measures-and-law

---
name: measures-and-law
description: Produces one dated file showing which drink measures your premises is required to serve, display and offer, where each notice has to go, which equipment has to be stamped, and the numbered list of what is missing, with the allergen and calorie position stated accurately including who is exempt. Use before a Trading Standards or licensing visit, when you change your house measure, or when nobody can say where the spirits notice is.
---

# Serve and display the measures the law requires, and stop the fine

You give this your premises licence, your drinks list, your glassware and dispense equipment, and a photograph of every notice currently on display. You get back one dated file: the measures you are permitted to serve, the measures you are required to make available, where each written statement has to be displayed and what it has to say, the equipment that has to carry a stamp, the allergen and calorie position for your size of business, and a numbered list of what is missing ranked by what a visiting officer would find first. It tells you what it could not verify rather than filling the gap.

## What it does

1. **Write down which spirit measure the premises uses, because it is one choice and it binds the whole building.** Article 3(1)(a) of the Weights and Measures (Intoxicating Liquor) Order 1988 permits gin, rum, vodka and whisky to be sold for consumption on the premises only "in, or in a multiple of" 25ml or 35ml, and that quantity "shall be the same for those parts of any licensed premises or licensed canteen... of which any person is the licensee and for all those liquors". One measure, four spirits, every bar in the building. A restaurant bar on 25ml and a function room on 35ml is not two commercial decisions, it is one breach. Record the chosen measure and the date it was chosen at the top of the file.

2. **Put the spirits notice where the Order says, which is not where most premises put it.** Article 3(1)(b) makes the sale lawful only "if there is displayed on those premises, in such a position and manner as to be readily available without special request for inspection by the buyer before the sale is made, a statement in writing showing in which of those quantities those liquors are offered for sale on those premises". Three tests in one sentence: it must be displayed, it must be readable without asking, and it must be readable before the sale. A card kept under the till fails all three. Photograph what is on display, record where it is and what it says, and note whether it names the measure or merely says that measures are available.

3. **Carry the wine measures on the wine list itself.** Article 5A(2) permits wine sold in the glass only in, or in a multiple of, 125ml and 175ml, and wine fortified for distillation only in 50ml and 70ml, and in either case only where the same kind of written statement is displayed or provided. Article 5A(3)(b) exempts a sale of "wine in a quantity of less than 75 ml" from the display requirement, which covers a taste but nothing else. Record every wine volume the premises actually pours, including in carafes, and flag any that is not a permitted multiple.

4. **Check the beer and cider serve and the vessel it goes into.** Article 2(1) requires beer or cider, unless prepacked or sold as a constituent of a mixture of two or more liquids, to be sold "only in a quantity of 1/3 pint, 1/2 pint, 2/3 pint or a multiple of 1/2 pint", and "where sold for consumption on the premises of the seller, only in a capacity measure of the quantity in question". Article 2(2) is the exception for metered dispense and it has four conditions that all have to hold: stamped measuring equipment, delivery direct from it into the customer's container, delivery after the customer has ordered, and the equipment installed so that "the delivery of the liquor into the container can readily be seen by customers in that part of the premises where the buyer ordered the liquor". Record which route each dispense point uses.

5. **List the measuring equipment and confirm each item is stamped.** The Office for Product Safety and Standards bulletin WM 1008, version 1, March 2026, states that "Intoxicating liquor measuring equipment must bear an approved stamp before it can be used for trade", that equipment must be "made in accordance with an approved pattern before it can be passed and stamped by an inspector or approved verifier", and that "It is a criminal offence for any person to possess or use prescribed measuring equipment for trade that has not been passed by an inspector or an approved verifier". It also confirms that self-service dispense is in scope. One row per optic, thimble measure, flowmeter, wine dispenser and stamped glass type, with the stamp and where to see it.

6. **Make the smaller measures available and prove that customers are told.** The mandatory licensing condition substituted on 1 October 2014 requires that beer or cider at half a pint, gin, rum, vodka or whisky at 25ml or 35ml, and still wine in a glass at 125ml, are "available to customers", that "these measures are displayed in a menu, price list or other printed material which is available to customers on the premises", and that "where a customer does not in relation to a sale of alcohol specify the quantity of alcohol to be sold, the customer is made aware that these measures are available". Three duties. The second is a printing job and the third is a training job, and both are evidenced in the file with a date.

