Operators lament licence strain

It came as something of a surprise to me to hear one operating company had trouble with personal licences because their managers were still on protection orders 'so as to avoid jeopardising premises licence applications.

I should have thought that every single operating company had been advised to switch the premises application from the existing licensee into the company name, rather than have individuals apply in their own name. And I would have advised them to get signatures on the consent forms before, rather than after, the departing managers had left employment.

Chasing departed licensees is never easy. One of mine had gone to Dubai!

There seems to have been the sort of problem that could have been identified at an early stage â " if only firms had taken the licensing situation seriously.

I admit nobody, not even the top licensing practitioners, fully appreciated how much work was involved in multiple licence applications, the forms, the supplementary information, the checking, the delays, the missing persons!

It is little wonder that there was such a scramble at the end, just before the 6 August deadline. The problem is the work has not let up.

Apart from dealing with inquiries, putting right minor point, negotiating with responsible authorities, attending hearings, arranging appeals, counting deadlines, the companies are having to consider contingency plans if for some reason they have not got a Designated Premises Supervisor with a personal licence by 24 November.

That's the bottom line. That means profits down the drain. It isn't funny anymore.

My experience is local authorities are using most of the time available to them to process applications, on the basis that they received so many late applications close to the deadline.

So by the end of next week, for example, the two-month processing period for conversions will have expired.

However, personal licence conversions can be processed during a three-month period, which possibly means a longer wait for these, if they were lodged at the beginning of August.

The reality is it is now less than two months to 2AD (the Second Appointed Day, for those of you who do not speak mobile phone language!).

A new premises licence application made now will face a struggle to be accepted and finalised by that important date, which creates a serious problem for some operators.

And it does not look likely the DCMS will offer a truce.