Title – Off-licence wins licence battle over alcohol sales
Source – Staines Leader
Date – 21st August 2008
I will admit that I am unaware of the details of this particular case, past what is outlined in the article, but even from these few details licensees can take heart that at least some of the processes of the Licensing Act 2003 are working as they should.
One of the fundamental principles behind the act was that there would be an overall relaxation of the legislation. From the point of view of Personal Licence holders they were given more flexibility as their licenses were transferable between different premises, this gave them more flexibility in their work as they were no longer tied to specific premises with difficult and time consuming magistrates court to tackle whenever they moved from pub to pub. From the point of view of the premises licence holder their restrictions were relaxed especially in the area of operating times and they were free to apply for ‘24 hours licences’.
However the pay-back for this liberalisation was that licensing authorities, the police and ‘interested parties’ (i.e. local residents, local businesses, local community groups and local public services) had more power and opportunity to affect changes to the licences granted through closure orders, reviews and variations. The increased provision to add conditions to licences means that many more premises licence holders have found themselves falling foul of what became very restrictive and expensive conditions on their licences.
But all is not lost, having a good understanding of the Licensing Act 2003 should be a fundamental part of and licence holder’s knowledge base. With this knowledge comes an understanding of what would be considered fair and unfair, but more importantly what steps they can take to retail alcohol responsibly and thus challenge restrictive conditions.
Responsible Alcohol Retailing is not at all complicated and it is very profitable when you look at the bigger picture. Simply promoting the licensing objectives will help you run a successful business and impress your local authorities. Once this is achieved, with their support your time and money will be freed up from protracted negotiations over matters that need never become an issue in the first place. To match this, there is no question that responsible retailers attract more business then irresponsible ones in the long run and any good businessman knows that the long-run is what counts in business.
One of the first steps to responsible retailing is effective training. The one point of contention is this case seems to have been the training given to staff and the recording of that training. To resolve this issue, sending staff on a course such as the Award in Responsible Alcohol Retailing (ARAR) provides them with a nationally recognised Level 1 Qualification. Further progression and the qualifying course for Personal Licence Holders is the National Certificate for Personal Licence Holders (NCPLH). At Beyond The Blue we don’t simply provide you with the basic information your will require to pass the multiple choice examination, but also additional information that will put it into context and give you even greater understanding.
Our approach gives you the information to understand the conditions on your licence and challenge your local authorities where conditions are unfair or restrictive. Where they are fair, we provide you with the information to understand the measures you have to take to improve in order to satisfy your local authority that you have implemented better business practices which they should now take into account. We also offer a Consultancy Service which can help your individual business address problems and improve to help them achieve their goals and where schemes such as Best-Bar-None are available, how to achieve these highly recognised and respected standards.
Please visit our website please visit at www.btbl.co.uk
Source – Staines Leader
Date – 21st August 2008
I will admit that I am unaware of the details of this particular case, past what is outlined in the article, but even from these few details licensees can take heart that at least some of the processes of the Licensing Act 2003 are working as they should.
One of the fundamental principles behind the act was that there would be an overall relaxation of the legislation. From the point of view of Personal Licence holders they were given more flexibility as their licenses were transferable between different premises, this gave them more flexibility in their work as they were no longer tied to specific premises with difficult and time consuming magistrates court to tackle whenever they moved from pub to pub. From the point of view of the premises licence holder their restrictions were relaxed especially in the area of operating times and they were free to apply for ‘24 hours licences’.
However the pay-back for this liberalisation was that licensing authorities, the police and ‘interested parties’ (i.e. local residents, local businesses, local community groups and local public services) had more power and opportunity to affect changes to the licences granted through closure orders, reviews and variations. The increased provision to add conditions to licences means that many more premises licence holders have found themselves falling foul of what became very restrictive and expensive conditions on their licences.
But all is not lost, having a good understanding of the Licensing Act 2003 should be a fundamental part of and licence holder’s knowledge base. With this knowledge comes an understanding of what would be considered fair and unfair, but more importantly what steps they can take to retail alcohol responsibly and thus challenge restrictive conditions.
Responsible Alcohol Retailing is not at all complicated and it is very profitable when you look at the bigger picture. Simply promoting the licensing objectives will help you run a successful business and impress your local authorities. Once this is achieved, with their support your time and money will be freed up from protracted negotiations over matters that need never become an issue in the first place. To match this, there is no question that responsible retailers attract more business then irresponsible ones in the long run and any good businessman knows that the long-run is what counts in business.
One of the first steps to responsible retailing is effective training. The one point of contention is this case seems to have been the training given to staff and the recording of that training. To resolve this issue, sending staff on a course such as the Award in Responsible Alcohol Retailing (ARAR) provides them with a nationally recognised Level 1 Qualification. Further progression and the qualifying course for Personal Licence Holders is the National Certificate for Personal Licence Holders (NCPLH). At Beyond The Blue we don’t simply provide you with the basic information your will require to pass the multiple choice examination, but also additional information that will put it into context and give you even greater understanding.
Our approach gives you the information to understand the conditions on your licence and challenge your local authorities where conditions are unfair or restrictive. Where they are fair, we provide you with the information to understand the measures you have to take to improve in order to satisfy your local authority that you have implemented better business practices which they should now take into account. We also offer a Consultancy Service which can help your individual business address problems and improve to help them achieve their goals and where schemes such as Best-Bar-None are available, how to achieve these highly recognised and respected standards.
Please visit our website please visit at www.btbl.co.uk
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