Legal questions answered: proof-of-age display and DPS at mutiple premises

Proof-of-page display

Can you tell me the law around displaying any proof-of-age policy, such as Challenge 21 or Challenge 25? I have been told by the local police officer that I need to display a Challenge 25 poster but I operate a Challenge 21 system.​

You will know that one of the mandatory conditions on your licence is that you have an age verification policy which, by the sounds of it, you do. It is sensible for this policy to be in writing, so that you can provide evidence of it to the authorities.

There is nothing in law that requires you to display any proof-of-age signage. Signage is available from the Drink Aware website. The only legal requirement for you to display any such notice would be if there is a condition on your premises licence, which requires you to display the appropriate notices. Many premises licences do require such a sign to be displayed, normally at or behind the bar. Therefore, check your premises licence carefully to ascertain whether or not there is any such condition but, by law, you only need an age verification policy to be in place rather than actually display the appropriate notice.

A supervisor of many premises

I have been running a small pub and have recently taken on the tenancy of a second pub five miles away. I am the only personal licence holder at either of the pubs, and want to remain the designated premises supervisor (DPS) both at my current pub, and at the pub I am taking the tenancy of. Is this allowed, or should I employ a second personal licence holder?​
 
There is nothing to stop you in law being a designated premises supervisor on two licences (as opposed to Scotland, where you can only be a designated premises manager on one licence).

The police, who will be the ultimate arbiters of whether or not to object to you becoming the designated premises supervisor at your second pub, will need to be satisfied that you have sufficient day-to-day control of the two premises, and that you are able to uphold the four licensing objectives. In this particular instance, I would suggest that you are in such a position because you only have the two pubs, they are both yours and you have the ultimate say.

Different police forces may take a different approach but I would not expect it to be an issue for your local police licensing officer.

• Got a question for our legal experts? Email pma@popall.co.uk.​​