Licensing Hours Relaxed for Royal Wedding

licensing hours order Licensed premises in England and Wales will be permitted to sell alcohol for consumption on the premises until 01.00 to celebrate the Royal Wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton.

In practice this means that premises whose usual licensing hours for the sale / supply of alcohol for consumption on the premises end before 1am, will be allowed to open for a few additional hours to allow their customers to celebrate the event deemed to be of 'exceptional international, national or local significance'.

Dates & Times:

Friday 29^th April 2011 permitted to open until 01.00 (Saturday 30^th April 2011)
Saturday 30^th April 2011 permitted to open until 01.00 (Sunday 1^st May 2011)

There are some important factors to remember in relation to this order;

It applies to:

The Sale or Supply of Alcohol for consumption on the premises
Late night refreshment (the sale of hot food and / or hot drink after 23.00 and before 05.00) for consumption on the premises where the premises already has a licence for late night refreshment AND the sale of alcohol.
Regulated Entertainment where it is covered by the existing premises licence / club premises certificate.

It does NOT apply to:

Off-sales; where alcohol is sold for consumption off the premises
Late night refreshment where the hot food or drink is for consumption off the premises; (ie. take-away) or where the premises are not licensed to sell alcohol.

This ‘licensing hours order’ has been voted through by the House of Commons and thus applies to all premises in England & Wales with a premises licence or club premises certificate allowing the sale / supply of alcohol. Premises need not make any form of application in relation to these extended hours, but can simply apply them.

A note of caution, although this order has now been passed by the House of Commons, it still needs to pass through the House of Lords to become law; this is assumed to be a formality and it would be highly unusual for the House of Lords to block such an order; however until such time as this has occurred it will not be law.

At Beyond the Blue Training & Consultancy we deliver a number of different courses and services including;

Consultancy Service – Covers a variety of areas from developing effective workplace systems, re-focusing our clients business to guide them towards their goals and assisting with licence applications.
Alcohol Licensing – Courses include the Award for Personal Licence Holders Course / APLH Course which qualifies candidates to apply for their personal licence; the Award in Responsible Alcohol Retailing Course / ARAR designed for front-line staff to meet their statutory requirements; the Award for Designated Premises Supervisors Course / ADPS Course.