Trade anger over B&B closure row
Licensees of pubs offering bed and breakfast are furious that they may have to turf families and children out onto the streets in the middle of the night.
Under the new Criminal Police and Justice Act, which came into force on Saturday (December 1), police can shut down a pub for 24 hours if there is trouble in or around the pub.
Licensees will not be allowed to sell alcohol and those who offer accommodation will find that they have to ask guests to leave - even if it is the middle of the night.
Tony Payne of the Federation of Licensed Victuallers Association (FLVA) said he was very worried by this. "What if there is a young mother staying with two young children," he said. "The licensee will have to throw them out onto the street even if it's 3am."
Anita Adams, licensee of the Golden Slipper pub and the Maltings in York, slammed the decision. "It's beyond comprehension," she said. "The ramifications of this don't bear thinking about."
Stuart Neame, vice chairman of Kent brewer and pub operator Shepherd Neame, said: "We run dozens of pubs with accommodation. We would be very unhappy if we had to throw people out onto the streets. The trade should be making its concerns about this felt."
A spokeswoman for the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) said the issue had been discussed with the trade and with members of Parliament.
"This is definitely the case," she said. "If a closure order is served, a business can't continue its commercial operation."
"But it's important to remember that this is essentially a deterrent," she added. "Police will only use it if public safety is endangered."
Under new law a senior police officer, of the rank of inspector or above, may make a closure order if he or she reasonably believes that:
- there is likely to be disorder on or in the vicinity of and related to licensed premises and closure is necessary in the interests of public safety
- disorder is actually happening on or in the vicinity of, and is related to the licensed premises and closure is necessary in the interests of public safety
- disturbance is being caused to members of the public by excessive noise from licensed premises and closure is necessary to prevent the disturbance.
However, DCMS spokesman Andrew Cunningham insisted at the FLVA's annual general meeting last week that licensees could prevent this from happening.
He said if a licensee or manager acted promptly, police might decide not to make a closure order.
He also said that licensees could choose to shut their premises before the police turned up. This would allow them to avoid a 24-hour closure order and would enable them to re-open when the situation had been defused.
Meanwhile, Simon Humphrys, commander of clubs and vice for the Metropolitan Police, said Government legislation "doesn't always solve the problem".
While he insisted that closure orders would help the police he said officers already had sufficient powers and would prefer to solve problems through co-operation with the trade.
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Read our legal team's essential guideto the Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001.
