Anyone clued up on pub regs? Help please

[Larafromthe80s]

I'm just wondering if anyone knows if there is actual legislation stating that pub cellars have to be locked? Ive googled a lot and can find websites saying it but nothing official
If anyone can link official guidance I'd he very grateful

Your question is quite curious… I run a bar as part of a charity. The obvious first reason for locking a cellar is the security of your stock. Secondly it will contain chemicals and physical risks for the general public (bleach, cleaning fluid for the pipe etc are toxic and a mounted full barrel of ale falling on someone could kill them. So health and safety general regs would lick in. Finally a cellar is a key food storage area and food regs kick in which would prevent access to the public.

Following as intriguing

@Brainwave89 I'll message you, hope that's ok

Our local doesn't have a lock on the cellar. But it is accessed by two of the tables in one part of the pub being shifted and an unlocked trapdoor is liftes up. They have a member of staff standing by saying "watch out for the hole in the floor" and stopping anyone going near while the other goes down the ladder. Then they come up and close the hatch and put the tables back. Its a huge palarver but no locks involved.

As Brainwave says, there isn't a specific law about locking cellars, but there are various health and safety (primarily) reasons you'd want to keep it locked so could be covered that way.

I'm curious though...

@BuanoKubiamVej very useful, thank you. So it would be impossible for anyone to accidentally fall down it by the sounds of it?

Well the times I have been present when they needed to open up, they were clearly following a formal H&S procedure to make sure of that.

If you know of a pub that isn't taking similar precautions, I think that whether they can get into trouble for not having a policy depends on their size, but they can certainly be prosecuted if someone gets injured by falling down into a cellar that had no precautions about to protect them. I think businesses only have to have a written policy if they have 5 or more employees and a lot of pubs wouldn't be big enough for that.

Uncle Albert?

Is anyone else wondering if op is thinking of doing an uncle Albert?

Cross posted with Spikey. I'm off to find the clip

[quote Larafromthe80s]@BuanoKubiamVej very useful, thank you. So it would be impossible for anyone to accidentally fall down it by the sounds of it?[/quote]
Unless someone left the door open,

As some seem the door in the floor type ones, behind a bar ect

I worked in a pub for years and we kept the door locked with a bolt (it was a noisy door so if it wasn’t locked, we’d have heard someone going in). The ‘drop’ was always locked from the inside, they mostly open outward though, so hard to fall through even if they were closed but not locked, unless someone pulled them open. They wouldn’t have opened just from someone walking on them.

As others have said its not a specific regulation but I work for a large pub company and in our health & safety policy we state that all cellar doors are kept locked. Not doing so breaks our policy. Also, there are all sorts of things in health & safety law designed to keep the public safe - such as when building sites get fined if a kid breaks in and hurts themselves. They need to be doing everything 'reasonably practicable' to prevent harm. In the hierarchy of how to prevent harm putting a barrier in place is one of the best options and I would definitely argue that locking a door is reasonably practicable.
Incidentally I recently heard of an incident elsewhere in the company where someone was injured due to a cellar not being locked. The health & safety team will not be impresses...

I think it would come under COSHH regs and H&S, safe storage of chemicals and there's also pressurised gases and barrels that can be dangerous.
I don't think there's any specific rules about the cellar being locked but the chemicals and gas bottles should be locked away - everywhere I've worked the cellar has been locked or accessed through the bar or another locked door before the actual cellar door.

Thanks all for the info.
I have had a very serious accident which I want to give more info on but darent as the media picked up on the last topic I posted about.
I have no idea if I have any right to be so upset this happened to me or if it was my fault 😪

Uncle Albert was my first thought as well.