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Recipe for rowdy youngsters
Q We have been having trouble at our pub with groups of youngsters whose loud, drunken behaviour has put other customers off. What I want to know is: can we put up a notice stating "Over-21s only" or "Over-21s preferred" in the bar and enforce an age ban of our own, or do we have to let anyone in who is over 18?
A I appreciate that you feel you have a problem with younger drinkers, but it may not just be a question of age. However, the important point is that you are the guvnors! What you say goes in your own pub.
Putting up a notice like this may initially cause some problems. Many youngsters know that the legal age for purchasing alcohol in a bar is 18, so they could try to challenge you, saying it is "legal" for them to come in and be served if they have ID.
They will also try to argue that a public house is a public place and you may not refuse service to anyone as long as they are not drunk and behave themselves.
None of these points affects the issue. Although it is true that you are entitled to serve anyone who appears to you to be over 18, you are not obliged to do so. A public house is not a public place and there is no "common law" right to be served. You as licensee are entitled to accept or reject whoever you choose, subject only to discrimination laws as they apply to pubs.
Although the posting of this notice is a form of discrimination, it is one that is entirely within the law and you are entitled to enforce it as far as you can.
Darts as a sporting event
Q Is the final of an inter-pub darts competition a sporting event? A local licensing officer says that if people come along to watch and not participate, it is an event needing a separate licence.
A He possibly did not mean an entirely separate licence, but this is an interesting point on what constitutes "regulated entertainment" under the new laws.
Under the definitions of entertainment in the Licensing Act 2005 "an indoor sporting event" is one that takes place in the presence of an audience or spectators. It will be classified as a licensable activity if it is provided wholly or partly for the purpose of entertaining that audience.
I do not think that is the case with this final. First of all, it is not being provided by the licensee: it is the culmination of a contest among customers and is probably being provided by the league in question, for the benefit of its own members.
Secondly, the purpose of the final is to determine the winners of the competition. The fact that supporters from the rival pubs may turn up does not of itself suggest that the contest is provided in order to entertain them. You should ask yourself: if there were no spectators, would the contest still take place? The answer is clearly yes. The presence of spectators is incidental.
The officer's reference to a "separate licence" may mean a temporary event notice, which could be used to cover a one-off indoor sporting event, if it was classified as such. But I do not think this is the case here.
