Pleisure pub boss plan to beat late night levy

A Brighton pub company boss has devised a plan for a licensee-led scheme to ensure best practice across pubs in the city — and stave off the threat of the late-night levy.

The scheme, dubbed "Inn-Credible", is seen as an alternative to Best Bar None by its creator, Pleisure Pub Company managing director Nick Griffin.

In his report to the council, Griffin said Inn-Credible would include steps to ensure best practice across a range of areas including alcohol awareness, health & safety, licensing law and the "perfect bartender". Staff would be tested by an external examiner.

Although it would be licensee-led, enforcement "may be something that the police and local authority will wish to carry out", with "unannounced spot checks" and "withdrawal with penalty for non-conforming venues".

Central point of information would be from a new Brighton & Hove Licensees Association, which would mirror the set up of Licensed Victuallers Associations.

The background to the scheme, Griffin explains, was a council meeting in October when the idea of the late-night levy was muted.

It was also suggested that Best Bar None, run in the city in 2006, was "expensive to run" and "had only limited success".

Austerity measures would mean the council is unlikely to run such a scheme again so it was up to the trade to devise a solution, Griffin pointed out.

"It would be simple to copy a Best Bar None scheme operated in another city, but this would ignore some of the unique challenges that operating in Brighton & Hove involves.

"We feel a locally organised scheme is best placed to provide a scheme most appropriate for the city of Brighton & Hove."