Legal advice: Licensing Act timescale
By Keith Miller, one of our legal experts from London solicitors Joelson Wilson.
I note with interest that bankers in the City are already attempting to predict the practical effects of the introduction of the new Licensing Act on licensed premises in England and Wales. No doubt analyst comments will start to influence company share prices as the implementation of the act draws nearer. However, it is still not easy to predict with any certainty what the effect of the act will be and, in any event, it will take years for the changes to be fully implemented and for the changes to be felt in monetary terms.
Bridgewell Securities (as reported on thePublican.com on September 18) has suggested that licences will be harder to come by under the new system. I am not sure that this will prove to be correct in all cases.
The same people will have a right to object to new premises licence applications, as they do with current liquor licence and public entertainment licence (PEL) applications.
However, there is no doubt that applications will in many cases take longer to be processed by authorities - but we currently deal with the same authorities for PEL applications, when similar delays occur.
It is perhaps too early to reliably predict what the effect will be on consumer spending within pubs and the future value of licences and licensed premises. In fact, it is difficult to predict even simple things like the fee structure.
Contacts at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport have this week indicated that there is no news on the fees to be charged, other than to confirm that the proposals in the framework document remain a good indication of the final fees.
It looks as if the guidance won't now be finalised until mid-October at the earliest. I have also heard rumours that the full implementation date for the act is also being pushed back.
Related articles:
Banker predicts bleak future for licensing (18 September 2003)
