Alcohol code will cost pubs £859
The mandatory code will cost £859 per pub in the first year — £613 more than original estimates.
The Home Office estimates the total cost across the on and off-trades is £62m for year one and £43m in subsequent years.
This works out at £859 per pub in the first year — in May 2009 the figure was set at £246 maximum.
Kate Nicholls, spokeswoman for the Association for Licensed Multiple Retailers, said previously the Government had "not carried out adequate cost assessments" and were "very dismissive" of the costs.
She said most pubs already have an age check policy but smaller operators, often without formal policies, would be hardest hit.
"We will be lobbying to make sure this message is heard and understood and that politicians are held to true account."
The age-check policy is the most expensive condition — at £519 per pub — in the new cost estimates released alongside draft regulations this week.
The figure is based on one minute per hour of staff time spent checking ID and implementing the policy — or 73 hours of bar staff time per year. However 68% of pubs already operate an ID-check scheme so the age-check provision will cost them nothing extra.
Other costs per average pub include: restricting drinks deals, £40; smaller wine serves, £37; smaller spirit serves, £94.
Meanwhile, in a welcome move, licensees can still choose whether to offer 25 or 35ml measures of gin, rum, vodka or whisky.
The rules on drinks deals and free tap water will be mandatory from 6 April, with ID checks and smaller drinks measures compulsory from 1 October.
A Home Office spokesman said: "While we sympathise with the pub sector, we are equally concerned that nearly 20% of all violent crime occurs in and around pubs and clubs and that alcohol related crime and disorder costs the economy between £8-13bn per year."
Promos banned
The draft regulations include more details of the drinks deals that will be banned. They are:
• All-you-can-drink deals
• Games which encourage customers to drink more alcohol, either generally or within a set time
• Providing free or discounted alcohol as a prize or dependent on the outcome of a sporting event
•Using promotional posters or flyers which glamorise anti-social behaviour or drunkenness
•Alcohol cannot be dispensed directly into consumers' mouths (the "dentist's chair")
