the Diamond Jubilee weekend 2012 and licensing hour
extensions
The consultation period on the forthcoming celebratory weekend
and extensions to licensing hours for premises licences ended at
the beginning of December 2011.
The Government had looked at the apparent success of the
extensions granted for the Royal Wedding in 2011 and their
preferred option for the Jubilee was a repetition of the Friday and
Saturday 1 am extensions. The trade had made
representations during the consultation period that the extension
should apply to the Sunday and Monday on the basis that many
premises already benefit from late hours on Friday and
Saturday.
The Home Office has now laid a draft Statutory Instrument for
approval by resolution of each House of Parliament under Section
172 of the Licensing Act 2003. It is expected that the order will
simply be rubber-stamped by Parliament given the national importance of the
celebrations.
The Order will be called the Licensing Act 2003 (Diamond Jubilee
Licensing Hours) Order 2012.
The celebration period begins on 1 June 2012 and ends on 3 June
2012 and operates between 11 pm and 1 am as a
two hour extension of all licensable activities permitted
by an individual premises licence at 11
pm on each of the 1 June 2012 and 2 June 2012 (Friday
and Saturday nights). It
does not add any
regulated entertainment where that is not
permitted at 11 pm by the premises licence and so
a TEN would be required if premises wish to
provide entertainment which is not already covered by their
existing licence .
The Order also
provides for extended hours
for late night refreshment but only for premises used for the
sale or supply of alcohol for consumption on the premises.
Takeaways are therefore
excluded.
The extended
opening hours do not apply to premises licensed for the sale of
alcohol for consumption off the premises only, or the supply of alcohol
by or on behalf of a
club for consumption off the premises.
Separately, the Bank Holiday, or late May Bank Holiday, has also
been moved for 2012 only to Monday 4 June and a special Bank
Holiday has been created to celebrate the Jubilee itself on Tuesday
5 June.
Operators may wish to consider the use of temporary event
notices to either extend the two days subject to the Order or
alternatively the Sunday or Monday, for example, dependent upon
whether or not an individual premises licence provides an extension
of hours for the Bank Holiday weekend in any event.
[At least this represents some good news for the trade at a time
when consultations have also begun on the Late Night
Levy and Early Morning Restriction Orders.]
