PROBLEM PREMISES
75. One of the benefits of the current licensing
system is the ability to tailor the terms of the licence to the
premises in question. Under the previous liquor licensing regime
licences were renewed every three years with limited opportunity
to intervene in advance of the renewal date. If, at the time of
renewal, a premises was felt to be causing a problem, then magistrates
had the choice of renewing the licence, perhaps with non-legally
enforceable undertakings attached to it, or revoking it. Under
the Licensing Act it is possible for the licensing authority to
impose conditions at the time of granting the licence, or for
an interested party or relevant authority to trigger a review
of a licence at the time that the problem occurs, which in turn
might lead to the introduction of new conditions on a licence.[103]
76. With the exception of certain mandatory conditions,
the current licensing regime is designed to allow conditions to
be imposed on a case-by-case basis, depending on the issues and
problems of a particular case. Examples of the types of conditions
which a licensing authority might introduce to a premises licence
for a bar include the provision of doorstaff or the installation
of CCTV cameras.[104]
Action can also be taken swiftly to shut down a premises that
breaches those conditions.[105]
77. However we have also heard of instances where
licensing authorities have imposed blanket requirements on a number
of premises, contrary to the bespoke principle promoted by the
Licensing Act. This seems especially to be the case in the retail
alcohol trade, where problems with underage alcohol purchasing
or alcohol-related anti-social behaviour has led licensing authorities
to seek a solution through the imposition of blanket licensing
conditions. James Lowman, Chief Executive of the Association of
Convenience Stores said that not only was this contrary to the
Act, but it failed to take account of the facts: "If one
store in a town has certain problems it does not mean to say that
all the stores in towns have the same problems and should be treated
in the same way."[106]
Such an approach can also have unintended consequences, for instance
a decision to ban the sale of high strength beer and cider in
Ealing, in order to prevent their sale to homeless people, led
to shops in the area being unable to stock most premium ciders
and beers.[107]
78. A final issue highlighted by the convenience
store sector was the inclusion by some local authorities in the
licensing conditions they imposed on retailers matters which were
in fact related to other legislation, such as the Food Safety
or Health and Safety Act. Mr Jeremy Beadles, Chief Executive of
The Wine and Spirit Trade Association, explained to us why he
believed this unreasonably increased the burdens on the retailer:
"I think we would like DCMS to look at whether
there are some things that could be ruled out as not really appropriate,
including requests for wiring maps as part of the licence application
or things under the Food Safety Act and things like that. The
problem with including that stuff is it is covered in other regulations
already, but also if you include it in a licence application and
someone has a problem with something that has gone past its sell-by-date
then theoretically they could lose their licence for it. That
is not what the licence was for in the first place."[108]
79. We agree that it is not appropriate for issues
which should properly be regulated by other legislation to be
included as licensing conditions on retailers' premises licences.
To devastate a shopkeeper's livelihood by revoking their licence
to sell alcohol due to the presence of an out of date food item
in their store is in our view completely disproportionate. We
recommend that the Section 182 guidance should be amended to make
this clear.
DRINKS PROMOTIONS
80. While the vast majority of customers drink responsibly,
the consumption of alcohol plays a key factor in fuelling night-time
disorder amongst the minority. The Police Federation of England
and Wales described Britain's drinking culture to us as so endemic
that excessive consumption was seen as "laudable" and
suggested that the best way of tackling this was through the suppliers
rather than the drinkers:
"It is our belief that more action needs
to be taken to eradicate the cheap deals, "happy hours"
and "two-for-one" promotions prevalent in many pubs,
clubs, supermarkets and corner shops which encourage binge drinking
and contribute to the persistence of alcohol abuse among the young
and underage population."[109]
81. On a licensed premises it is illegal to serve
a drunk person.[110]
Although quantifying what constitutes "drunk" is extremely
difficult, licensees are experienced at handling such issues.[111]
Issues such as customers "pre-loading", drinking alcohol
purchased from the off-trade[112]
before heading out for the evening, and the fact that many will
move between licensed premises during an evening means it is not
always easy for the police to judge where the problem lies. Indeed
the actual disturbance often takes place outside licensed premises.[113]
82. The BBPA explained the difficulty that it faced
in trying to regulate drinks promotions as it had found that its
actions fell foul of competition law:
"The British Beer and Pub Association three
years ago introduced promotions policy which encouraged all its
members—which is about 55%-60% of the total pubs' market
in the UK—to debar certain forms of promotion, particularly
either speed drinking, i.e. cheap drinks until England score or
something like that […]. Or alternatively quantity—£5
and all you can drink, or inviting women in free to encourage
consumption [...] in November last year I specifically said that
we could not maintain that promotions policy without assistance
from Government because it was being deemed to be in breach of
competition law. The industry in general, the broad body of the
church, would like those policies to be maintained, but we have
been clearly advised by our lawyers that we cannot continue to
do that because it would be deemed to be anti-competitive".
83. We accept that the vast majority of people
who take advantage of drinks promotions such as happy hours and
supermarket price deals drink responsibly. The banning of all
such promotions seems to us to be disproportionate. Nevertheless
if the evidence we have received is true there is clearly a problem
which needs to be addressed. It seems absurd that competition
law can actually prevent a trade association from attempting to
do so through giving its licensees guidelines as to the kind of
responsible promotions that should be encouraged. We recommend
that the Government should address this problem, if necessary
through legislation, as soon as possible.
76 "Licensing Bill launched", Department
for Culture, Media and Sport press release, 15 November 2002 Back
77
Department for Culture, Media and Sport, Evaluation of the
impact of the Licensing Act 2003, March 2008, p39 Back
78
Ev 65 Back
79
Ev 130 ff. Back
80
Ev 66 Back
81
Evaluation of the impact of the Licensing Act 2003, March
2008, p13 Back
82
Ev 140 Back
83
Ev 136 Back
84
Q34 Back
85
Ev 16, 125 Back
86
Ev 16 Back
87
Q305 Back
88
Ev 125 Back
89
Ev 125 ff. Back
90
Ibid. Back
91
Q59 Back
92
Ibid. Back
93
Ev 136 Back
94
Section 182 guidance, paragraph 1.20-1.22 Back
95
Ev 77, Q204 Back
96
Q204 Back
97
Q11 Back
98
Evaluation of the impact of the Licensing Act 2003, p40 Back
99
Q11 Back
100
Q169 [Mr Beadles] Back
101
Q169 Back
102
Q77 Back
103
Section 182 Guidance, Chapter 10 Back
104
Ev 72 Back
105
Q1 Back
106
Q175 Back
107
Ibid. Back
108
Q170 Back
109
Ev 16 Back
110
Q183 Back
111
Q191 Back
112
"Off trade" premises are those where the alcohol purchased
is consumed off the premises, such as off-licences and supermarkets. Back
113
Ev 16 Back
