The Scottish Government

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1. INTRODUCTION

This bulletin provides information, by council area, on the number and type of liquor licences in force in Scotland at 31st December 2007. It details the number of regular extensions to permitted hours, the number and outcome of new applications for licences made in 2007, the reasons for applications being refused, and on the suspension of licences. Information relating to registered clubs and to liquor licensing offences is also included.

Licensing Legislation

The central collection of licensing statistics, previously discontinued in 1982, was resumed in 1991 to assist monitoring of the effect of Part III of the Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) (Scotland) Act 1990. The main reforms included the introduction of the children's certificate, which permits children under 14 to accompany adults for a meal in a public house or hotel within an environment that the licensing board considers suitable for children. Boards have also been able, from 1st January 1991, to grant extensions of permitted hours for public houses on Sundays to cover the afternoon period between 2:30pm and 6:30pm and the late evening period after 11pm. The 1990 Act applied a tighter control, however, on the granting of late night extensions, requiring applicants to demonstrate that there is both a demand for the extension in their area and that the extension will not be of detriment to the community. The collection of statistics on children's certificates was discontinued following a review of licensing statistics in 1997.

The Licensing (Amendment) (Scotland) Act 1996 introduced powers for licensing boards to impose conditions on licences for premises where certain events are likely to take place (particularly dance events). The conditions, which came into force in October 1996, are specifically for the purpose of safeguarding the health and safety of those attending the relevant event. This measure does not impact on the statistics in this bulletin.

There are various types of licences available, which authorise the holder to sell alcohol under different conditions. The definitions for those are set out fully in Schedule I to the Licensing (Scotland) Act 1976. In summary they are:

• A public house licence, authorising the holder to sell alcohol for consumption on or off the premises.
• An off-sale licence, authorising the holder to sell alcohol for consumption off the premises only.
• A hotel licence, authorising the holder to sell alcohol in a hotel for consumption on or off the premises.
• A restricted hotel licence, authorising the holder to:-
  
  i. Sell alcohol to people taking a table meal there for consumption with the meal;
  
  ii. Sell alcohol to people residing there, for consumption on the premises by them or friends entertained at their expense.

The premises cannot have a bar counter.

• A restaurant licence, for premises normally used for serving meals where there is no bar counter and alcohol is served only with food.
• A refreshment licence, allowing café-style premises to serve alcoholic drinks with food, and to admit children under 14 until 8pm, provided they are accompanied by a person aged 18 years or over.
• An entertainment licence, intended mainly for places like cinemas, theatres and dance halls and restricting the sale of alcohol to patrons. The sale or supply of alcohol should be ancillary to the entertainment provided.

Grounds for refusal of an application for a liquor licence under section 17 of the Licensing (Scotland) Act 1976 are as follows:

a) That the applicant, or the person on whose behalf or for whose benefit the applicant will manage the premises or, in the case of an application to which section 11 of this Act applies, the applicant or agent named in the application, is not a fit and proper person to be the holder of the licence;

b) That the premises to which the application relates are not suitable or convenient for the sale of alcoholic liquor, having regard to their location, their character and condition, and the person likely to resort to the premises;

c) That the use of the premises for the sale of alcoholic liquor is likely to cause undue public nuisance, or a threat to public order or safety;

d) That, having regard to:-

i. The number of licensed premises in the locality at the time the application is considered; and

ii. The number of premises in respect of which the provisional grant of a new licence is in force, the board is satisfied that the grant of the application would result in the over provision of licensed premises in the locality.

An application may be refused on one or more of the grounds listed above.

The Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005

Whilst the Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005 replaces the 1976 Act, licences were not issued under the 2005 Act until 1st February 2008 and therefore it has no bearing on the statistics within this bulletin. However this is the last time licensing statistics will be published in this format.

The 2005 Act does not come fully into force until 1st September 2009. From 1st February 2008 there is a period of transition during which new licences will only be issued under the 2005 Act, but 1976 Act licences which are due to expire before 1st September 2009 will be automatically extended to that date. From 1st September 2009 all licences in place will have been issued under the 2005 Act.

Source and coverage of data

The statistics relating to liquor licences in force in Scotland presented in this bulletin have been provided by local authority licensing boards. Statistics on the number of registered clubs are also included; these have been provided by Sheriff Courts since 1997. The figures included in this bulletin on the number of liquor licences per 10,000 resident population aged 18 years and over use the relevant mid-year population estimates prepared by the General Register Office for Scotland ( GROS).

The data presented in Table 11 are taken from the aggregate recorded crime statistics collected by the Scottish Executive Justice Department ( SEJD). The figures in Table 12 are derived from data held on the SEJD court proceedings database.

Notes to tables

There is no direct relationship between the number of offences recorded by the police and the number of court disposals. Where offences are recorded and cleared up by the police, the outcome of procurator fiscal or other action does not necessarily occur in the same year. Prosecution in court is only one of a range of possible options the procurator fiscal has for dealing with persons who have been charged. Other actions include fiscal warnings, diversion to social work, conditional offers, fixed penalties, sending cases to the Reporter to the Children's Panel or a decision to take no proceedings.

Rounding of figures

Please note that, due to rounding, some percentages may not agree with the sum of their constituent parts. Calculations have been made, where possible, using un-rounded figures and may therefore not agree exactly with the rounded figures given in accompanying tables and charts.

Symbols

The following symbols are used throughout the publication:

.. not available

. not applicable

- nil or less than half the final digit shown

Enquiries relating to any of the tables contained in this publication may be directed to:

Tel: (0131) 244 8740
E-mail: martin.mcnicoll@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

All tables in this publication and further background data are available as Excel spreadsheets from the Scottish Government Licensing Statistics website at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/stats/bulletins/00672 .

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