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2. SUMMARY AND KEY FACTS
- There were 17,021 liquor licences in force in Scotland at 31st December 2007, 213 less than at 31st December 2006 and the equivalent of 42 licenses for every 10,000 persons aged 18 years and over in Scotland.
- Over a third (37 per cent) of the licences in force in Scotland were for off-sale premises and a further 30 per cent were for public houses. The distribution of licences by type of premises varied across the country with Renfrewshire reporting the highest proportion of licenses held by public houses with 42 per cent followed by South Lanarkshire (40 per cent) while rural areas such as the Shetland Islands and Eilean Siar had the lowest proportion of licences held by public houses with 12 per cent.
- The spread of the types of licences in Scotland has been gradually widening over the last two decades. From 1980 to 2007, there was a 20-fold increase in the number of refreshment licences (from 34 to 673) and a 64 per cent increase in the number of restaurant licences (from 921 to 1,514). In comparison, the number of hotel licences (excluding restricted hotels) decreased by 27 per cent (from 2,959 to 2,174) over this period.
- The number of off-sale licenses rose from 4,899 in 1980 to its highest number of 6,397 in 1999, an increase of 31 per cent, before remaining fairly static with 6,232 in 2007. Shops accounted for 52 per cent of known off-sale licences while supermarkets accounted for 9 per cent of known off-sale licences in 2007.
- There were 10,047 premises with one or more regular extensions to permitted hours at 31st December 2007. Of these, 47 per cent were public houses, 19 per cent were hotels and a further 20 per cent were registered clubs.
- The number of licences relative to population aged 18 years and over in 2007 varied considerably throughout the country, from 19 per 10,000 population in East Dunbartonshire, to 91 per 10,000 population in the Shetland Islands. The more rural areas generally had the highest rates with more urban areas, outside of the cities, having the lowest rates.
- During 2007, licensing boards considered a total of 705 new applications for liquor licenses, 5 less than in 2006. Of these, 666 applications (94 per cent) were granted a licence. Two per cent of applications for on-sale licenses were refused, compared with 10 per cent of those for off-sales.
- Licensing boards in Scotland suspended 29 licences in 2007. Of these, 14 of those licences suspended were for on-sale licences with 8 of those licences for public houses.
- There were a total of 2,242 registered clubs (golf, bowling, social etc.) at 31st December 2007, 43 fewer than at 31st December 2006.
- A total of 2,017 liquor licensing offences were recorded by the police in 2006-07. Of the 212 convictions in 2006-07, where a liquor licensing offence was the main offence, 83 per cent resulted in a financial penalty
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