Who comes inand the book that says who did not

01BriefTwo minutes, out loud, before opening

The door brief is given by the duty manager to everyone who will be on the door, out loud, with the sheet in hand. It names the layout the room is in and the floor figure that goes with it; the single counted door; which doors are fire exits only and alarmed; and where the count is read from when the queue is being held. It takes about two minutes and it is the reason the door and the desk use the same number all night.

02IdentityChallenge 25, and three documents

Anyone who appears to be under 25 is asked for identity, and the test is appearance rather than a judgement about somebody’s actual age. Three forms are accepted: a passport, a photocard driving licence, or a card carrying the PASS hologram. A photograph of a document on a phone is not a document. A document whose photograph is damaged or obscured is refused, because the only thing a damaged photograph establishes is that it was damaged.

03ScannerTested on a staff card first

Identity is read by a scanner at the door rather than by eye alone. It reads the machine-readable zone of a passport or the barcode on a driving licence, checks the date of birth against the Challenge 25 threshold, and flags a document it cannot read instead of guessing at one. It is tested on a staff card before the door opens, so that a fault is found on a staff card rather than in front of a queue.

04RefusalsWritten at the door, by the refuser

A refusal is written at the door, at the time, by the person who made it, and the entry has the same five fields every time: the time; the ground; a description; what was said; and who refused. Five grounds cover nearly everything that happens.

• No acceptable identity, or a document the scanner could not read.
• Signs of drunkenness, judged on behaviour rather than on smell.
• A previous exclusion from these premises.
• Aggression towards staff or towards other people in the queue.
• Declined search, or anything suggesting drugs are being brought in.

The book is reconciled against the count at close. A refusal that was not written at the door is written up with a note of when it was actually recorded, because a log that quietly backdates itself is worse than a log with an admitted gap in it.

05SearchA condition of entry, consented to

Search is a condition of entry and it is consented to rather than imposed. Somebody who declines is refused, not searched, and the refusal goes in the book on the declined-search ground. Searches are carried out by a supervisor of the same sex where that is asked for, in sight of the camera covering the lobby, and the outcome is written down whether or not anything was found.

06IncidentsBound book, numbered pages

The incident book is bound, its pages are numbered, and nothing is ever torn out of it. An entry is made for every ejection, every injury, every refusal that escalated, every item confiscated, every occasion a camera was reviewed, and every time the police attended or were asked to. Entries are signed by whoever made them and countersigned by the duty manager before anybody leaves the building.

The police are called rather than consulted for an assault, for a weapon, for a suspected supply of drugs, and for any injury needing more than a plaster. The time of the call goes in the book with the name of whoever made it.