Licensing@aol.com
New law and BYO wine
Q What is the situation under the new law with regard to people bringing their own wine and the caterer charging corkage? Is this a licensable activity?
A No, it is not. But care must be taken to ensure there is not a transaction that could be classed as a sale in such circumstances.
When customers bring in their own alcohol to consume with a meal, the caterer is not selling the alcohol to them. As I have written before, consumption of alcohol is not a licensable activity, nor is permitting it. So neither the customer nor the owner is committing any offence.
The problem comes when the caterer without a licence offers in some way to provide wine for customers, verbally or by means of a wine list. If someone acts as an agent for the customer (eg, goes to an off-licence and fetches wine for them at cost) then there may be no sales transaction. But the situation can become blurred if the caterer keeps previously bought wine on the premises, or makes an additional charge that could involve a re-selling to the customer.
Basically, the caterer must be at arm's length from the alcohol transaction, however it occurs, and the actual sale of alcohol to the customer must take place on licensed premises. Charging corkage merely means a nominal charge for providing and cleaning wine glasses, opening the bottle etc.
The facts on opening hours
Q I have just had a proper look at our new premises licence and it says the opening hours of the pub shall commence at 10am, which is when we start serving. So what does this mean if we allow people to come in earlier, say for breakfast? We run a traditional country pub.
A This may have come about for three reasons:1 You applied for a variation along with conversion and you filled in box O with the variation times, instead of 24 hours or more relaxed times when you might be open.2 The local licensing authority has imposed an opening time on Sundays because of representations made about disturbance.3 The licensing authority has simply picked an opening time that it thinks is suitable.
Number one is the most likely. If you have kept a copy of your application, have a look. Number two is unlikely, because you would have known about it before now.
However, number three is also likely, as I have had several examples sent to me. The answer in this case is to contact the licensing officer and find out why you have a restriction and ask for them to re-issue the licence without it, if it was not requested. The council has no power to impose an opening time and should not have done so.
Getting the measure of brandy
Q Is it true that there is no fixed measure for brandy?
A If you mean a statutory requirement to sell in a certain measure, no.
The four spirits covered by the regulations are gin, rum, vodka and whisky.
Brandy is not mentioned.
However, if you put brandy up on an Optic which shows a specific quantity, such as 25ml, then a trading standards officer is perfectly entitled to cause you to dispense it and check the measure for accuracy. The customer can presumably see the amount written up and is therefore entitled to it.
But where a customer requests a brandy by name, you may dispense in any quantity without worrying about any specific measure. Only when you state a measure must you be careful.
