Scottish pubs given two months' leeway on new licences

Scottish pub managers have been given two extra months to obtain their personal licences after the new Licensing Act comes into force on 1 September.

The Scottish Government relaxed the deadline to 1 November after coming under pressure from the industry over fears that thousands of pubs would be forced to close if they didn’t receive their licences on time.

Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill said: “There is evidence from the trade that the issue of personal licences was becoming a concern and could cause problems for licensed premises. That’s why I’ve taken the decision to lay further regulations to give some leeway and allow managers who’ve applied by the end of August to continue selling alcohol if they’ve not received their licence by 1 September.”

However, the Scottish Beer and Pub Association (SBPA), which formally wrote to MacAskill last week requesting an extension to the licensing deadline, expressed caution.

Patrick Browne, chief executive of SBPA, said: “We have real concerns that making this change so late and only granting it for a two month period actually risks adding a further backlog of dispensation applications to the backlogs for Premises Licences, Personal Licences and Designation applications which have already been lodged and which some Licensing Boards have failed to clear.”

He added that the announcement didn’t address the issue of pub landlords being granted applications but not actually receiving them in time. “There is a need for the Scottish Government to go further to act to resolve these outstanding issues which have already been drawn to their attention,” he said.

Trade body pleads for moratorium on new Scottish licensing laws >>

Significant shortfall in personal licences in Scotland, warns trade body  >>

More than 3,000 licensed premises in Scotland miss application deadline >>

By Emma White

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