Kids ban speeds on reform

Unaccompanied children will be barred from pubs under the new licensing regime after the government made a key concession to help push the Licensing Bill through Parliament.

The House of Lords has consistently dug its heels in over its concerns that many pubs were not suitable environments for children.

As a result the government amended the bill to exclude unaccompanied children under 16 from premises "exclusively or primarily" selling alcohol.

Proposals that pubs should set their own policy had split the trade. While some operators saw increased potential for family trading, others were concerned that confusion over the law would lead to conflict with customers.

The new regime will be even stricter than the current law, which bars under-14s. Mark Hastings, spokesman for the British Beer & Pub Association, said: "The wording of the amendment is very clear, and the law has been tightened up."

Pubs hoping to relax their approach to families, including those which currently have children's certificates, must now wait for the final draft of the national guidance from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport on how the new licensing regime will be applied.

Mr Hastings added: "We always said that the proposals to relax the law in relation to children was primarily aimed at food-led pubs." Once the bill becomes law, pubs might be able to make a case for admitting children if they can show local authorities that food is more central to their offer than alcohol. Despite the government's efforts to speed up the bill's progress, the controversial issue of live music is still threatening to delay its final passage.

The House of Commons has rejected a demand from the Lords that all small entertainment venues should be exempt from requiring licences for live music.

The government wanted to scrap the existing two-in-a-bar rule, which allows up to two performers to appear in pubs without the need for a licence. The fear for many licensees and performers is that scrapping this rule could be costly and would spell the end of live music in pubs.

The House of Lords has taken these concerns on board and defied the government by adding an amendment to the bill to exempt premises where live music plays to an audience of less than 200 and finishes before 11.30pm.

While the government has offered to exempt these premises from two of the four reasons for not granting music licences - public nuisance and the protection of children - licensees would still have to apply for a licence and meet requirements on public safety and prevention of crime and disorder.