London pub ‘refused gay group drinks’

The Licensing Act 2003 contains provision for an authorised person (someone with the authority of the Premises Licence holder), to refuse entry to any person or ask them to leave without giving a reason.


Failure to leave a licensed premises when asked to do so is a criminal offence under the Act.


However it is very clear that you cannot refuse service, refuse entry or ask someone to leave based on race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, nationality or any other form of discrimination.


The provision to refuse entry is there to deal with people who are being disruptive, aggressive, drunk or who are involved in criminal activity, etc.


It is amazing that in 2010 there are still people running businesses which not only discriminate against sections of our communities, but have not realised the commercial advantage of going out of their way to make them feel welcome.


Whatever happened in this particular case I think any suggestion that Punch Taverns would do anything but condemn such behaviour is farfetched. However where discrimination rears its ugly head, nothing short of a full investigation and swift corrective action would be acceptable.


At Beyond The Blue we run a number of different courses, which include;


• The Award in Responsible Alcohol Retailing (ARAR) designed for front-line staff to help them meet their statutory requirements;
• The National Certificate for Personal Licence Holders (NCPLH) which qualifies candidates to apply for their personal licence;
• The National Certificate for Designated Premises Supervisors (NCDPS) which provides relevant information for anyone assuming the position of DPS in licensed premises.
• Conflict Management and Resolution training compliments these courses to help employees deal with Workplace Violence and alcohol related disorder.


Please visit our website at http://www.btbl.co.uk/.


For more information on any of our services, please call us on 0845 602 55 95 or Contact Us.


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Source – www.bbc.co.uk
Date – 6th June 2010