Question
I operate a fairly traditional pub in the West of Scotland. I have always avoided drinks promotions but in recent year’s l have had to introduce some price changes to keep up with my competitors. Last week an LSO advised me that the A-board outside the pub advertising our ‘double up for £1’ promotion was illegal and we had to stop this deal immediately. The deal involves the customer paying an extra £1 on the purchase of any sprit to upgrade to a double. I am really confused as a number of other local pubs in the area have been running this promotion for years and as far as l can tell have never been reprimanded. Is what we have been doing contrary to the licensing legislation?
Answer
This is an interesting question because it brings into sharp focus the difference between pricing activity and promotional activity. The pricing structure you have adopted is perfectly acceptable in terms of the Licensing legislation, as despite some early efforts by officials to establish otherwise, it is now generally accepted that linear pricing does not apply in the on-trade. A bottle of wine does not have to cost 3 x the price of a 250ml glass and a double measure of a spirit does not have to be priced at 2 x the cost of a single measure.
Audrey Junner, Partner Hill Brown Licensing
Where you may however fall foul of the irresponsible promotion rules contained with the 2005 Act is in the way in which the pricing is communicated/promoted to your customers. An A Board which simply stated the price of a single and the price of a double wouldn’t cause you any problems. You are simply informing customers of your bar prices. However, an A Board or indeed any promotional literature or signage, or even language used by bar staff, which suggested that it would be advantageous to the customer to buy a double, would, breach the rules.
This is because a licenceholder is restricted from carrying out a promotion which encourages, or seeks to encourage, a person to buy or consume a larger measure of alcohol that the person had otherwise intended to buy or consume and the same provisions prevent measures being sold at a reduced price on the purchase of another drink. The later assumes an initial purchase and then an up-sale, which has to be avoided.
It is therefore the encouragement which leads to the commission of the offence and an LSO could quite properly ask you to refrain from displaying advertising material which ‘encourages’ a customer to double up for £1. So in a slightly counterintuitive way you can continue to price your spirits as you do currently but you cannot actively communicate the benefits of spending that extra pound to your customers in an encouraging way! Finally if you do have concerns about competitors your LSO is there to help, it is only fair that everyone is operating on a level playing field.
Question
I am the premises manager of a family operated deli in Glasgow, we don’t sell a lot of alcohol but it still forms an important part of the business. My personal licence was issued by the Glasgow Licensing Board in June 2011. A few weeks ago l received a letter advising me that as l had failed to complete refresher training my personal licence would be revoked from a proposed date. I sat the training course but completely forgot to send it on to the Licensing Board. Where does this leave me? Do l have to wait 5 years to reapply and is the restaurant’s premises licence at risk?
Answer
Firstly your employer can be reassured that the premises licence itself is not at risk. The Glasgow Board are allowing a 6 week grace period from the point of revocation to nominate a new premises manager. If the premises was in another Board area provided that the Board were notified of the revocation within 7 days, you would again have 6 weeks breathing space from the date of revocation. A failure to comply with this timescale will not jeopardise the licence except that alcohol could not then be sold until a premises manager had been nominated.
Turning to your personal licence, ordinarily the failure to provide the training certificate to the Board within 3 months of the five year anniversary of the issue of your personal licence would result in an irreversible revocation. The Licensing Board and the Clerk have no control over this but it is certainly worth making enquires with the very helpful staff at Glasgow. The good news is that since the legislation was amended recently you will not now have to wait 5 years to reapply for your personal licence. The application can be made immediately and in many Board areas your original (not refresher) training certificate can be used with that application. If any doubt consult the Licensing Board staff or a specialist licensing lawyer who will be happy to guide you in the process.
Get in touch with Audrey if you have any questions – AJ@mshblicensing.com