Cellar Temperature Records and Why Licensing Boards Ask for Them
Your cellar is a piece of food-safety infrastructure. The temperature log is the evidence that it was managed. Here is what inspectors actually look for.
A cellar temperature log is one of the quiet compliance items that stays quiet until something goes wrong. A bad pour, a spoiled keg, a customer with food poisoning after a bar snack - and suddenly the environmental health officer wants to know what your cellar was doing in the week before.
The log is short, cheap to maintain, and load-bearing when it matters.
What the law expects
Under the Food Safety Act 1990 and the Food Hygiene (England/Scotland/Wales/NI) Regulations, you must store food and beverages at safe temperatures and keep evidence that you do.
For a cellar storing draught beer, cider, wine, and perishable stock, that typically means:
- Cellar ambient: 11 to 13 degrees Celsius (12 is ideal for most beer)
- Wine storage (if separate): 10 to 15 degrees
- Perishable food storage: below 8 degrees for chilled, below -18 degrees for frozen
Those numbers are industry standard, not law - but if your environmental health inspector sees temperatures outside those bands, they will ask why.
What a good log contains
Twice-daily temperature checks minimum:
- Morning reading (before first service)
- Evening reading (during or before service peak)
Each check records:
- Time
- Temperature reading from calibrated thermometer
- Any action taken (adjusted cooling, called technician, moved stock)
- Initials of the staff member
Monthly calibration check of your thermometer against a reference. Annual service record of the cooling system.
Why twice daily
One reading tells you nothing about drift. Morning and evening readings reveal patterns:
- Morning high, evening low: cellar warms during the day as doors open
- Morning low, evening high: cooling failing under service load
- Both high: equipment under-capacity or malfunction
- Both drifting upward over days: refrigerant leak
Two data points a day is 730 data points a year. That becomes a trend line.
The common findings
Missed readings
A blank day in the log is worse than a day with a slightly off reading. It signals no system. Three consecutive missed days triggers questions about every other record in the venue.
Readings rounded to 12
If every reading for six months says "12 degrees", the inspector assumes the log was filled in from a desk, not taken at the point of check. Real readings fluctuate.
No action when temperature out of range
A reading of 16 degrees, followed by no note, followed by the next day at 12. What happened in between? Was the kit fixed? Was anything thrown out? Was someone called?
"16, called Steve, back to 12 by 14:00" is a good entry. "16" alone is a red flag.
Calibration claims without evidence
"Thermometer calibrated" is a claim. The calibration certificate or the photo of the reading against a known reference is evidence.
What a proper log entry looks like
Date: 14 November Morning reading: 12.4°C (calibrated) - Staff: JR Evening reading: 13.1°C - Staff: SK Notes: Slight rise during service; normal. Door to cellar remained closed except for line cleaning.
That is enough. Three lines. Signed. Clear.
Why this is a licensing item, not just a food safety one
Most premises licences include a condition like: "The premises shall be operated in accordance with food safety legislation at all times."
That means any food safety breach also triggers licensing scrutiny. A review hearing that started as "we had a food poisoning case" can end with licensing conditions added to your premises licence.
The cellar log is one of the first pieces of evidence the environmental health officer asks for. Having 12 months of clean, realistic, consistently filled records closes the question fast.
The small equipment that earns its keep
- Calibrated digital thermometer: £30-50. One per cellar.
- Max/min recording thermometer: £80. Shows the highest and lowest temperatures over any period.
- Connected sensor with app: £150-250. Logs every 10 minutes, alerts on drift.
The third option effectively ends the manual log debate. A sensor logs continuously, sends alerts when temperatures move out of range, and exports the full record for any inspection. Staff still do a visual check morning and evening; the record is automatic.
What the inspector wants to see
When an environmental health officer asks for your cellar log, they are looking for:
- A current record (today or yesterday, not three weeks old)
- Consistent checks (twice daily, every day)
- Realistic variation (not the same number every entry)
- Responses to findings (something happened when readings were off)
- Calibration evidence (thermometer trustworthy)
A venue that can produce all five in under 60 seconds is never the venue that gets conditioned.
Holocron stores cellar and fridge temperature logs alongside the rest of your compliance record. Optional wireless sensors feed readings every 10 minutes. The log exports as a PDF for any environmental health or licensing officer.