Residents drinks issue is here to stay

News of the proposed link-up between Travelodge and some pub groups for future

site developments may bring up the whole question of drinks for residents again.

Under the old law, there was a specific concession for persons who were resident on the premises, who were not covered by the permitted hours. It was, therefore, not illegal for a licensee to sell alcohol "after time" to anyone residing on the premises or, interestingly, in an annexe managed with those same premises.

There were examples of pubs with separate cabins or motel accommodation, within the actual pub grounds, who could take advantage of this concession. Or rather, the residents could, especially when the permitted hours were very restrictive, as on Sundays.

Mention of residents is completely lacking from the new law with regard to serving alcohol. In fact, at the time of transition, licensing practitioners advising hotels would insert residents' provisions (24 hours) into their applications, to be entirely sure that the local authority in question was aware of the concession, which was deemed to "carry over" from the old law. I am not aware of many pubs that took the same course of action, and these have assumed that the concession was theirs as of right.

But increasingly the "carry-over" has been questioned in other areas and it seems that any new applications would have to spell out the residents' concession as part of the application, because otherwise even selling to residents under a new licence outside the stated hours would appear to be a breach of the licence conditions.

So this is an interesting point for the new partners to consider. Up to now, as I understand it, Travelodge accommodation has for the most part been "dry", because guests are expected to use eating and drinking facilities nearby. If the pub premises are built in to any new development, will this mean that all residents will have the right to drink in the pub as long as they like?

Probably not, unless the licence itself carries special conditions. For a start, the link-up is only for development purposes, not ownership or management. There will be two separate operations, so one licence cannot cover both. Travelodge guests will not, therefore, be "residents" of the pub, even though they may be sleeping in the same building.

But there is nothing to stop the applicants for the pub licence seeking a 24-hour permission for the residents of the budget hotel and having it built into the premises licence. The actual hours of service will, of course, be up to the manager or licensee and hotel residents cannot "demand" to be served if the pub has closed for the night. Having 24 hours on your licence does not oblige you to open for all that time.

On the other side, if Travelodge wanted to put mini-bars in the hotel rooms, then they would have to apply for a separate licence for this, which would be distinct from the pub's one. Or it could enter into a franchise arrangement with the pub group to provide licensed services to rooms — the premises licence does not have to be held by the actual premises owner or overall operator.

So there are several things to think about. Other individual pub operators considering adding overnight accommodation to their offering should contemplate the situation on their premises licence and perhaps look to a variation to allow "after-hours" drinking if they think it appropriate. But if everyone, including staff, wants to get to bed, perhaps midnight or 1am is late enough.