Beware joint licences

QLast year we were approached by two localmusicians to obtain occasional licences for disco events which they were running. They now want to run the bar themselves and they say that if one of them was joined on my licence, they would not have to bother me each time they went for an event licence. Do you see any problems? AI should be extremely cautious about allowing this, unless you know them very well. You are right in your fear that any illegality or trouble at an event could well rebound on you as joint licensee, and certainly on the pub licence itself. Although under this proposal your name would not be on the occasional licence, the pub licence would be jointly held and any offences recorded on that licence. First of all, they have to be vetted by the justices, who would possibly require evidence of training, which they may not have. Secondly, any actions which they then take under the authority of the licence would also affect you and could cause problems when you come to apply for a new personal licence. It is clear that these are commercial events, which means they could not obtain an occasional permission for them from the justices. There is no such thing as a caterers' licence, so they have to find other ways of obtaining the authority to sell alcohol. If you do apply for occasionals on behalf of these people, you must ensure that the events are run properly, so that you do not risk your own licence and a prosecution for illegal sales. Free glasses of water QAre we obliged to provide a glass of drinking water free to anyone who asks for it? One of our customers has shown me an article which implies that you must. AYour email indicates that you run a public house, not a nightclub, restaurant or hotel. This means that it is unlikely there is any obligation on you to provide drinking water free on your premises if you do not wish to. Certainly there is no obligation on the holders of Part I justices' licences to provide this service, although the vast majority would do so if asked. It certainly cannot be made a condition of the justices' licence, although in the case of late-night discos it may well be included as a condition of the public entertainment licence. The usual reason for a customer making a claim of this type is because of the wording of Part IV of the Licensing Act. This states that it is an "implied condition" of the grant of any restaurant or residential licence that suitable beverages other than intoxicating liquor (including drinking water) shall be equally available for consumption with a meal. In other words, a diner is not forced to have alcohol if he or she does not want it. But this subsection cannot be imported into Part I so as to oblige public house licensees to give away free glasses of drinking water on demand.