Landlords have welcomed a brand new bid to make it simpler to increase pub opening hours for events of nationwide significance – like main sporting occasions.
It comes after licensees and councils confronted an “admin nightmare” when England reached the Women’s World Cup ultimate this summer time. Currently, when Parliament is in recess, pubs have to use for license extensions individually – losing time and inflicting pointless paperwork for landlords and councils.
But a brand new invoice, proposed by Labour MP Emma Lewell-Buck, would grant the Home Secretary the ability to difficulty blanket extensions. Victoria Mavin, who runs the Bellringer in Stoke, stated her enterprise was “hugely impacted” when the Lionesses went by way of to the ultimate – as a result of there wasn’t time to use for an extension.
“We lost out on revenue,” she advised this newspaper. “At the moment pubs need every penny they can get with the state of the industry right now. We couldn’t open until the time the match started and it meant huge losses for us. It could easily have been another few hundred pounds in our till.”
She welcomed the transfer, which has authorities backing and is more likely to sail by way of is remaining parliamentary stage – however stated it has been too lengthy coming.
She added: “For us to apply for a temporary event notice it takes five days, I think, to process. There was no way on this earth that was ever going to go through and no Council in the country would have been able to deal with those quick enough. It just would have been an absolute admin nightmare for them.
“It’s a very archaic system. And thankfully, somebody’s acknowledged that and done something about it, which is great.”
Ms Lewell-Buck stated she was “delighted” her invoice had discovered help in Parliament. She stated: “Pubs are at the heart of our communities, its where we come together to celebrate important events with our friends and family. But the sector has faced a difficult few years and it deserves a boost.”
She added: “It’s not often parties across this House agree on issues, but ensuring the public can gather together in the pub for large national events is one we certainly do have in common and with continued cross-party support I am confident that my bill will pass the remaining stages”
Emma McClarkin, chair of the British Bar and Pub Association, who backed the invoice, stated: “Ahead of the Budget when we urge the Chancellor to cut beer duty, cap the business rates multiplier and reduce the VAT applied for hospitality, this Bill shows the way that Parliament can improve the licensing arrangements to which pubs must operate and more easily serve their communities and bring people together at times of great national significance.
“The British Beer and Pub Association, representing the UK’s much-loved beer and pub sector, will continue to fully support Emma Lewell-Buck and her team going forward for the next stage of the passing of the Bill and will be meeting with supporters in Parliament to help ensure that this is approved and passes into law.”