# Restaurant, Cafe and Pub Risk Assessment Template: free UK download

Canonical: https://paddl-ai.co/templates/restaurant-risk-assessment-template
Last reviewed: 2026-09-11 by the Paddl team

Free front-of-house risk assessment template for restaurants, cafes and pubs, pre-filled by venue type

## In one sentence

The Restaurant, Cafe and Pub Risk Assessment Template is a free PDF for UK food businesses with 5 record sheets: restaurant risk assessment: service, hot plates, glass, floors, allergens as a safety hazard, deliveries, lone closing, cafe risk assessment: espresso machine and steam, grinders, hot water urns, counter queues, pushchairs and children, small-space storage, pub risk assessment: cellar hatch and steps, kegs and gas cylinders, glass collection, violence and aggression, licensing hours and closing, outside areas. Download it, print it or fill it in, and keep it with your food safety records; Paddl keeps the same records on a phone with timestamps and reminders.

The kitchen gets the attention, but most of the people in a hospitality building are on the other side of the pass, and so are most of the public. Front of house has its own hazards: hot plates carried through a crowd, glass, spilled drinks on hard floors, a cellar with gas cylinders and a hatch, a coffee machine at 130°C, and the particular risk of dealing with customers who have had too much to drink. This free template gives you a pre-filled risk assessment for a restaurant, another for a cafe and a third for a pub, each with the hazards and the usual controls for that kind of venue, alongside a blank form and an action plan.

## Why you need it

- The risk assessment duty covers customers and visitors as well as staff, and front of house is where they are
- Slips on spilled drinks, glass injuries and manual handling of kegs are the routine public and staff injury claims in hospitality
- Licensing authorities and insurers expect a written assessment for alcohol-related and cellar risks
- A venue-specific assessment is far quicker to defend than a generic one that never mentions a bar or a coffee machine

## What is included

- Restaurant risk assessment: service, hot plates, glass, floors, allergens as a safety hazard, deliveries, lone closing
- Cafe risk assessment: espresso machine and steam, grinders, hot water urns, counter queues, pushchairs and children, small-space storage
- Pub risk assessment: cellar hatch and steps, kegs and gas cylinders, glass collection, violence and aggression, licensing hours and closing, outside areas
- Blank risk assessment form in the same layout
- Action plan with owner, target date and completion columns

## Record sheets

- **Restaurant Risk Assessment (Pre-filled)**: columns Hazard, Who Could Be Harmed and How, Existing Controls, Risk (H/M/L), Further Action Needed, Owner / Date
- **Cafe Risk Assessment (Pre-filled)**: columns Hazard, Who Could Be Harmed and How, Existing Controls, Risk (H/M/L), Further Action Needed, Owner / Date
- **Pub Risk Assessment (Pre-filled)**: columns Hazard, Who Could Be Harmed and How, Existing Controls, Risk (H/M/L), Further Action Needed, Owner / Date
- **Risk Assessment (Blank)**: columns Hazard, Who Could Be Harmed and How, Existing Controls, Risk (H/M/L), Further Action Needed, Owner / Date
- **Action Plan**: columns Action, Hazard It Controls, Priority (H/M/L), Owner, Target Date, Date Completed

## How to use it

1. **Pick the sheet that matches your venue** Use the restaurant, cafe or pub sheet as the starting point, or two of them if you are both. Cross out what does not apply and add what is missing.
2. **Walk the floor during service** The hazards show up when the room is full. Do the walk on a busy shift and note where people and hot things cross.
3. **Rate, act and assign** Rate each hazard high, medium or low with your controls in place. Anything medium or high gets an action, an owner and a date on the action plan.
4. **Brief the team and review** Talk it through at the next team meeting and put the review date in the diary. Review after any accident, near miss, refit or change of licence conditions.

## Tips

- Include customers in every line: a hazard to staff behind the bar is usually a hazard to the person in front of it
- Treat aggression and violence as a hazard to assess, not a policing matter; the controls are staffing, layout and training
- The cellar is a confined space with gas in it; give it its own line and its own controls
- Keep the outside area on the assessment: heaters, umbrellas, steps and the smoking shelter all count
- Paddl holds the assessment against the location, reminds you of the review and shows each control to the staff it protects

Download the file from https://paddl-ai.co/templates/restaurant-risk-assessment-template (email required). The Paddl features that keep the same records: https://paddl-ai.co/features/risk-assessments, https://paddl-ai.co/features/compliance, https://paddl-ai.co/features/licences, https://paddl-ai.co/features/fire-safety, https://paddl-ai.co/features/documents, https://paddl-ai.co/features/team, https://paddl-ai.co/features/mobile-app.