24 hour Licensing under threat?

Both major political parties have now signalled that the new licensing regime in England and Wales will be tightened up, and with the Scottish National Party continuing with its plan to introduce minimum prices for a unit of alcohol it looks as if the price and availability of alcohol will remain high up the political agenda.

Speaking at the Labour Party conference in Brighton, Prime Minister Gordon Brown appeared to repudiate a key part of the licensing reforms introduced by his predecessor, Tony Blair. A week later at the Conservative Party conference, Shadow Home Secretary, Chris Grayling, also promised tough action from a future Conservative government.

Labour to restrict opening hours

In his last party conference speech before the general election, in the part of the speech concerned with crime and anti-social behaviour, Mr Brown said:

“We will never allow teenage tearaways or anybody else to turn our town centres into no go areas at night times. No one has yet cracked the whole problem of a youth drinking culture. We thought that extended hours would make our city centres easier to police and in many areas it has. But it’s not working in some places and so we will give local authorities the power to ban 24 hour drinking the interests of local people.”

Later, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport appeared to confirm that changes to the Licensing Act 2003 are being planned. Speaking to The Publican newspaper, a spokesman confirmed that the government is seeking to alter the Licensing Act to give councils the powers to restrict the opening hours of every licensed venue, including offlicences and supermarkets, in a problem area.

Council officers will also be given the right to review the trading hours of a premises, regardless of whether the police or residents have complained.

The changes will require primary legislation and will see a full consultation before the proposals go through Parliament.

The spokesman said:

“We will give councils the powers to impose a complete blanket ban on 24-hour licenses in a particular area – such as a street, city centre, or the whole of the local authority area.

“Councils will still make the majority of licensing decisions on opening hours on a caseby- case basis, but we accept that there are times where disorder cannot be attributed to individual premises.

“We will also introduce a new power to make it easier and faster for councils to restrict or remove individual pub and club licenses where there are problems.

“We accept the arguments put to us by local government that councillors should be able to call for reviews without having to wait for a resident or the police to make a complaint.

“This change will make it easier for licensing authorities to bring problem premises to review.”

According to the DCMS just 10 per cent of 24-hour licenses – 640 in total – are pubs, bars and nightclubs. In his conference speech, Mr Brown also made another pledge:

“And let me say this bluntly; when someone is found guilty of a serious crime caused by drinking, the drink banning order which is available to the courts should be imposed. And where there is persistent trouble from binge drinking, we will give local people the right to make pubs and clubs pay for cleaning up their neighbourhood and making it safe.”

The idea of making licensees pay a special levy to cover the cost of policing and cleaning up the night-time economy is not, of course, new. Indeed, Mr Brown appeared to be promising to introduce a measure which already exists, it having formed part of the legislation on Alcohol Disorder Zones which came into force on 5 June 2008. These are designed to help local authorities and the police tackle high levels of alcohol related nuisance, crime and disorder that cannot be directly attributable to individual licensed premises. However, as, so far as is known, not a single local authority has made use of the legislation to designate an alcohol disorder zone, no licensees have ever been made to pay the levy.

The fact that one of Mr Brown’s proposed measures to tackle binge drinking already exists in theory, albeit not in practice, and that, if the opinion polls are accurate, Mr Brown will not be around after the next general election to rescind 24 hour licensing, should not, however, provide much comfort for the licensed trade. For spokesmen for the main opposition party have also threatened to reform the Licensing Act 2003, and, in particular, the extended hours granted by the Act.

Conservatives “will tackle alcohol-fuelled antisocial behaviour”

Speaking at the Conservative Party conference, Shadow Home Secretary, Chris Grayling, promised a future Conservative Governmentwould introduce a much tougher licensing regime, with local councils and the police being given new powers to restrict the large number of late licenses awarded to shops, takeaways and other venues.

Other promised measures include:

Significant tax increases, including on alcopops, strong beer and strong cider, “that contribute to violence and disorder on our streets.” As a result, a 4-pack of super-strength beer will be £1.30 more expensive, a 2-litre bottle of superstrength cider will be 84p more expensive and a large bottle of alcopops will be up to £1.50 more expensive.

Supermarkets and other retailers will be banned from selling alcohol below cost price. This, Mr Grayling said, would help tackle the ‘pre-loading’ trend – young people and binge drinkers consuming cheap alcohol at home before going to town centres.

Police - 24 –hour drinking Act ‘should be reversed’

The Licensing Act 2003, which introduced 24 hour drinking, has failed and should be reversed, according to Garry Shewan, Assistant Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police.

Addressing a police conference devoted to the theme of alcohol-related crime and disorder, Mr Shewan warned that the new Licensing Act ‘leaves police dangerously stretched.’ He said that the Government’s claim that the extension of drinking hours would stop the 11pm or 2am rush had not been borne out by events. He continued:

“The reality is it’s not stopped the rush and sometimes it has pushed the rush back. What used to be a late-night problem is sometimes in major cities extended to 16-18 hours and that clearly is a real risk. Bars and clubs are staying open much later and that puts a real strain on police resources. It would be far safer if the period of time people drink irresponsibly was reduced.”