Greene King line check: what you need to know

Last updated: 26 June 2026

Most Greene King tenants run a line check once a quarter — if they run one at all — and then wonder why their stock variance creeps up to 3–4% by year-end. The difference between a pub that knows its numbers and one that doesn’t usually comes down to one thing: a disciplined weekly count, not a panic stocktake when the auditors arrive. If you’re managing a Greene King pub, a proper Greene King line check isn’t optional — it’s the difference between spotting a £50-a-week problem in week two or discovering a £2,600 hole in month six.

You’re probably running against the clock, managing staff, dealing with suppliers, and trying to hit your targets without losing your mind. A line check sounds like another job on top of everything else. But here’s the thing: a weekly 20-minute count saves you from the chaos of an annual stock take that reveals problems you can’t fix. This guide walks you through what matters, what doesn’t, and the exact approach that works in a real pub.

You’ll learn what a Greene King line check actually involves, why weekly beats monthly, what equipment you genuinely need (and what’s a waste of money), and how to read the numbers that matter. By the end, you’ll have a routine you can do in less time than it takes to change a keg.

What is a Greene King line check?

A line check is a count of all your stock — draught, spirits, wine, and packaged goods — against what should be there according to your till and cellar records. Greene King calls it different things across their estate, but the principle is identical: you walk the bar, cellar, and back office, measure what you’ve got, and compare it to what your sales say you should have sold.

A line check is not a full stocktake. It’s a snapshot. You’re not re-counting every single bottle or questioning every till entry. You’re taking a dip reading from your casks, weighing your open spirit bottles, checking your part-used kegs, and running a quick audit on your high-value lines. That’s it.

In a Greene King pub, you’re usually working with their recommended stock range for your estate size. They’ll give you target stock levels based on your turnover. A line check tells you whether you’re holding the right amount and whether your variance (the difference between expected and actual) is creeping up.

The reason this matters for Greene King specifically is that your tenancy agreement probably includes stock management as a KPI. Your area manager will be looking at variance reports. If you’re running 2–3% variance consistently, nobody asks questions. If you hit 5% or above, you’ll get a conversation about tightening up. A line check is how you stay in control before that conversation happens.

Why weekly line checks beat quarterly counts

Here’s the operator insight that most Greene King managers resist: the most effective way to control stock loss is to count every week, not every month or quarter. I know it sounds like overkill. But I’ve run both, and the difference is stark.

When I was using quarterly counts on a Marston’s pub, we’d discover a 3% variance three months in and have no idea where the loss happened. Was it the first month? The second? Which lines? By then, it’s ancient history and you’re just accepting it. Now I run a weekly 20-minute count. By week two, I know if something’s wrong. By week three, I know what it is and can fix it.

The maths is simple: a 1% variance on typical wet sales costs £3,000–£5,000 a year. If you’re running 3% quarterly and only catching it three months in, you’ve already lost £750–£1,250 before you even know there’s a problem. A weekly count catches a 0.5% variance in week one, which is fixable. Most pubs that move from a messy spreadsheet or no count at all to a disciplined weekly routine claw back 1–2 GP points within a couple of months.

Greene King auditors will also respect the data more if you’ve got a consistent weekly record. It shows discipline. It shows you’re on top of the business. It also means you’ve got a paper trail if anything ever needs explaining.

Equipment you actually need

You don’t need fancy kit. You need three things, and you probably already own two of them.

Dipstick (or dip tubes)

A dipstick measures the volume of beer left in a cask. Greene King should supply these, or you can buy one for under £10. It’s literally a wooden or plastic stick marked in litres. You stick it in the cask, pull it out, and read the level. This is non-negotiable. If you’re estimating cask levels by eye, you’re wasting your time.

Digital scales

Buy a small set of digital kitchen scales (£15–£25). Weigh your open spirit bottles. A 70cl bottle of vodka should weigh about 790g full. If it’s 650g, you’ve used 140ml, not 100ml. Over-pouring on spirits — usually a free-pour that runs to 32–35ml instead of 25ml — is the single biggest source of unmeasured loss on the back bar. Scales catch it immediately.

A notebook or spreadsheet

Write down the numbers. Seriously. Don’t try to remember. I used a simple notebook and a spreadsheet template for years. Now I use the StockTap pub stock app to log counts on my phone, which syncs to a spreadsheet automatically. But a pen and paper works. The point is you have a record.

You don’t need a fancy cellar management system. You don’t need barcode scanners. You don’t need a cloud database. You need to dip casks, weigh bottles, and write the numbers down. Everything else is a nice-to-have.

How to run your line check in 20 minutes

Here’s the routine I built at my own pub, which I’ve taught to other operators and it works every single time. Pick the same day and time each week — I do mine on Monday morning before service starts.

