Cellar standards drinkers will check: a shift leader's Beer & Cellar Hygiene prep

From early 2027, Cask Marque plans to ask drinkers to check a pub's Beer & Cellar Hygiene rating before they visit. The campaign points people to an online directory and to star stickers some pubs already put in the window. CAMRA is also adding the ratings to its pub search. That is a guest-facing change, not a new legal duty.

This piece is about beer cellar and dispense standards on shift. It is not the Food Standards Agency food hygiene rating. A 5 on food and a weak cellar can still sit in the same building.

What the stars measure, in plain words

The Beer & Cellar Hygiene rating awards 1 to 5 stars. Cask Marque says it checks 11 markers from the cellar to the glass, in a similar spirit to food hygiene ratings. Cask Marque says about 7,000 UK pubs currently hold 4 or 5 stars, and that it wants at least 30,000 at that level by the end of the decade. Those are Cask Marque figures via trade reporting on 4 November 2026, not an independent census.

Joining is voluntary accreditation. We do not tell teams that every pub must join. We do tell them what drinkers will be able to look up.

Cask Marque names four places pubs most often fall short:

1. Cellar temperature.
2. Glassware condition and cleanliness.
3. Line and coupler cleanliness.
4. Cleanliness of glasswashers.

Paul Nunny, director of Cask Marque, said the Perfect Pint Promise trial found that almost half of pints served in UK pubs fail to meet basic standards, and that disappointed guests switch brand or switch pub. He also said Cask Marque's analysis shows improved cellar practices increase beer yields by 10%. Both are Cask Marque's own claims. We treat the 10% as their marketing figure, not as an independent audit of our cellar. We measure our own waste and ullage before we bank any saving.

Cask Marque also reports that in the 12 months to September 2026, 71% of outlets scored 5 stars on first inspection and 79% scored 4 or 5, rising to 86% and 95% after its support. Again, those are the scheme's figures.

Shift-open checklist

We run this before doors, with the person owning cellar and the person owning glasswash both present.

• Name the cellar owner for the shift. Who has the key, who calls the engineer, who can stop a line.
• Read the cellar thermometer. Confirm temperature is inside our site standard and that the log sheet for the previous close was completed. If the cooler cannot hold, escalate before service, not after the first warm pint.
• Walk stock rotation. Oldest beer first. Check for leaking couplers, soft seals and kegs sitting off the stillage plan.
• Line and coupler status. Confirm when lines were last cleaned and which lines are due. Couplers cleaned on change where our procedure requires it. Do not open on a line that missed its clean window.
• Pull a quality check pint on each busy line into a clean glass. Look at clarity, aroma, taste and temperature. Dump and re-pull if it fails; do not serve it.
• Glassware ready state. No chips, lipstick, haze or detergent film. Quarantine damaged glass. Confirm enough clean stock for the first rush.
• Glasswasher check. Correct detergent and rinse aid, wash and rinse temperatures in range, filters clear, no smell. Run a test cycle if the machine sat idle.
• Brief the floor. Who remakes a bad pint without argument, who logs waste, who tells the shift leader if a guest sends a beer back.

Shift-close checklist

We close the cellar as carefully as we open it. Most shortfalls are habits that slip at the end of a long service.

• Final temperature log. Record the reading, time and initials. Note any drift during service.
• Secure and tidy. Couplers seated, floor dry enough to be safe, empty kegs staged for collection, chemicals stored correctly.
• Line-clean plan for tomorrow. Write which lines are due, who owns the clean, and when beer will be ready again. Do not leave this as a verbal promise.
• Glasswasher strip-down. Empty and clean filters, check jets, wipe door seals, leave the machine to site standard (often ajar to dry). Confirm next detergent levels.
• Glassware count and quarantine. Bin or mark chipped glass. Do not put damaged stock back into the clean rack.
• Waste and quality notes. Record dumped pints, guest returns and any line that failed the open check, so the next shift sees the pattern.
• Handover. Tell the next cellar owner what is mid-clean, what is waiting on an engineer, and what must be re-checked before the next open.

How we talk about it on the floor

We keep the language practical. "Check the rating" for guests will land harder if our own team cannot describe what good looks like. We do not overclaim profit from the 10% figure. We do claim fewer returned pints, cleaner glass, and a cellar log that survives an unannounced look.

If the site is already accredited, we treat the next visit as a guest preview, not a paperwork exercise. If it is not accredited, we still run the open and close lists: drinkers will judge the pint either way.

What we do this week

We print the open and close lists, run them on the next three services, and photograph the cellar temperature log and glasswasher check so the shift leader can show the manager what is already solid and what still fails.