Swanscombe, Kent · DA10
Security for pubs and bars: risks and specification
Public-order incidents, cellar and stock loss, and licensing scrutiny. This page sets out what a Swanscombe pub should be asking for, and where electric strike lock systems fit into it.
- Sector: pubs and bars
- Lead service: CCTV systems
- Exposure: Late evening trade and the post-close period.
Primary risk
Public-order incidents, cellar and stock loss, and licensing scrutiny.
First priority
Bar and till coverage
Common pitfall
A system nobody on shift knows how to operate, which is a licence condition breach in itself at many premises.
What is actually at risk
Public-order incidents, cellar and stock loss, and licensing scrutiny.
Exposure window: Late evening trade and the post-close period.
The obligation behind the specification
Ignore this and the system may work perfectly while still being the wrong system for pubs and bars.
- Premises licences commonly carry an explicit CCTV condition covering retention and police access
The specification, itemised
- Bar and till coverage
- Cash handling and refusal-of-service disputes.
- Cellar and delivery-hatch camera
- Stock loss and delivery disputes are resolved here.
A common design error on this trade
A system nobody on shift knows how to operate, which is a licence condition breach in itself at many premises.
Where electric strike lock systems fit
An electrically releasable striking plate fitted in place of a standard door keep, allowing a mechanical latch or bolt to be released remotely while keeping the door mechanically locked otherwise.
- Doors where a visible maglock housing is not wanted
- Doors needing to remain mechanically locked through a power failure
The limits, stated plainly
Every approach has an edge; here is where this one sits.
- Configuration between fail-safe and fail-secure has to be specified correctly at install, since changing it later usually means replacing the strike.
A different option for the same problem
- Full electromechanical lock replacement
- The existing lock is worn or unsuitable and a like-for-like strike retrofit is not viable.
The support call this sector makes most: alarm event log unreadable or corrupted
Once a system has been in a while, get a usable history of alarm events after a fault or incident is a common reason for a pub to ring.
Usually it comes down to panel clock reset by a power loss, a prolonged mains and battery outage can reset the real-time clock, scrambling the order events appear in.
Before booking anyone, try scrolling the log manually at the keypad rather than relying on remote software.
What Swanscombe adds to the brief
Swanscombe work tends to cluster near the High Street and Swanscombe Heritage Park, where the housing stock is mostly Victorian terraces along the High Street and 1960s estate housing, and that mix decides where cable can run and where detection earns its place.
Swanscombe questions we get asked
Security for pubs and bars: risks and specification
Local detail for Swanscombe
- Takeover and repair of systems installed by others
- Domestic and commercial work handled by the same team
- Equipment chosen for the site rather than a single brand list
Survey first, specification second
We will explain why each item is on the list. If something cannot be justified, it should not be on your quotation.
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