Gov't survey of live music in pubs
The Government has launched a survey into how the Licensing Act has affected live music at pubs and other small venues.
Pollsters Mori will be contacting 2,000 outlets over the next two months.
Venues will be asked how they coped with the licensing application process, how life has changed now the public entertainment licences (PELs) have gone and how they have been affected by the end of the two in a bar rule.
They will also be asked about how pubs are using Temporary Events Notices (TENs) to stage live music.
The survey is part of the DCMS' live music forum and findings will be reported to Government as part of the forum's final report later this year.
Let us know how you have been affected by clicking this link - and starting your comment LIVE MUSIC
Your CommentsT Taylor via email 15/08/2006"Because of one residents complaint all my music was stopped this means i lost £1000 per week from friday & saturdays takings, plus i have lost money from party events which i can no longer do. I was allowed to do 6 D.J. events a year incuding xmas & new year and i must give 7 days notice, What use is that !! none at all, when i used to do a disco every friday & sometimes on a saturday Plus partys and alive band every now and then. I have gone from having 3 staff on friday and saturday to 1 and now i sometimes don't need them it's so quiet.
so thanks to the new laws and red tape and the no smoking ban coming i can't see how community pubs can carry on, too many retrictions means no one will take them on because they can't make any money, God knows it was hard enough before all this, so i will be giving it up in the new year as it's just not worth the hasstle any more."
P Linstead via email 15/08/2006"Since my neighbour (who moved in about six months ago) started complaining about my live music etc., which i might add is once a month on adverage being 99% of the time on a saturday night, i've had to move my juke box speakers to another wall making the thing sound terrible and until i have sound proofed the wall joining thier house i am not allowed any applified sound this includes the CHARITY race night i have on next week!!! whats worse i don't have a leg to stand on legally. how is this fair? 1 person who has just moved to the area is allowed so much authority over my bussiness to be able stop me running the pub the way it has been run for over 20 years. This results in my pub being dead on a saturday night once a month (which would normally be busy and fun for all but 1) because the pub 70 yards down the road has live entertainment on.
I feel i'm being victomised by my nieghbour.
Surly the bottom line is if you move next to a pub you expect a little noise do you not?
Peter Eveleigh via email, 18/08/2006Well I've just had MORI call me on this survey. As ever the effectiveness of the poll is dependant on the quality of questions asked, and it would also help if the questioner had some inkling of the subject matter. (Not necessarily her fault), but when DCMS have divided "live music" into about seven sections (as per the regulated entertainment and the provisions for making the same), and you are asked a "yes / no"question on the 2 in the bar subject - which for us was not applicable anyway you can easily see a recipe for total confusion.
Sadly I don't have a great deal of confidence on a rational conclusion to this poll.
