Howells: Live music will not suffer under new Licensing Bill

Licensing minister Kim Howells has promised that live entertainment will not suffer under the new Licensing Bill.​

The minister has called for a meeting with the music industry to clear up any confusion surrounding the reforms and has issued a leaflet called: "The answer to 20 myths about public entertainment and the Licensing Bill."

Dr Howells said: "A host of rumours - many of them completely ridiculous - have been circulated about this bill. I am setting the record straight for the benefit of everyone involved in live entertainment, either as a participant, organiser or spectator."

The leaflet claims that music in pubs will not be harmed by the new bill.

It categorically states it will not cost anything extra for pubs to provide entertainment when applying for permission to sell alcohol.

The leaflet, which is available on the Department for Culture, Media and Sport's website at www.culture.gov.uk, also states that local authorities will not be able to impose unreasonable conditions on licences.

Hamish Birchall, from the Campaign for Live Music, said. "It would be churlish not to give a cautious welcome to the announcement - it's a good promise - but it doesn't alter our fundamental difficulty with the approach.

"We can't understand why there is no need for an entertainment licence to broadcast music in a pub yet if one acoustic performer plays, there is. It doesn't seem right and the government hasn't produced any evidence as to why it's required."

Mr Birchall, along with hundreds of other protesters, have been fighting against proposals to scrap the existing two-in-a-bar rule.

This allows up to two performers to appear in pubs without the need for a licence but under the new licensing reforms, all pubs, irrespective of size or audience capacity, will need to gain permission - a move that musicians fear will kill live music in pubs.

Mr Birchall estimates around 15,000 small pubs and bars will be affected.

Dr Howells has invited a working group, comprising the British Beer & Pub Association, the Arts Council for England, the Local Government Association and Stephen Navin, the government's music industry adviser, to help draw up additional guidance for licensing authorities to ensure venues can put on live music more easily, while protecting the rights of local residents.

This follows musicians' concerns that licensees would be discouraged from putting on entertainment in case local authorities imposed unnecessary and costly conditions to their licences.

Myths dispelled​

Individual performers will not be disadvantaged by the Licensing Bill

• performers will not need to be individually licensed
• performers will not be liable to a fine or imprisonment just for playing or singing
• pubs will not have to pay anything extra when applying for permission to sell alcohol if they apply to provide entertainment as well
• local authorities will not be able to impose unreasonable conditions on licences.