7. **Check the free water and the promotions conditions in the same pass, because they come from the same Schedule.** Paragraph 2 requires the responsible person to ensure "that free potable water is provided on request to customers where it is reasonably available". Paragraph 1(2) lists the irresponsible promotions, including activities encouraging individuals to "drink a quantity of alcohol within a time limit" or "drink as much alcohol as possible", and the provision of "unlimited or unspecified quantities of alcohol free or for a fixed or discounted fee". Record the current offers and check each against that list rather than against instinct.

8. **State the allergen and the calorie position accurately, because they point in opposite directions.** Article 44 of assimilated Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 makes allergen particulars mandatory for food sold without prepackaging, which includes a drink poured or made at the bar. Article 16(4) removes the ingredient list and the nutrition declaration from "beverages containing more than 1,2 % by volume of alcohol", so the bottle will not answer it for you. Calorie labelling is narrower still: the Calorie Labelling (Out of Home Sector) (England) Regulations 2021 apply only where, on the first day of the financial year, "the business has 250 or more employees", the Regulations are England only, and regulation 4(2)(c) makes "drinks containing more than 1.2% by volume of alcohol" exempt food. So most independent venues are outside the calorie regime entirely and inside the allergen one completely, and saying it the other way round is the common mistake.

9. **Rank what is missing by what a visiting officer sees first, and date the file.** Three groups: fix before you open tomorrow, fix within a stated number of days, and monitor with a date. Every item names the notice, the piece of equipment or the printed document it attaches to, an owner and a date. In the footer, the build date and the date each source was read, plus one warning that matters: the revised page for the 2010 Order on legislation.gov.uk still displays the superseded Schedule and lists "Sch. substituted by S.I. 2014/2440 art. 2(3)" as a change not yet applied, so anyone reading the 2010 Order alone is reading conditions that stopped applying on 1 October 2014.

## Then it checks

1. One spirit measure is recorded for the whole premises, it is 25ml or 35ml and not both, and every bar and dispense point in the building is listed against it.
2. Every required written statement is evidenced by a photograph with the location recorded, and the file says for each whether it is readable without asking and before the sale.
3. Every drink volume the premises actually pours, including carafes and house doubles, is checked against the permitted multiples, and any that is not permitted is named rather than described as under review.
4. Every dispense point is recorded as either a capacity measure or a metered system, and every metered system is checked against all four conditions in article 2(2) with each one answered yes or no.
5. Every item of measuring equipment names its stamp and where the stamp can be seen, and any item where the stamp could not be found is listed as unverified rather than assumed.
6. The file states the calorie position by reference to the employee count and the nation, states the allergen position separately, and contains no statement that the premises complies with anything.

Any check fails: name it, redo that step once. Failed twice: say what is wrong and stop.

## Rules
- Public information only.
- Never invent a fact, a number or a quote.
- Anything sent in someone's name says whose name it is. A notice drafted for display goes to the licence holder before it is printed.
- Never tell an owner that their premises complies, that a notice is adequate, or that an officer would be satisfied. Those are conclusions for their licensing officer, their Trading Standards service and their solicitor, and an owner told "you are fine" by a document stops asking the people who could actually tell them.
- Never record a notice as present without a photograph showing where it is displayed. A notice everybody remembers seeing is not a notice.
- Never treat a summary page as the requirement. GOV.UK guidance is a reliable way to find the rule and a poor way to quote it, and the version that binds a premises is the instrument itself as it now stands.
- Refuse to draft, cost or tidy up a promotion that requires drinking a quantity within a time limit, drinking as much as possible, or supplying unlimited or unspecified quantities of alcohol for a fixed fee. Where one is already running, record it verbatim and send it to the licensing officer rather than rewording it into something that reads better.
- Never carry a requirement forward from an earlier file without re-reading the source. The Schedule of mandatory conditions was substituted once already and the revised page for the older instrument still shows the old text.
- This output is a working document prepared for the owner's licensing officer, Trading Standards service, environmental health officer or solicitor to check before it is relied on. It gathers published requirements, records what the premises holds and names the gaps. It is not legal advice, it is not a licensing decision and it does not certify compliance with anything.

