The Scottish Beer & Pub Association have revealed that at least a fifth of pubs and hotels in Scotland have not lodged their licensing applications.
Under the Licensing Act 2005, licensees had to apply for a new premises licence in order to be able to sell alcohol by January 16. 3,100 of the anticipated 16,306 applications, which should have been lodged in the first 12 months of the licensing transition were not received. The Association believes that is because the cost and complexity of the new Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005 has discouraged pubs from doing so, and because a large number of premises have already ceased trading. Moray, the Shetland Islands and Orkney had the largest number of pubs failing to submit applications.
It will however only be on 1 September this year that a full assessment can be made of how many hotels and pubs have actually made the transition.
Disclaimer: the contents of this blog are not intended form the basis of legal advice. Independent legal advice should be taken from your own solicitor for all cases.
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It is a safe bet that these stats will be heralded by the Scottish Government as a triumph for their policy to reduce alcohol harm in Scotland. However the real harm will be to the rural hinterland of Scotland where there will be licensing deserts after 1 September 2009.
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