mix, an estimated monthly fee, and where the typical margin gaps are for venues like yours.
Your wet-led venue position
Based on your answers, here's the right setup.
The fees a wet-led venue actually pays. Standard, transparent.
Below is the typical service mix and standard fee for licensed venues. Quotes are issued in writing within 24 hours of the call — request one to see what discounts and seasonal offers are available in the current period.
Bar & pub service fees
All prices exclude VAT. From the master service-fee schedule.
| Service | Description | Fee |
|---|---|---|
| Hospitality Bookkeeping EPOS integration + beer cellar variance feed |
Daily Z-report import, multi-rate VAT split, variance line on P&L | from £195/month |
| VAT Plus (Mid-Complexity) Alcohol / food / off-sales rate splits |
Multi-rate handling, partial recovery, MTD filing | from £295/quarter |
| Weekly Payroll Shift teams + tronc integration |
52 RTI submissions, weekly payslips, holiday + SSP, tronc distribution | from £12/employee/week |
| Tronc Scheme Setup Tipping Act 2024 compliant — saves NIC |
Troncmaster appointment, written policy, HMRC registration | £395one-off |
| Tronc Ongoing Administration Weekly distribution + payslip integration |
Allocation, NIC-saving optimisation, audit trail | from £95/month |
| Premises Licence Accounts Alcohol licensing, premises transfer, personal licence |
Certified accounts on chartered headed paper, 48hr turnaround | £195one-off |
| Limited Company Accounts Tier 1 — solo director pub or bar |
FRS accounts, CT600, Companies House, confirmation statement | from £1,200/year |
| Multi-Site Consolidation 2+ venues with branch reporting |
Per-site P&L, group consolidation, KPI dashboard | from £245/site/month |
What our wet-led clients actually got back. Real numbers.
Three recent examples from a traditional pub, a cocktail bar group and a late-night venue. Names changed, numbers real.
Cellar variance dropped 9% → 4%, recovered £18K/yr
A community pub doing £620K wet sales had variance running at 9% — about £56K of margin disappearing every year with no idea where. We added monthly stocktake (via a partner), put variance on the P&L every month, and within four months the operator had identified two sources: a trainee bartender consistently over-pouring spirits, and free pints to regulars never going through the till. Variance settled at 4% and the operator now sees it on every monthly statement.
Per-site P&L revealed a £40K/yr loss-maker
A 3-site cocktail bar group came to us with rolled-up monthly accounts showing roughly 7% group margin. We rebuilt to per-site P&L (£245/site/mo) with KPI dashboards. Site #1 was running at -3% — masked by sites #2 and #3. The operator restructured the loss-making site (changed manager, repositioned drinks programme, dropped Mondays) and moved it to +4% within three months. Group margin lifted to 9% within six.
Tronc setup saved £11,200/yr in NIC for an 11-staff team
A late-night cocktail venue was running £55K of tips through normal payroll, with both sides paying NIC. We set up a fully Tipping Act 2024 compliant tronc with an independent troncmaster and written policy (£395 one-off), then took on monthly tronc administration at £95/month. Year-one NIC saving was £11,200 split between the venue and the team. Staff felt the take-home increase immediately — useful for a venue that lives on retention.
Wet-led-specific quote, in writing within 24 hours.
Tell us your venue type, turnover, sites and licence hours. We'll send a written fixed-fee quote covering exactly the services you need — and any current discounts or offers in the period.
Frequently asked questions.
If your question isn't here, message us on WhatsApp or book a free 15-minute call.
Bar & pub accountants in King's Cross, London.
Our office sits at 39-41 North Road, London N7 9DP — five minutes from Caledonian Road tube and ten from King's Cross St Pancras. We work with wet-led venues across Soho, Shoreditch, Hoxton, Camden, Hackney, Islington, Westminster, Tower Hamlets, the City of London plus our secondary presence in Wickford / Basildon, Essex.
Most engagements are delivered remotely via video call, WhatsApp and our client portal — but for owner-operators who prefer to meet, the King's Cross office is open Monday to Saturday 10am to 7pm. No appointment fee, no travel charge.
London N7 9DP
10am to 7pm
Ready for a wet-led specialist accountant?
Book a free 15-minute call. We'll quote your engagement in writing within 24 hours including any current discounts or seasonal offers. If LOYALS isn't the right fit we'll tell you that too.
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