Ban on new pubs opening to curb alcohol-fuelled violence

We always tell our clients of the importance of a partnership approach to their business, an approach which makes them ‘part of the solution rather than part of the problem’.

Licensing is not an ‘us against them’ situation it is all about compromise and being part of the community you serve. This is especially difficult in urban areas where much of the trade is ‘passing trade’ or the ‘after work crowd’. These customers do not have a vested interest in the problems faced by residents and as such licence holders have to make an extra effort to keep local residents on-side.

Setting up a local pubwatch or townwatch is a great way to achieve this and to include the local residents, police and licensing authorities in this process can be very effective.

The consequence of failure is for all to suffer the same fate. In this case a ‘saturations zone’ being declared on The Cut right next to London Waterloo station looks likely.

As always it is the responsible retailers who suffer most for the sins of irresponsible retailers. Most responsible alcohol retailers welcome strong enforcement of the current legislation which should be adequate to deal with those premises causing many of the problems. When you run a professional business these regulations don’t worry you and licensing inspectors will not trouble you.

It is important to know what your local authority’s licensing policy is and how it will affect your business; The Cut is important to us as it lies within a few hundred feet of one of our London training bases located on the other side of London Waterloo mainline train station.

 

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Source – Evening Standard 

Date – 16th March 2010