BBPA statement on Theresa May’s speech and Home Office Licensing Law Consultation
28.07.2010
Brigid Simmonds, chief executive of the British Beer & Pub Association said:
“We support the Government’s review of the licensing laws. We stand right behind the objective of giving local people the powers they need to tackle anti-social behaviour and take action against any licensed venue or person that is causing problems for their community.
“Many of the new powers the Government is talking about actually already exist, and need to be used effectively. A very positive result that could come from this review is greater clarity for local people, local authorities and local police about the powers they do have and greater encouragement to use them.
“We would also like to see a renewed focus on individual responsibility. While it is absolutely right to hold business to account, it is equally vital to hold individuals responsible for their behaviour – drunken louts need to be penalised for the menace they cause to their communities.
“Pinning the consultation to 24 hour drinking is a bit like tilting at windmills. 24 hour drinking is and always has been an enormous urban myth – great for headline writers, but far from reality. There’s not a single pub in the country that is open for 24 hours, or anything close to 24 hours. Pubs are open for an extra hour on a Friday and Saturday night, which has given people and communities a bit more flexibility and choice in their leisure time than they had before. Only four per cent of all licenses are 24 hour licences and nearly 80 per cent of those are hotels and supermarkets – who of course now sell 70 per cent of all the alcohol we drink today. The rest are mainly nightclubs.”
Notes to Editor
The British Beer & Pub Association is the UK’s leading organisation representing the brewing and pub sector. Its members account for 98 per cent of the beer brewed in the UK and own nearly two thirds of Britain’s 52,500 pubs.
For further information contact:
Mark Hastings
Director of Communications
mhastings@beerandpub.com
Tel: 020 7627 9151 / 07784 181794