Entertainment licensing regulations set to change

By David Clifton of thePublican.com's legal team of experts from London solicitors Joelson Wilson.​

If you run a pub, you might currently try to whip up an extra bit of business by putting on occasional entertainment.

You know the sort of thing - the acoustic duo crooning away together in the corner or the Chas 'n' Dave wannabes thumping away on a piano.

At the moment you can rely on the "two in a bar" rule exempting you from the need to obtain a public entertainment licence (PEL).

But what will be the rules governing the provision of entertainment in your pub in the future? The answer is that when applying during the transitional period for conversion to a premises licence, unless you already hold a PEL, you will need to apply for variation to include the provision of "regulated entertainment" as a licensable activity at your pub if you intend to provide any of the following:

• a performance of a play
• an exhibition of a film (which is defined as "any exhibition of moving pictures" which, to my mind, would include videos)
• an indoor sporting event
• a boxing or wrestling tournament
• a performance of live music or the playing of recorded music (in either case otherwise than as incidental to some other activity which is not itself regulated entertainment)
• a dance performance
• entertainment of a similar description.

Perhaps the most obvious question leaping out from the above list is what does "incidental" mean?

The government's position appears to be that the courts will have to decide.

However, there has been a suggestion in the standing committee debate that if the musical event is advertised, it will not be regarded as "incidental".

But wait a minute. If you cannot advertise it with a view to drawing in more customers, doesn't that defeat one of the purposes of putting the musical entertainment on in the first place?

Perhaps the safest course will be to apply for variation to include the provision of regulated entertainment under your premises licence. That way, at least there will be no argument whether you can hold that celebrity darts match at your pub.