Home Office guidance on licensing amendments sows ‘more confusion’

Legal guidance from the Home Office on the mandatory conditions has "only succeeded in creating more confusion" according to an expert in licensing law.
 
Three mandatory conditions - effectively amendments to the Licensing Act 2003 - came into force today. They are:

• banning irresponsible promotions such as "all you can drink for £10" offers, women-drink-free deals and speed drinking competitions;
• banning "dentist’s chairs" where drink is poured directly into the mouths of customers making it impossible for them to control
• ensuring free tap water is available for customers.

The Home Office finally published its legal guidance today to coincide with the bringing into force of the conditions.

But Jonathan Smith, a solicitor with Poppleston Allen, said that the guidance, which is not legally binding, did nothing to explain whether '2 for 1' offers constituted an irresponsible promotion.

And it failed to clarify what is meant by "games or other activities" which requires or encourages individuals to "drink as much as possible" or "drink a quantity of alcohol within a time limit", which are also prohibited under the ban on irresponsible promotions.

The guidance did state that "happy hours" or "pub crawls" are not banned, but only if they are not "promoted and organised in an irresponsible way". And the guidance added that it does not prevent "general discounting of alcohol per se".

But it indicated that discount nights for students are likely to be banned because students are a "specific group" that is more vulnerable to crime or likely to cause disorder.

Offers such as "10 Pints for £10" or "£5 entry for up to 12 shots" will also be banned.

"The Home Office Guidance has only succeeded in creating more confusion," Smith said.

Mandatory code for pubs and bars could cost the industry £58m >>

Government could add more clauses to mandatory drinking code, warns expert >>

Amended licensing laws catch operators unawares >>

By Neil Gerrard

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