Step 1: Dip every draught line (5 minutes)

Go to the cellar. Dip every cask. Record the reading. If a cask is nearly empty and a new one is connected but not in use yet, note that separately. If you’ve got multiple taps on one line, make sure you’re dipping the right cask. Write it down immediately. Don’t wait until you’re back at the bar.

Step 2: Weigh open spirits and check wine (5 minutes)

Go behind the bar. Pick up each open spirit bottle (or each one you’ve sold from in the past week — don’t bother with sealed stock). Weigh it. Compare it to last week’s weight. If a bottle of vodka weighed 750g last week and weighs 620g this week, you’ve sold 130ml. That’s reasonable for a week. If it’s 480g, you’ve used 270ml — that’s a red flag and suggests heavy over-pouring or waste.

Do a quick eye check on your wine — are the opened bottles looking reasonable? Have you got any corked or oxidised bottles sitting around that should be wasted? Note them.

Step 3: Check packaging and high-value lines (5 minutes)

Walk the bar and back office. Do you have the stock you think you have? Are there bottles missing or damaged? Check your till for any obvious errors — refunds that don’t make sense, voids you don’t remember, adjustments. This isn’t a full audit, just a quick sanity check.

Step 4: Reconcile against till data (5 minutes)

Pull your till report for the same period (usually the last seven days). Compare what you counted to what the till says you should have sold. If your till says you sold 40 pints of Guinness and your dip says you’ve pulled 38 pints’ worth, that’s 95% variance — healthy. If you sold 40 and only pulled 32, you’ve got a problem. If you sold 32 and pulled 40, you’ve got a different problem (usually a measurement error).

The reconciliation is the bit that actually matters. Spirits hide losses in over-pouring (a free-poured 25ml is often 32–35ml), draught hides it in poor cellar temperature and bad line cleaning waste, and most stock ‘theft’ is actually measurement error and forgotten wastage. When you compare dips and weights to till, you can see which category the problem lives in and fix it.

Reading the numbers that matter

You’re going to get a variance number each week. Don’t obsess about the absolute figure. Instead, watch the trend.

What’s healthy variance?

For draught: ±2% is normal. Temperature fluctuations, line cleaning, cask connections — these all create small variances. Anything under 2% is excellent.

For spirits: ±1.5% is normal. Over-pouring and measure error account for this.

For wine: ±0.5% is normal. This is usually just rounding.

If you’re consistently running 3% or higher across the board, something’s wrong — either training issue, temperature issue, or unmeasured loss. If you’re at 0.5%, you’re doing something right.

Watch the trend, not the week

One bad week doesn’t mean anything. But four weeks of climbing variance means something’s off. This is why weekly counts matter. After a fortnight of counts, you’ll have a baseline you can trust. After a month, you’ll know whether you’re naturally running 1.5% or 3%.

Greene King area managers look at variance trends. If your average variance is 1.5% and you’ve got documentation showing weekly counts, you’re golden. If you’re running 4% with no count routine, that’s a conversation you don’t want to have.

Common mistakes that hide stock loss

After 15 years running a pub, I’ve seen all of these happen. Most of them are honest mistakes, not malice.

Forgetting to dip cask connections

When you connect a new cask, the old one’s usually got 2–5 litres in it still. Some operators note it, some don’t. If you don’t, you’re missing volume. When the old cask is disconnected, you’ve got 5 litres unaccounted for. Do a separate line for “cask changes” in your count — it’s usually 3–4 litres a week and it should be in your variance already.

Not accounting for wastage

You pull a pint, it overflows. You’ve got a blocked line, you flush it out. You drop a bottle. These are real losses, and they should be noted separately from variance. I keep a simple “wastage log” — nothing fancy, just a tally. At the end of the month, I total it up and subtract it from the variance. It usually accounts for 0.3–0.5%.

Trusting eye estimates instead of dips

A cask looks like it’s about three-quarters full. No, it’s not. Get the dipstick. This is the number one source of variance error I see. Dip every single cask. Takes 30 seconds per cask.

Measuring spirit weight inconsistently

Weigh the bottle, write down the weight. Do it the same way every week. If you weigh it on Monday with the cap off and Tuesday with the cap on, your number’s going to be wrong. Consistency beats precision in this game.

Running counts on different days and comparing them

If you count on Monday at 10am and the following Saturday at 6pm, you’ve included six days of service and your variance is meaningless. Count on the same day and time. I count Monday morning before service — zero sales that morning, zero dishonesty, just a clean snapshot. Same time every week.

Not reconciling against till on the same day

If you dip on Monday and pull till data on Friday, you’ve included service from Tuesday–Friday and the comparison is useless. Dip and reconcile on the same day, for the same trading period. It takes an extra five minutes and gives you data that actually means something.