## Built from
- The Weights and Measures (Intoxicating Liquor) Order 1988, articles 2, 3 and 5A, https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1988/2039/article/2, https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1988/2039/article/3 and https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1988/2039/article/5A, the revised versions as they now stand, read 16 September 2026: the beer and cider quantities and the four metered-dispense conditions in step 4, the single spirit measure and its display duty in steps 1 and 2, and the wine measures and the under-75ml exemption in step 3.
- The Weights and Measures (Specified Quantities) (Unwrapped Bread and Intoxicating Liquor) Order 2011, https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2011/2331/made, made 19 September 2011 and in force 1 October 2011, read 16 September 2026: the article that inserted two thirds of a pint and substituted article 5A, which is why the 1988 Order has to be read in its revised form.
- The Licensing Act 2003 (Mandatory Licensing Conditions) (Amendment) Order 2014, Schedule, paragraphs 1, 2 and 4, https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2014/2440/made, made 11 September 2014 and in force 1 October 2014, read 16 September 2026: the smaller measures, display and awareness duties in step 6, and the free potable water and irresponsible promotions conditions in step 7.
- The Licensing Act 2003 (Mandatory Licensing Conditions) Order 2010, Schedule, https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2010/860/schedule, read 16 September 2026: the revised page that still shows the superseded Schedule and lists "Sch. substituted by S.I. 2014/2440 art. 2(3)" among changes not yet applied, which is the warning in step 9.
- Office for Product Safety and Standards, "WM 1008: Intoxicating liquor measuring equipment, version 1, March 2026", https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/weights-and-measures-bulletins/wm-1008-intoxicating-liquor-measuring-equipment-version-1-march-2026, published March 2026 and updated 12 March 2026, read 16 September 2026: the stamping requirement, the pattern approval requirement, the criminal offence of possessing or using unstamped equipment for trade, and the confirmation that self-service dispense is in scope, all in step 5.
- The Calorie Labelling (Out of Home Sector) (England) Regulations 2021, regulations 4 and 7, https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2021/909/made, made 27 July 2021 and coming into force 6 April 2022, read 16 September 2026: the 250 employee threshold and the exemption for "drinks containing more than 1.2% by volume of alcohol", both in step 8.
- Assimilated Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011, articles 44 and 16, https://www.legislation.gov.uk/eur/2011/1169/article/44 and https://www.legislation.gov.uk/eur/2011/1169/article/16, read 16 September 2026: the mandatory allergen particulars for non-prepacked food and the removal of the ingredient list and nutrition declaration from drinks over 1.2% ABV, both in step 8.
- The Weights and Measures Act 1985, section 28, https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1985/72/section/28, read 16 September 2026: the short weight offence that sits under the whole file and is why step 9 ranks the missing items rather than listing them.

# measures-and-law

## You are given
The premises licence or club premises certificate, including the plan and the list of areas licensed for the supply of alcohol. Every bar, servery and dispense point in the building, named, with the area it sits in. The house spirit measure already chosen by the licence holder, either 25ml or 35ml, with the date it was chosen. Every drink volume the premises actually pours, taken from the drinks list and from the staff who pour them, including carafes, house doubles and anything sold in a jug. A photograph of every notice currently on display, each with a note of exactly where it is and whether a customer can read it before ordering. An inventory of measuring equipment: optics, thimble measures, flowmeters, wine dispensers and stamped glass types, with any stamp reference already noted. For each dispense point, whether beer and cider are served in a capacity measure or through a metered system, and for every metered system a yes or no answer on each of the four conditions, supplied by the person who looked. The current printed drinks list, menu or price list. The current promotions, written out verbatim. The employee count on the first day of the current financial year, and the nation the premises is in. The verbatim extracts of the instruments, supplied as reference text with the date each was read.

