Thousands of pubs still trading illegally
Thousands of pubs across England and Wales are still technically trading illegally as they have yet to receive their premises licences from their local authority.
As many as 30 per cent of pubs have still not been given correct premises licences, according to the first Licensing Update, a new quarterly report in The Publican monitoring the progress of the new licensing regime.
When licences have been issued, licensees have often been forced to return them due to mistakes. London brewer and pub company Fuller's said it was still waiting for a third of its premises licences, while another third had been issued incorrectly.
Francis Patton, customer services director for Punch Taverns, the UK's biggest pub company, said: "Punch is retaining copies of the premises licences for its pubs. We have received hard copies from local authorities for around 71 per cent of sites."
Local authority co-ordinating body LACORS said it had had no direct contact from the trade to say there had been any problems, and there was no indication that police were cracking down on pubs without premises licences.
Adam Whisker, communications manager for LACORS, said: "There has been a delay due to the sheer burden of the transition. The main problem is that there were so many late applications, there were more variations than expected and there were problems with the software."
Speaking to The Publican this week, licensing minister James Purnell said the delays were a problem that councils would have to deal with.
"In the end this is a matter for the local authorities. We don't issue licences - by and large local authorities have been looking to work with the police and the trade and LACORS has played an important role in terms of spreading best practice," he said.
Mr Whisker added that any licensee or pub company that has a problem with a local authority could complain about them via the LACORS website. Visit www.lacors.gov.uk/pages/Trade/LicensingAct2003.asp for further details.
Related articles:
Daniel Pearce discusses the first three months of the new licensing regime with licensing minister James Purnell. Click here. Three months on from the start of the new Licensing Act on November 24 2005, we asked some of the key pubcos how they have fared under the new regime so far. Click here.
