Definition of 'guest' scrutinised

In the good old days, a guest was a guest. You entertained him (usually a 'him') in your plush club, the account was rendered to you later, discreetly, and he never reached into his pocket for anything.

Of course, some people still operate in that way, but as far as members' clubs are concerned, the reality has been given legal sanction by removing from the new Licensing Act the "fiction" that clubs do not sell to guests.

The club premises certificate, which has taken over from registration, confirms that the licensable activities are both the supply of (their own) alcohol to members and the sale of alcohol to guests direct by the club.

This is all well and good, but who are the guests? The 2003 Act strictly defines who may be admitted and served, and this excludes members of the public, under any guise. The limits put on the operation of a certificate allow for the guests of a member (without a specific limit on numbers) or associates from another club and their own guests. No one else.

Until last November, clubs were entitled to admit non-members under their rules and even sell them alcohol, as long as they did not cease operating in good faith as a members' club. Sometimes, the number of occasions was limited under the rules, or a limit was enforced by the police - often, mistakenly set at 12 per year.

Strangely, it is the number 12 that now crops up in the limit for Temporary Event Notices, and clubs have been advised to apply for these to cater for non-member or public events. But some clubs have many more than 12 times when they want to hire out their premises, or allow groups of visitors to enter.

Even if they have not changed their rules from those agreed by the magistrates, there is a strong feeling that admitting visitors has been made unlawful by the new Act.

There is no doubt that a straight reading of the law does not provide for any concession on visitors, in spite of pronouncements by politicians concerning "guests of the club".

There is, in my view, no such animal and it may be that several councils are starting to question the manner in which members' clubs open their doors to the public.

These are changing times and hard-pressed clubs can ill-afford to do without the extra income from non-members. But the law appears to be stricter now than it was in the past.