Small Businesses Set to Benefit From Relaxed Alcohol Rules

The government has launched a consultation to discuss the details of a new alcohol licence that could greatly benefit small businesses and charities.

 

The Community and Ancillary Sellers' Notice (CAN) is part of the Deregulation Bill being considered by Parliament. The aim of the consultation is to work out the details of the new licence, such as the exact limits of alcohol that could be served, which businesses will be eligible, how often events can be held and details of the fee.

The result might make it easier and cheaper for businesses like bed and breakfasts to sell limited amounts of alcohol. Currently they have to apply for the same licences as larger establishments, costing anywhere between £100 and £1900, on top of the £75 application fee. This is making the licences too expensive, given the low volume of sales they are likely to make.

The government says the CAN should only apply to small providers of overnight accommodation, who wish to sell small amounts of alcohol as part of the service they already provide, and to community groups such as charities that hold occasional events at which they would like to sell alcohol.

The governments proposal is that for a low, one-off fee, a CAN user would for three years be able to sell a limited amount alcohol between the hours of 7am and 11pm. Community groups would be able to name up to three premises at which they will sell alcohol at organised events, with a maximum of 300 attendees.

The Minister of State for Crime Prevention, Lynn Featherstone, said "The Coalition Government is committed to reducing the unnecessary burdens on responsible businesses, but not at the expense of undermining safeguards against crime and disorder or public nuisance, and we want to get this balance right. "

Furniture Shop Applies for Licence to Serve Alcohol

The owner of a furniture shop in East Street Farnham, which controversially also serves alcohol has applied for a licence, after being ordered to close on the 10th June.

Simon Atkins said his "experiment" at Innsatiable, where free drinks are offered in exchange for the purchase of beer mats, had nothing left to prove and he now planned to expand the unlicensed model into London and Winchester.

The shop was ordered to be closed until all alcohol was removed after an ooperation by undercover police officers in May, were able to prove licencing rules were broken, officers did this by successfully arguing that Innsatiable’s beer mat pricing structure was a smokescreen, and that not enough effort was made to properly explain what customers were actually buying.

“Farnham is just the start for us,” said Mr Atkins. “We have done what we needed to do here – what do we have to prove any more?”

Mr Atkins accepts that he fell foul of the rules, but he believes the transgressions can easily be put right with a simplified pricing structure, and that Innsatiable’s unlicensed model is essentially sound and can be replicated. He is currently in negotiations with investors to open clone establishments in Shoreditch and Winchester High Street.

“We’re totally confident we will be able to operate legally in the new premises,” said Mr Atkins. “Our controversial concept will go down a storm in Shoreditch.”

Innsatiable opened back in July 2012 offering alcohol without a licence until October that year, when it obtained a licence for 12 months only to surrender it after police inspections.

Mr Atkins maintains the effort to close him down was the result of licenced venues complaining to police in an effort to protect their businesses, particularly since Innsatiable installed a dance floor and live performance facilities.

Town and Waverley borough councillor Carole Cockburn said: “The town council received many, many complaints about unruly behaviour, many of them from families with children walking past on a Saturday afternoon. Normal licensed premises were under a duty to prevent people who appeared to be drunk from obtaining more alcohol, I’m glad Mr Atkins will be under the same obligation.”

While he waits to be granted a licence, the landlord is preparing to launch a range of homemade beers infused with spirits, known as 'speers'.

Providing there were no objections, Innsatiable should have received a premises licence from Waverley Borough Council by July 16