## Produce
Write into a `./measures-and-law-output/` folder:

1. `dispense-points.csv` with these columns in this order: `point_ref`, `point_name`, `area`, `licensed_for_alcohol`, `spirit_measure_ml`, `beer_route`, `metered_condition_stamped`, `metered_condition_direct_delivery`, `metered_condition_after_order`, `metered_condition_visible_to_customer`, `all_four_conditions_met`. `point_ref` is P001 upward. `beer_route` is exactly one of `capacity measure`, `metered system`, `no beer or cider served`. The four condition columns are `yes`, `no` or `not answered`, and are left empty where `beer_route` is not `metered system`.
2. `volumes.csv` with columns: `drink_category`, `volume_poured_ml_or_fraction`, `where_it_is_poured`, `permitted_set`, `is_permitted_multiple`, `instrument_and_article`. `drink_category` is exactly one of `beer or cider`, `gin rum vodka or whisky`, `wine in a glass`, `wine fortified for distillation`, `other`. `is_permitted_multiple` is `yes`, `no` or `outside the named categories`. Every `no` is listed in `gaps.md`.
3. `notices.csv` with columns: `notice_ref`, `required_by`, `what_it_must_show`, `photograph_file`, `location_described`, `readable_without_asking`, `readable_before_the_sale`, `text_on_display_verbatim`, `status`. `readable_without_asking` and `readable_before_the_sale` are `yes`, `no` or `not answered`. `status` is exactly `present`, `present but inadequate` or `not found`. A notice with no `photograph_file` is always `not found`.
4. `equipment.csv` with columns: `equipment_ref`, `type`, `location`, `stamp_reference`, `where_the_stamp_is_visible`, `stamp_verified_by`, `date_checked`, `verification_status`. `type` is exactly one of `optic`, `thimble measure`, `flowmeter`, `wine dispenser`, `stamped glass`, `self service dispense`, `other`. `verification_status` is exactly `stamp seen`, `stamp not found` or `not checked`, and anything other than `stamp seen` is listed in `gaps.md`.
5. `mandatory-conditions.csv` with columns: `condition_paragraph`, `condition_text_verbatim`, `what_the_premises_does`, `evidence_document`, `evidence_date`, `answered`. One row per limb of each mandatory condition supplied, split so that availability, display and awareness are separate rows. `answered` is `yes`, `no` or `not answered`.
6. `promotions-and-labelling.md` in two parts. Part one is a table of the current promotions with these columns in this order: `promotion_ref`, `promotion_text_verbatim`, `matches_listed_activity`, `which_listed_activity`, `referred_to_licensing_officer`, where `matches_listed_activity` is `yes`, `no` or `cannot tell from the text`, and no promotion is ever rewritten. Part two records, in plain sentences and with no conclusion about compliance: the employee count supplied and the date it applies to, the nation, whether the calorie labelling regulations apply on the face of those figures, the exemption for drinks over 1.2% ABV quoted verbatim, and the allergen position stated separately with the article it comes from.
7. `gaps.md` is a numbered list, ranked in the order the owner supplied, of: every volume that is not a permitted multiple; every notice not `present`; every equipment row not `stamp seen`; every mandatory condition limb answered `no` or `not answered`; every metered dispense point with any condition not `yes`; every promotion matching a listed activity; and any dispense point whose spirit measure differs from the house measure recorded at the top of the file.

## Rules
- Codex records, compares against supplied verbatim text, and checks. It never decides that a premises complies, never judges whether a notice is adequate, never rewrites a notice or a promotion, and never answers a question that the person who visited the premises left unanswered.
- Never mark a notice present without a named photograph file. `not found` is the correct entry for a notice everybody is sure exists.
- Never fill a `not answered` with an inference. A metered dispense condition nobody looked at stays `not answered` and goes into `gaps.md`, and it is never counted as met.
- Never quote a requirement from a summary or guidance page where the instrument text has been supplied. Where only a guidance page was supplied for a point, the row records it as guidance and says so in the `instrument_and_article` column.
- Never write the words compliant, non-compliant, satisfies, breaches or offence as a conclusion about this premises. Record what is present, what is absent, and which paragraph it attaches to.
- Never write a statement about calorie labelling without naming the employee count and the nation it was derived from in the same file.
- Never contact a licensing authority, a Trading Standards service or an inspector, and never submit anything anywhere.
- All volumes are in millilitres except beer and cider, which are recorded as the fractions of a pint the instrument uses. All money, if any appears, is in GBP.
- Use British English, GBP and DD Month YYYY dates. No em dash characters in any file you write, and any supplied text containing one is recorded verbatim and flagged in `gaps.md`.
- Every file ends with this line: this is a working document prepared for the owner's licensing officer, Trading Standards service, environmental health officer or solicitor to check. It records published requirements against what the premises holds and does not certify compliance with anything.

## Return
The absolute path of each file written, the row count of each CSV, the house spirit measure recorded and every dispense point that differs from it, the number of poured volumes checked and the ones that are not permitted multiples named in full, the number of notices by status with each `not found` named, the number of equipment items by verification status with each unstamped or unchecked item named, the count of mandatory condition limbs answered yes, no and not answered, every metered dispense point with a condition not met and which condition, every promotion matching a listed activity quoted verbatim, the calorie position with the employee count and nation it rests on, and the `gaps.md` item count in the ranked order supplied.