We recently reported on the 2017 statistics on alcohol licensing, speculating as to why the number of premises called to review has declined more than 50% since 2010 when recording began.
Whilst top level licensing figures may not be the most valuable source of information about changes taking place around alcohol retailing practices and the Night Time Economy (NTE), such a significant drop against a modest rise in total licensed premises is intriguing.
Below we highlight comments on the possible reasons from some selected experts involved in licensing or the trade.
Dr Ghazaleh Pashmi, Director at the Safe Sociable London Partnership, said:
“Whilst we lack any clear evidence on the reasons behind declining reviews, there are most likely several possible factors in play. A shrinking in Local Authority (LAs) budgets and the number of people involved in overseeing premises and reviews certainly looks a likely influence. Most LAs appear to now take a more passive approach as only look into premises which have been identified as problematic or have received complaints about. This contrasts to when teams were better resourced in the past and able to more proactively conduct operations such as test purchasing or work with other teams such as the fire department, immigration etc.
However most LAs have now reviewed their statements of licensing policies which may have improved the guidance from LAs to premises and potentially have helped, although it is hard to see this as having more than a minor impact. It is also possible that there may have been an impact from the elections, where a change in councillors or majority party may have led to a different general approach to businesses and regulation.”
Trudi Penman, Licensing and Health and Safety Divisional Manager at the London Borough of Havering, said:
"I think the reason that the number of reviews has gone down is that there is more work done with businesses prior to a review. If there is an issue officers will talk to the business to highlight the problems and help them to develop an action plan to resolve the issue. If the business completes the action plan then the problem is resolved and there is no need to continue to a review. However if the business doesn’t want to take advice or work together to solve the issue then a review will generally follow."
Phil Mellows, a journalist and blogger who has been writing about beer and pubs for more than 30 years, said:
"Falling numbers of licence reviews should be put in the context of a pub and bar industry that is continuing to undergo change and where operators are having to adapt and generally raise their game. Survival, on the high street in particular, means relying less on selling large volumes of cheap booze and more on having a diversified offer, including food. Operators have steadily become more professional and recognise they have to work closely with the police and licensing authority to minimise the chances of getting into trouble. Those that fail to do this well have likely withdrawn from the market, leaving us with a higher concentration of better operators who are less likely to have their licence reviewed."
Dr Phil Hadfield, a Licensing Consultant and Author of ‘Bar Wars’ (2005) and ‘Nightlife and Crime’ (2009), said:
"The reduction in Reviews will certainly be due to a combination of factors, although I am not of the opinion that improved ‘partnership’ working between licensed operators and regulators is the driving force behind the decreased use of formal sanctions. Partnership initiatives such as Pub Watch have been in place for many years, whilst more recent schemes such as Best Bar None appear only to mirror statutory requirements and have not been subject to rigorous independent evaluation. Most evaluations of Corporate Social Responsibility schemes are able to point to improvements in communication and trust between local partners, but evidence of proven reductions in alcohol related crime and disorder or levels of drunkenness are scant.
The severe funding cuts faced by local authorities in recent years, combined with the longstanding position of the police licensing office as a ‘Cinderella’ service are factors very likely to be compounding the feeling of an ‘inequality of arms’ when it comes to licensing litigation; a situation that was already apparent under the pre-2005 licensing regime (as described in my book, Bar Wars).
Furthermore, in recent years, government guidance and strategy documents have positioned the partnership narrative as ‘the way things are usually done’, with more formal sanctions such as Review framed as actions of last resort. This official line, combined with the feeling of an inequality of arms has discouraged some LAs and Police from committing resources to litigation.
There has also be a honing of arguments amongst a whole industry of well-resourced lawyers representing trade interests as the Licensing Act 2003 and surrounding case law and guidance has embedded. Of course, many legal judgments and aspects of guidance have also strengthened the hand of regulators; however, legal and quasi-legal expertise in supporting LA and police policies and practices may have waned due to fewer contested cases from which to draw experience.
A further important factor may well be that the ‘millennial’ generation is, for whatever reasons, simply drinking less than previous generations; less prone to hedonism than their predecessors who were not so burdened with student debt, high housing costs and an ultra-competitive graduate jobs market, for example. Should this be the case it would not be surprising to find fewer issues of crime, disorder and public nuisance in and around licensed premises."
Where next?
The Government recently responded to the Lords Committee licensing review which called for a fundamental overhaul of the Act, describing its application as 'something of a lottery'. The response though, while recognising some of the recommendations, does not suggest any fundamental changes can be expected. However an extensive 2016 report on the Act by the Institute of Alcohol Studies' (IAS) argued the problems were "only half diagnosed" by the Lords review making further calls such as the introduction of a health objective and for restrictions on off-trade hours. Perhaps of most relevance in terms of falling reviews, the IAS report also called for LAs to use the Act's options for enforcement in a more assertive manner.
For the meantime, national policy debates look set to focus on pricing issues with potential duty changes to be announced in the Autumn budget this week and lots of attention to Minimum Unit Pricing following the final verdict on Scotland's bid last week. Debates over the suitability of the current Licensing Act are still likely to return in the coming years, particularly whilst unknowns behind trends in figures remain.
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