As part of the Governments review of licensing two new measure to control the ‘night time economy’ more closely will come into force on October 31st 2012. They are the early morning restriction orders (EMROs), which will restrict the sale of alchohol in areas designated by local licensing authorities and late night levies (LNL), which will allow local authorities to levy a charge on premises selling alcohol in designated areas who wish to stay open after midnight.
Copies of the Regulations can be found by following these links:
As with all regulations there are exemptions, which, means not all pubs will be affected by them. In many cases LNL and EMRO may only be applied in town / city centres … you need to check with your local licensing authority as to how they are applying the regulations. For those affected by either LNL or EMRO the regulations confirm the lists of exempt premises and days in respect of the LNL and EMRO.
In the case of an EMRO, exempt premises are defined as a hotel or comparable premises (such as a guest house, lodging house or hostel) at which the supply of alcohol between midnight and 6am on any day may only be made to a person
- who is staying at the premises; and
- for consumption only in the room at which the person is staying on the premises.
In addition, all premises which are authorised to supply alcohol for consumption on the premises between midnight and 6am on 1st January in every year (but are not so authorised at those times on any other day in any year) are also exempt.
In the case of the LNL, local authorities are provided with a list of premises which they can choose to exempt from the levy including:
- Hotels in respect of their guests consuming on the premises
- Theatre & Cinemas, for ticket holders
- Bingo Clubs (but not other gaming premises such as Casinos)
- Premises that may trade between midnight and 6am on New Years Eve
Premises in rural areas (as defined by reference to the Local Government Finance Act1988) or those in a Business Improvement District (as defined by the Local Government Act 2003) may also be exempt.
The Local Authority may choose to exclude any premises from this list, or not, as they deem appropriate.