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How MYSOVA works

What bar am I in? Four ways to find out, and how MYSOVA's clock-in checks

By , founder ·

Short answer

Open your phone's map: the dot for your location should sit on or beside the venue. On a built-up street that may not settle it, because phone GPS is typically accurate to about 5 metres only under open sky, and London's bars sit close together [1][2]. Next, look for the licence summary on the wall. Every bar with a premises licence in England and Wales must display one, and it gives the premises' postal address and licence number [3][4]. Or ask at the bar.

1. Your phone's map, and why it can leave you between two bars

GPS.gov puts a smartphone's typical accuracy at a radius of about 4.9 metres under open sky. It says accuracy gets worse near buildings, and with indoor or underground use [1]. A basement bar on a built-up street meets all three conditions.

The venues are close together too. In MYSOVA's open-data snapshot of 2,355 London venues, 984 have at least one other venue within 75 metres [2]. In the Soho zone, 44 of the 52 venues do, and the median Soho venue has two others within 75 metres [2]. So on a street of bars the dot can land between two bars, and a few metres of error decides which one it seems to be on.

2. The licence summary on the wall

Every venue with a premises licence in England and Wales must keep a summary of it, or a certified copy, "prominently displayed" [3]. The summary is a set form on A4 paper or larger [4]. It gives:

  • the premises licence number;
  • the postal address of the premises, with its post town and postcode, and a telephone number;
  • the licensed activities and the times the licence allows them;
  • the opening hours of the premises;
  • the name of the licence holder, and of the designated premises supervisor.

The form has no box for the name over the door [4]. So the summary gives you the address and the licence number rather than the bar's name, and the address is the part to search.

3. The council's licensing register

Every council in England and Wales must keep a register of the licences it issues, and let anyone inspect it free of charge during office hours [5]. Westminster, for one, publishes its register online, searchable by address [6]. Search it with the address from the summary on the wall.

4. Ask

Staff can tell you, and so can the people you came with.

What bar was I just at?

If you clocked in on MYSOVA, the app's night recap lists each stop of the night by the venue's name, with the time and how long you stayed [7]. Past nights stay in the recap archive [7]. The night passport page covers that record.

How MYSOVA's clock-in checks where you are

MYSOVA's clock-in does not guess the venue for you. You find the venue on the app's map, stand within 75 metres of it and hold the clock-in button for two seconds [8]. Every venue in the app uses the 75-metre radius today [9].

If you are further away, the clock-in stops, and the app names the venue you picked and how far off you are: "You are … away. You need to be within 75m of …" [8]. When you are in range, MYSOVA's server measures the distance again before it records the clock-in [9].

On a street lined with bars, two venues can both be within 75 metres of you, so the app asks you to choose rather than choosing for you. Pick the one you are in, and its name goes on your night [7][8].

MYSOVA is a London social passport: clock in at bars, pubs and clubs, earn XP and meet people where you go. Each clock-in earns XP, and how clocking in and XP work sets out the sum. The London bar map page covers the map itself.

Your first clock-in starts your passport.

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Sources

All fetched or read on 22 October 2026, except the venue snapshot, dated 20 October 2026.

  1. GPS.gov (National Coordination Office for Space-Based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing), "GPS Accuracy": https://www.gps.gov/node/70.
  2. MYSOVA open-data venue snapshot, 20 October 2026: 2,355 London venues placed from Overture Maps Places (CDLA-Permissive-2.0; Apache-2.0 for Foursquare; CC0-1.0 for AllThePlaces) and the FSA Food Hygiene Rating Scheme (Open Government Licence v3.0). Distances measured in straight lines between venue points; zone membership by point-in-polygon against the MYSOVA zones table (production, read-only, 22 October 2026).
  3. Licensing Act 2003, section 57, "Duty to keep and produce licence": https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/17/section/57.
  4. The Licensing Act 2003 (Premises licences and club premises certificates) Regulations 2005 (S.I. 2005/42), regulation 34 and Schedule 12, Part B, "Premises licence summary": https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2005/42/schedule/12.
  5. Licensing Act 2003, section 8, "Requirement to keep a register": https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/17/section/8.
  6. Westminster City Council, licensing public register: https://licensing.westminster.gov.uk/sf/control/publicregister.
  7. The MYSOVA app's source at origin/main (07371a95d): components/recap/RecapStops.tsx (one row per stop: venue name, time, time spent, XP) and app/recap/history.tsx (the archive of past nights).
  8. The MYSOVA app's source at origin/main (07371a95d): components/onboarding/v2/data.ts (the three clock-in steps), app/venue/[id].tsx (the distance message) and lib/business/geofence.ts (DEFAULT_CHECKIN_RADIUS_METERS = 75).
  9. secure_checkin_v2_core_streak, the server function that records a clock-in (supabase/migrations/20260729180000_event_bonus_display_tier.sql): the distance check against each venue's radius, 75 metres by default. Production, read-only, 22 October 2026: every active venue's checkin_radius_m is 75.

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.