Dance of the hours

Besides being a constant source of bewilderment for overseas visitors, the permitted hours of operation for pubs in England and Wales have long been a bone of contention in the licensed trade.

Over the years piecemeal amendments to legislation, such as the introduction of Sunday trading and all-day opening, have been made in an attempt to update a system that has been in existence since the 1960s. But we still trail behind our European counterparts.

The Government announcement earlier this year of a review of liquor licensing laws has offered a glimmer of hope to beleaguered licensees, but it is widely accepted that nothing short of a root-and-branch reform of the law, and the procedure for administering it, will do. "We need to drag licensing into the 21st century," says Bob Cartwright, director of communications for Bass Leisure Retail.

One of the main complaints throughout the industry is the inconsistency with which the present system is administered. For instance, if a publican wishes to serve alcohol beyond the permitted hour of 11pm, he must apply to the local magistrates' court for a special order of exemption, which will specify the extended hours. But the hours are at the discretion of the magistrates, and consequently the extension granted will vary according to the pub's geographical location.

"There is a standing joke that in Birmingham an all-night extension means you can serve until 11.05pm," says Mike Ripley, director of public relations at the Brewers and Licensed Retailers Association. "There are a lot of differences in the interpretation of the 1964 Licensing Act by magistrates."

The industry is particularly disturbed by inconsistencies in the granting of new licences. The 350 licensing benches in England and Wales set their own policy guidelines to which applicants must adhere, and these vary greatly.

Certain areas are renowned as being difficult when it comes to obtaining a new licence. Although this is acknowledged by many pub companies, most are reluctant to talk about particulars for fear of jeopardising future applications. Newcastle, Sheffield, Shrewsbury, York and Birmingham are the most frequently mentioned cities among pub owners and licensing solicitors lamenting the difficulties involved in obtaining a new licence.

Caroline Latty, openings director for Pitcher & Piano, which has 21 bars trading and another London site due to open soon, says: "It has become increasingly difficult to get a licence in the last two years. Each licensing district has its own policy, and there is no consistency. You can be accepted in one area and turned down in another for exactly the same type of operation."

Latty has also noticed an increase in the number of conditions being imposed on licences. A licence recently granted to Pitcher & Piano for a site in Nottingham restricts occupancy to 580 people and stipulates that 60% of customers should be seated at all times.

"The main problem is something the magistrates call ‘vertical drinking'," explains Latty. "Licensing committees are wary of bars who show they have lots of tables for people to sit at, then move the tables aside on Friday and Saturday nights to cram more people in." Latty attributes a licence gain for a Pitcher & Piano in York to the fact that the bars offer table service for drinks in addition to food. Even then, the licensing committee imposed 12 conditions, including a ban on fruit machines, pool tables and disc jockeys.

Colin Wellstead of Christie & Co agrees that inconsistency is a particular problem. "There are no uniform guides for granting licences. It is up to the view taken by the magistrates locally," he says. "You may get a lenient magistrate who says he wants as many licences as possible to bring jobs and investment into the area. Others may get objections from the police saying they have enough to cope with already."

According to Wellstead, objections from police - who are notified about all new licence applications - are the cause of many licence refusals from magistrates in Newcastle. "The police believe the number of licences already in the city are enough and that more would compound an already difficult situation when people come out of pubs at night," he explains.

This situation, where a common closing time creates trouble spots in town and city centres, is one of many addressed by the Better Regulation Task Force, the independent body set up by the Government to advise on regulation matters. In July it published a report on licensing legislation, in which it recommends a more flexible approach.

Much of the report focuses on the problem of inconsistency, citing as an example the Children's Certificates, introduced in January 1995, on which some licensing judges have, at their own discretion, deemed it necessary to impose a number of conditions, such as restrictions on the type of pub games allowed on the premises and a ban on fruit machines.

The task force suggests creating one licensing policy to be applied nationwide, a solution which has much support in the licensed trade. But the report goes further, and suggests the transfer of responsibility for liquor licensing to the 500 local authorities (as is the case in Scotland and in some parts of Europe) that already deal with Public Entertainment Licences and applications for planning consent.

Tony Wilkinson, partner with specialist licensing solicitors Young and Pearce in Nottingham, agrees in part with the recommendations. "The Government needs to take the system by the scruff of the neck and give central advice on licensing. In theory, the same law applies to Newcastle as to Southampton, but this is not the case in practice," he says. But he disagrees that licensing should be taken away from magistrates. "It would be total chaos if licensing was given to the local authorities, because if there are objections to a licence they tend to be slower in listing the matter before the committee, who may sit just once a month."

A broad agreement across the industry in favour of the task force recommendations has been observed by Mary Curnock Cook, director of the British Institute of Innkeeping. She says: "The recommendations made by the task force are the way forward, although there is a question over whether they should be implemented by local authorities or magistrates. The industry is keeping an open mind."