BBPA: End duty on gaming machines
British Beer and Pub Association director Martin Rawlings called for an end to duty on pub gaming machines – as a quick win to help struggling community pubs.
Rawlings: End duty on gaming machines
Speaking at the Community Pubs Inquiry, he said scrapping the £740 fee would encourage more people to have machines and mean greater profits for licensees, at a time when machine income is down 20%.
He said deregulation “simply isn’t happening” and “we need something very quick, very easy to help pubs”.
Rawlings also called for the Department for Culture, Media & Sport and local Government co-ordinator Lacors to be tougher on councils that put onerous conditions on licences.
For example, he said BBPA has written to 15 councils about their policy of making pubwatch compulsory. Just two have said they’ve changed their policy.
Kate Nicholls of the Association of Licensed Multiple Retailers backed Rawlings, blaming some authorities for “gold plating” licence conditions.
Westminster, for example, wants any venue with CCTV as a condition to obey a three-page regulations guide from the police.
Rawlings ended with a call for licensing minister Gerry Sutcliffe to take on a “sponsorship role” and speak up for pubs across other Government departments.
“Come on minister! Give us a break!”
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