Trade could be paying too high a price for licensing reform

The Guild of Master Victuallers has spoken out this week to warn the trade that it could be paying "too high a price for licensing reform".

John Madden, chief executive of the Guild of Master Victuallers, told thePublican.com that the guild was seriously concerned that if the bill was pushed through in its current form, licensees would suffer.

In particular, he said the transfer of licensing to local authorities could be too high a price to pay for more flexible hours.

"We are still not happy with a number of areas of the bill," Mr Madden said. "Most publicans only want to open an hour later during the week and at 1 or 2am at weekends. If this is the case we shouldn't push the bill through at the risk of jeopardising everything else.

"The bill needs to offer licensees more flexibility as the licensee has got to be able to satisfy the customer's needs."

He added: "If it's at the cost of transferring licensing to local authorities than I'm not sure it's worth it. We've already had experience of dealing with local authorities when it comes to public entertainment licences."

But he said that he believed the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) could still change its mind despite its past insistence that there was no point arguing over the details of the bill.

"They're consulting at the moment," he said. "And we have Bill Sharp on the board who is a licensee and is against local authorities having control of licensing."