Changes to Northern Ireland's licensing laws prove popular
The Federation of the Retail Licensed Trade Northern Ireland (FRLT) has welcomed government plans to reform the country's licensing laws.
The plans, which should be in place by Christmas 2007, will allow pubs to extend their opening hours by an hour to 2am, while children accompanied by adults will be permitted to stay until 10pm. The proposed reforms will also see the introduction of a points system for rowdy pubs, where police could close down premises if they exceeded a number of penalty points.
The FRLT is particularly pleased that the decision on proposals to scrap the licence surrender requirements has been deferred. Under the current system operators have to purchase an existing licence or surrender one to open a new venue.
It feared scrapping this could mean the onslaught of large national pub chains and the loss of Northern Ireland's pub culture.
Nicola Carruthers, chief executive of the FRLT, said: "The government are pressing ahead with everything they said they'd press ahead with and we're extremely pleased with the outcome so far."
She added that the decision to defer the surrender principle until further research had been commissioned had also been greeted well. She said: "It should be stressed that there is a social aspect as well as a business impact and we would encourage the Minister to take this into account and not abolish the surrender principle as this would lead to a proliferation of licensed premises with pubs and off-licences on street corners throughout Northern Ireland."
Social development minister, David Hanson, who announced plans for a staged implementation of the reforms said in a written statement to Parliament that a review of liquor licensing had not taken place for 10 years and was long overdue. He said: "Since then the social and economic climate in Northern Ireland has changed and improved immensely.
"There is great potential for further growth, and liquor licensing law must keep pace with these developments and modern expectations."
