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Police smoking ban
QAt a recent meeting of our Pubwatch, the police representative informed us that, following the smoking ban, customers would not be permitted to smoke in the beer garden after 9pm. This would apply to all pubs in the local Pubwatch scheme. My licence permits music outdoors until 11pm. Can the police do this?
ANot of their own accord, and certainly not as a universal prohibition. First of all, the police are not the licensing authority and cannot lay down the law in this way. As you rightly point out, any terms, conditions or restriction on the use of the premises for licensable activities must be stated on the licence itself, which is unique to individual premises. Standard terms and conditions are also outlawed, so a blanket ban would be contrary to Government Guidance.
But to anticipate potential problems of people congregating outside (which may well cause difficulty in some areas) is not the role of the police in this instance. It is a matter for the environmental health department to decide whether there is disturbance to neighbours, which ought to be controlled, so that they seek a review of the licence at the appropriate time.
To set a curfew like this takes no account of individual circumstances. It is unfortunate that some police forces see their role in a different light from the rest of us.
Use of machines
QAre gaming machines classed as entertainment? The council has said that they form part of the pub's entertainment facilities and so have to be switched off when the entertainment part of our licence is not operational.
A Again, this is another mis-reading of the law. Gaming machines are not covered by the provisions of the Licensing Act at all. They are certainly not defined as "regulated entertainment", any more than the TV set is. So it cannot be possible for them to be confined to such hours as you may have obtained for live entertainment in the pub.
Although I have been critical, I find it hard to believe that any local authority licensing officer would make this mistake. Perhaps it was a local or parish councillor who made this suggestion.
In any event, it is unenforceable and you do not have to comply with any hours restriction in this regard. The machines may stay on for as long as the pub is open, unless there are any specific restrictions as to their use, which seems most unlikely.
Early doors
Q We have a premises licence allowing 10am opening on Sundays. Does that mean actually opening the doors at that time, or can people come in a bit earlier as long as we do not sell them alcohol?
A I assume that the licence has been subject to a variation, either during transition or afterwards, to obtain two extra hours on Sunday mornings. This means that you will have completed box "O" stating the hours the premises are open to the public. If you have inserted 10am there, then it becomes part of your operating schedule and some people maintain that it imposes an obligation on you not to allow customers in before that time. My own view is that pubs prior to transition had 24-hour opening as of right, and that great care should be taken not to lose rights that you had before. In any case, it is very difficult to enforce under the current law, as long as no licensable activity is taking place.
