Do bars have to offer half pints? The small measures licence condition and what it means for your cups

Every licence that allows alcohol to be drunk on the premises in England and Wales carries a condition about small measures. It reaches past beer to spirits and wine, and it sits next to a separate set of rules on the quantities a bar may sell. This article sets out what the condition says, who it binds and where it stops, then what it means for the cups behind the bar.

What the condition says

The condition is paragraph 4 of the Schedule to the Licensing Act 2003 (Mandatory Licensing Conditions) Order 2010. It requires the responsible person to ensure that, where any of three drinks is sold or supplied for consumption on the premises, it is available to customers in these measures: beer or cider, half a pint; gin, rum, vodka or whisky, 25 ml or 35 ml; and still wine in a glass, 125 ml.

Two further duties come with it. The measures must be displayed in a menu, price list or other printed material available to customers on the premises. And where a customer does not say what quantity of alcohol they want, they must be made aware that these measures are available. The Home Office guidance adds that this can mean putting the measures on menus and price lists displayed in a prominent and conspicuous place, for example at the bar, and that the premises licence holder must make sure staff know the condition applies.

Where it does not apply

The condition does not cover drinks made up in advance ready for sale in a securely closed container. The Home Office guidance gives the example that if beer is only available in pre-sealed bottles, the requirement to make it available in half pints does not apply.

It also stops at the edge of the licence. The Order defines relevant premises and the responsible person by reference to paragraphs (a) and (b) of the definitions in the 2003 Act, which are licensed premises and premises with a club premises certificate. It leaves out paragraph (c), premises used for a permitted temporary activity under Part 5 of the Act. The guidance says it plainly: the mandatory licence conditions do not apply to activities, including the supply of alcohol, authorised by a temporary event notice.

The responsible person, in the licensed premises sense, is the premises licence holder, the designated premises supervisor, or any individual aged 18 or over authorised by either of them. For a club it is a member or officer present who can prevent the supply in question. The Order applies in England and Wales, and this article covers no other part of the UK.

The quantities a bar may sell

The licence condition says which small measures must be on offer. A different instrument, the Weights and Measures (Intoxicating Liquor) Order 1988, limits the quantities in which these drinks can be sold at all.

For draught beer and cider, article 2 allows a third of a pint, half a pint, two thirds of a pint or a multiple of half a pint. Where the drink is consumed on the seller's premises it must be sold in a capacity measure of that quantity, unless it is delivered straight into the customer's container from stamped measuring equipment that customers can see. Our guide to UK pint and half pint cup sizes covers the beer quantities in more detail.

For gin, rum, vodka and whisky sold for consumption on the premises, article 3 allows 25 ml or 35 ml and multiples of the quantity chosen, with the same quantity applying across the four spirits and across a licensee's licensed premises, and it requires a written statement of the quantities on offer. GOV.UK summarises this as 25 ml or 35 ml but not both on the same premises. For wine sold in the glass, article 5A allows 125 ml and 175 ml and multiples, again with a written statement of the quantities on sale, and GOV.UK adds that port, sherry and other fortified wine go by the glass in 50 ml or 70 ml. The two texts fit together: the licence condition names 125 ml for wine and 25 ml or 35 ml for spirits, and both figures appear on the lists in the Order.

What it means for the cups

For a half pint of beer, the cup is the measure. Article 2 requires a draught half pint drunk on the premises to be sold in a capacity measure of that quantity, so the half pint cup has to be a legal measure and carry the markings that go with it. Our guide to pint to line and pint to brim cups explains those markings. The reusable event cups range here includes half pint to line cups, printed in one colour or in full colour from 50 cups, and blank half pint cups from 100.

For wine and spirits the picture is different. Articles 3 and 5A set quantities and the written statement, and the capacity measure requirement in article 2 is written for beer and cider. The small measures condition therefore drives which sizes a bar has to stock for beer, and it drives what goes on the menu for the rest.

Where this stands

This was checked on 30 September 2026. The Schedule to the 2010 Order was amended on 15 September 2026, by SI 2026/1022, and that change concerns age verification and digital identification in paragraph 3. Paragraph 4, the small measures condition quoted above, is unchanged. The Home Office section 182 guidance was also updated on 15 September 2026, with a change to its age verification section. If you run a bar, the practical points are short: the half pint has to exist on the bar, the measures have to be written where customers can see them, and staff have to know the condition applies. If you are ordering cups for one, ask for a quote with the sizes you plan to pour.