The Future of the Licensing Act 2003

The Conservatives have promised to “overhaul” the Licensing Act, based on their belief that the relaxation of the laws has been a failure. Before the election, the Tories said that they planned to give councils the power to charge more for late-night licences to pay for extra policing, and also to give the authorities ‘much stronger powers’.

The Liberals and Live Music
Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg has said he has ‘always been in favour’ of liberalising licensing hours, but attacked the Labour government for failing to address supermarkets and their pricing of cheap alcohol. The Lib Dems believe many of the powers to tackle problems already exist but ‘they just need to be properly enforced’. They also promised to extend the exemption on gigs attracting up to 200 people (rather than 100) and re-introduce the two-in-a-bar rule, but we shall have to wait and see if we see this law returns (where a performance by no more than two musicians did not need to be licensed).

Temporary Events Notices
Back in April, Chris White, Liberal Democrat spokesperson on licensing at the Local Government Association, welcomed moves by (ex) Liberal Democrat MP Paul Holmes to tighten up licensing laws. Unfortunately for Mr Holmes, he lost his seat on 6 May in Chesterfield by a narrow majority to Labour, but before he did, Mr White said: “One of the worst aspects of the 2003 licensing reforms is the Temporary Event Notice (TEN), under which licensing conditions can effectively be set aside 12 times a year, simply at the behest of the licensee.

“This has led to complaints across the country about noise and disturbance. Currently only the police can object when a licensee issues a TEN, within a very narrow window of time. Paul Holmes’s amendment (to the Licensing Act 2003) would ensure that councils and councillors could also object and so bring TENs back under the control of the local licensing authority.”

What happens now Mr Holmes has no position in the new government is anyone’s guess but it seems that both Tories and Lib Dems continue to have concerns about Temporary Events Notices.

Late-night Alcohol
Meanwhile, it looks like kebab shops that sell hot food and alcohol into the early hours may now face a late night alcohol ban. David Cameron has vowed to ban discount alcohol in supermarkets and give police and local authorities new powers to curb late-night drinking.

But he said he did not want to return to the days when pubs closed at 11pm. Instead, he suggested, ‘kebab shops’ and other food outlets which serve alcohol late should face new curbs. Mr Cameron said: "I don't think we should try and turn the clock back and say magistrates should do the licensing instead of local authorities but I do think we need to change the licensing law because I don't think it has been the success that some people hoped it would be."

At this point, it’s interesting to note that Mr Cameron was a former director of a late night bar chain, but resigned as soon as he was elected as Tory leader in 2005. The chain, Urbium, had been criticised for lobbying local authorities aggressively for 3am licensing hours. David Cameron’s involvement was said to be an embarrassment to his party who, at the time, were busy opposing Labour’s new licensing laws. The Tories say that they will not go back to all the pubs shutting at 11 o'clock, and everyone coming out on to the High Street at the same time. However they believe that whilst the continental-style drinking culture still needs to be encouraged, the law has ‘gone wrong and needs to be put right’.
             
Supermarkets
The new government, in particular, the Conservatives are committed to banning the ‘deep discounting of alcohol by supermarkets’, which although an ‘un-Conservative’ move, is thought to be an effective way to tackle anti-social behaviour. Mr Cameron said that his party would ban the selling of alcohol by supermarkets at below cost price, done to attract custom.

The Conservatives have said they would introduce a ‘late night levy’ on shops that sell alcohol after 10.30pm and pubs or clubs that stay open after midnight.

Alcohol Duty
The Tories have committed to raising taxes on ‘drinks related to anti-social behaviour’, such as super-strength lagers, ciders and ‘alcopops’. Labour’s recent 10 per cent cider duty increase will be scrapped. The Lib Dems had promised to review the system around alcohol tax to ensure it tackles ‘binge-drinking’, without ‘unfairly penalising responsible drinkers, pubs and important local industries’.

The Beer Tie
What about tenants of tied pubs, who have had a lot of press recently due to the higher prices they are forced to charge their punters, compared to free of tie pubs?  A statement from Mr Cameron’s office said: “The Conservative Party supports the idea that should the industry fail to deliver self-regulation by June 2011, the government... should end up consulting on putting the code of practice on a statutory basis.” A Lib Dem idea is for the Competition Commission to consider a cap on the number of pubs a company is allowed to own. A reform of the beer tie has been promised to include allowing all tied tenants to be able to buy one guest beer, with the ability to opt out of the tie. This would only affect the larger operators, however, as only those which have a brewing capacity which own more than 500 pubs would be exempt from any regulatory intervention in respect of the beer tie. Ties on fruit machines and quiz machines would also be cut.

Red Tape
The Tories have pledged to cut business red tape. They have also promised to introduce a ‘community right to buy’ scheme, to give local people the power to protect any local assets, such as pubs, that are threatened with closure.

The community pub would be enshrined in planning law to make sure any demolition or change of use is subject to the usual planning laws.

And finally… Lap-dancing Clubs
Whilst the Lap-Dancing Association is gearing up to bring human rights actions if local authorities turn its members down when they apply for the new Sexual Entertainment Venue Licences, local councils are equally keen to make a stand and to ‘test the depths of their pockets, because we're certainly going to test ours’.

Interestingly, it was the Lib Dems who put up the most resistance when the Policing and Crime Bill has passed its final parliamentary hurdle, with Lib Dems trying (but failing) to make amendments in the Lords supporting the lap dancing industry which would have substantially weakened the Bill.  Nothing has been said on the thorny subject of lap dancing clubs to my knowledge since the new Government has been in power, although the news on 6 May that Cornwall Council’s Licensing Committee are set to go on a ‘fact finding mission’, or to you and me, spend an evening in a lap dancing club in order to better understand how to apply the new law, has been a source of merriment to many.

For any advice or information on licensing matters, please contact Maria Guida on +44 (0)20 7749 2700or meg@silvermansherliker.co.uk.

Follow and contribute to Maria’s blog at http://www.licentiouslaw.co.uk or