Licensing@aol.com
Smoking when closed
Q
I should like to know whether it is legal to allow smoking when the pub is closed for business, but friends of the licensee are still on the premises.
AThere's a difficulty here with the terms of the legislation. Clearly, notices that you have put up at the entrance and in the bar state that it is against the law to smoke on the premises. Smoking will still be allowed in the private quarters, which are exempted as long as no-one works there. But in the bar and communal areas, smoking should be prohibited entirely.
It really has nothing to do with whether you are actually trading or not: the people you allow to remain on the premises are still members of the public, albeit customers who are personal friends. But that does not appear to exempt their activities from the provisions of the Health Act.
It is true that premises are smoke-free only when open to the public. But definitions in the Act will most certainly encompass the public rooms of public houses most or all of the time when customers are present.
New Year variation
QWe will apply soon for a variation of our hours on some weekdays.
Someone commented that we could apply for New Year opening at the same time, which we thought we had automatically. What should we do?
ATo be on the safe side, there is nothing to prevent you spelling out the extended New Year permission in your application.
The confusion has arisen because those pubs that applied for conversion and
variation during transition - as opposed to
a simple conversion - are held to have
"lost" their New Year hours unless they specifically re-requested them.
It sounds to me as if you may be in this camp, and that you extended your weekday and weekend hours slightly, forgetting to include a request for the New Year
extension to be retained.
What you can now do, at no extra
expense, is to seek to reinstate the 24-hour permission over New Year.
As you have two years' evidence of no problems in your area, you can certainly put up a strong case for having the extension put back on your licence.
Telephoning bets from pub
Q Is there any law which prevents my customers from using the telephone in the bar to place bets if they are
watching the pub TV? I allowed a local bookie to put an advertising card near the phone, but have taxis and takeaways on the same board. Am I liable for anything?
ANot as far as I can see. The telephone does not extend the bookmaker's
business into your bar, as the call is received at his office.
It is only if the actual making of bets starts to take place in the pub that you need to be careful. Bookies cannot locate
themselves in the pub to do business,
because it is not licensed for that .
