Non-stop entertainment?

Jubilee entertainment licences have not been extended

by Richard Williams, part of thePublican.com's legal team from London solicitors Joelson Wilson​

As of today (Wednesday), there are 16 days to go before the long Golden Jubilee weekend starts.

You should already be aware that the government has automatically extended liquor licensing hours until 1am on Monday June 3, but that entertainment licensing hours have not been automatically extended.

Normally, if a special order of exemption (SOE) is granted extending licensing hours, the hours of operation of an entertainment licence are also automatically extended. However, the legislation for the Jubilee weekend prevents special orders being applied for on the Monday night.

Accordingly, the licensing team here have been busy applying for occasional entertainment licences for the Monday evening for premises that do not have entertainment licences extending until 1am on a Monday.

If music and dancing or live music is provided outside of the hours of operation of an entertainment licence (or indeed without a licence), then the licence holder could be prosecuted and may face a maximum £20,000 fine or six months imprisonment.

If you intend to provide entertainment until 1am on the Monday night, then I would suggest that you contact your council as a matter of urgency. Some councils are taking a sensible approach and have automatically extended the hours of operation of all existing entertainment licences until 1am. Others are asking for formal applications to be submitted and some require 28 days notice of the application to be given.

If the council rigidly applies this time limit, then you will now be too late to submit a formal application. In this situation, you may wish to talk to the licensing department at the council to establish what enforcement action the council is proposing to take.

If the council intends to take a technical stance, then you would be well advised to finish your entertainment on Monday night at the terminal hour on your entertainment licence. This of course will not stop you from serving alcohol until 1am.

One question being frequently asked is whether pubs can apply for SOEs on any other night during the Jubilee weekend.

It does seem odd that the government has only extended licensing hours on the Monday night and not on Saturday and Sunday night as well.

There is nothing to stop you from applying for a special order on Saturday and Sunday, although of course, you will have to persuade the magistrates (or the police in London) that the occasion is "special".

This may be difficult, given the fact that the government has only extended licensing hours on the Monday night and that other nights during the weekend would have received similar treatment if they were also considered to be special.

Whatever you decide, you will need to move fairly quickly, as most courts require seven days notice of the application to be given. You will have to attend a court hearing and pay the fee of £10.

You may have more chance of getting your application granted if you organise a special Jubilee event on the night in question. You could consider involving a charity and agree to make a donation or organise a collection.

The magistrates will want to see an official letter from the chosen charity confirming their involvement. Some may ask you to send accounts to the court after the event to confirm how much was raised.

Remember that if you have made an application for extensions relating to the World Cup, you may have already been granted extended hours in the morning over the Jubilee weekend.

If you now apply for an extension in the evening, the magistrates may ask how you are going to supervise your premises during the long day. Some pubs will be open from 7am until 1am (or later) during the weekend and with the first England match against Sweden on the Sunday, it will be an exhausting schedule for all of you.

Future New Year's Eve arrangements​

Now that our involvement in Jubilee and World Cup licensing is over, we are already looking ahead to arrangements for this New Year's Eve.

You may recall that last New Year's Eve, the government, on a one off basis, extended opening hours right through the night until New Year's Day.

The Department of Culture, Media and Sport has now produced a consultation document with a view to permanently extending opening hours on all future New Year's Eves.

It would appear that the experience of last year was generally positive, although few premises chose to stay open for the full permitted hours.

My only concern is that any new legislation must deal with entertainment licensing hours as well as extending liquor licensing hours. On previous occasions, including the Jubilee weekend, an automatic extension of entertainment licensing hours was not included, meaning that some premises had to apply for extensions to their entertainment licence if they wanted to provide music and dancing or live entertainment all night.

This issue must be addressed in the proposed legislation which, once passed, should allow licensees to concentrate on sales rather than licences in the run up to future New Year's Eves.