Host faces licence loss and £10k fine

A Cheshire licensee could be hit with a fine of up to £10,000 and be stripped of his personal licence after his nightclub served underage drinkers three times in four weeks.

Club Casi in Warrington has had nine tough new condi-tions added to its premises licence and could be barred from selling booze for three months. The un-named prem-ises licence holder, also the designated premises supervisor (DPS) at the time, will face magistrates on 22 August after three test purchase failures in April and May.

"If the premises licence holder is an individual and they also hold a personal licence, the court can suspend their personal licence for up to six months or even revoke it," said licensing officer Paul Draycott. "Once revoked, an individual cannot re-apply for a personal licence for five years."

MA legal expert Peter Coulson said: "This fine is only chargeable to the premises licence holder which raises an interesting point should a tenanted house be caught with the pubco as the premise licence holder. Then the pubco could face a £10,000 fine without even being aware that three failures have taken place."

The club must now operate a Challenge-25 policy, have refusal registers at each bar and at the entrance, employ at least one female door supervisor and bring its website content up to a level acceptable to the police. All staff, including door supervisors, must also receive training by a recognised company regarding age-related sales, which must be repeated every three months.