Thursday, October 19, 2006
UK Licensing Law - alcohol at village halls
2005 saw a big change to licensing law in the UK - a clumsy set of new rules that make it a misery to offer a glass of wine at a village-hall event.
And not only are the rules unfriendly, they are attrociously explained and presented. Hundreds of local authorities have had half-hearted attempts to expain the rules - but I couldn't find any simple explanation of the rules applying to our village hall here in Derbyshire.
So, I've drawn up a flowchart - which I've checked with the local licensing authority. Their advice was against making anything public, in case I could be seen to encourage people to skirt around the rules. But they did advise that the content was correct - for this area at least.
If you promise that your intentions are honorable, then I can let you into the secret of how to decide whether you need to apply for an extra licence (Temporary Events Notice or TEN) for that event at your village hall which already has a licence for entertainment but not for alcohol.
Please understand that I have only checked this with Derbyshire Dales District Council, and that other local authorities may interpret the same rules in different ways. Perhaps you could send them a link to the flowchart and ask them whether it is correct for your area (or, even better, publish their own).
If you accept the limitations and caveats, you can find the flowchart here.
And not only are the rules unfriendly, they are attrociously explained and presented. Hundreds of local authorities have had half-hearted attempts to expain the rules - but I couldn't find any simple explanation of the rules applying to our village hall here in Derbyshire.
So, I've drawn up a flowchart - which I've checked with the local licensing authority. Their advice was against making anything public, in case I could be seen to encourage people to skirt around the rules. But they did advise that the content was correct - for this area at least.
If you promise that your intentions are honorable, then I can let you into the secret of how to decide whether you need to apply for an extra licence (Temporary Events Notice or TEN) for that event at your village hall which already has a licence for entertainment but not for alcohol.
Please understand that I have only checked this with Derbyshire Dales District Council, and that other local authorities may interpret the same rules in different ways. Perhaps you could send them a link to the flowchart and ask them whether it is correct for your area (or, even better, publish their own).
If you accept the limitations and caveats, you can find the flowchart here.
# posted by John Geddes @ 10:26 am 
