Licensing@aol.com
Where residents can drink
QWe were visited by police officers at 11.45pm last Friday, on their way back from supervising other pubs nearby. A couple who had booked a room with us were still drinking in the bar. The police said they should be in a residents' area and not in the main bar, where drinking must stop at 11.30pm, according to our licence. Were they right?
AIt isn't a requirement that residents can only drink after time in a separate area, and that the bar must be closed.
They can drink wherever they or the licensee choose.
Residents are not specially covered in the Licensing Act 2003, but the legal position is well-established and carries over from the previous law.
The general prohibition on sales made after the hours listed on the licence does not apply to "the sale to... or consumption by... any person of intoxicating liquor in any premises where he is residing".
It might have been advisable to ensure that this point was emphasised in your transition application.
Interestingly enough, the same section of the 1964 Act also allowed a resident to buy a drink for someone else after time — even if that other person is not staying the night.
A resident can buy a drink for a "private friend" and that person can stay in the bar to drink it, without any fear of the law.
Of course, the transaction has to be genuine and not a device to allow
drinkers to stay on when they should have left the premises, under the terms of the licence.
Kebabs in the night
QWe intend to run a special fundraising event with a late barbecue. Our alcohol licence runs until 3am if necessary at weekends, so we did not think there was a problem, but someone has said we need to cover the sale of the barbecue food, because this hot food will be sold after 11pm. I thought that was only needed for cafés and burger vans.
A Not necessarily. Although the intention of the legislation was to catch premises that would otherwise be unlicensed, there appears to be no exemption for licensed premises in this regard.
If you or your advisers have not included a provision in your operating schedule to cover the possibility of serving hot food late at night (after 11pm, when the requirement starts) then you are technically in breach of the conditions of your licence.
The remedy is to give a temporary event notice for this occasion, which will of course cost you £21 but will put you entirely on the right side of the law.
Must shandy measure up?
QSomeone has told me that a made shandy is not covered by weights and measures laws. Does this mean I can serve any quantity and not worry about pints or half pints?
AIt depends what your price list says. If, as is customary, you give a separate price for shandy, then if a quantity is listed there, as it usually is, you must comply with the normal rules as if it were totally beer or cider that you were selling.
However, it is true that a mixture of beer or cider and any other liquid is specifically exempted from the weights and measures regulations on intoxicating liquor.
This means that a mixture of two beers must comply with regard to measurement, but a mixture of beer and a non-alcoholic product would not be covered by the regulations.
