Pubs face drinking deadline

Concerned licensees have inundated Arun District Council with letters and phone calls asking where their new licences are, but police insist they will still take a "robust" approach to alcohol licensing, with extra patrols this weekend as the new legislation comes into force.

Around 140 of the 500 or so premises that applied for licences in Arun have still not received them, all of them venues which wanted longer hours or other changes. Those which kept to their old hours have been issued their licences already.

Rosie Bomford, licensing officer at Arun, said: "There was a real surge in late applications, with many coming in at the end of July and beginning of August.

"Each of these applications takes a long time to complete with various correspondence and representations to be made and the combination of that amount of time and the amount of applications has caused the delays.

"We are working as fast as we can to get the licences out."

Each licensee has been sent a letter by Arun outlining the situation and reassuring them that they will not face prosecution for not displaying their licence, as they have not received it yet.

However, the letter does not state the new opening hours of the premises and it has been left up to landlords to remember what hours they applied for and what were granted at their licensing meeting at Arun, some of which were six months ago.

The lack of written hours also means that the police will be unsure of exactly when a premises should close and will have to refer to Arun for the hours.

PC Dave Whitcombe, Sussex Police licensing officer for Arun, said: "We are fully aware of the problems in Arun and these delays are happening all over the country.

"We were expecting about 500 applications in Arun but had closer to 700 because some licensees applied more than once and made amendments.

"The council have been asked to do the impossible in getting all these licences out on time. The licences are seven pages long and there is an even thicker document detailing the full terms.

"As police we will have a difficult job because we can't take action against conditions we don't know exist.

"At the moment I can go into any pub in Littlehampton and know what time they have to stop serving, because with a few exceptions, it's 11pm.

"Now though, every pub can have different opening hours and many have different hours on weekends and weekdays.

"I will be asking questions of licensees about their licences and will contact the council to confirm any details."

Andrew Brown, landlord of The New Inn in Norfolk Road, Littlehampton, who applied for his licence back in April, said the delay didn't worry him because he knew his new hours and would stick to them.

"I've received my letter from the council telling me about the delay," he said. "But I do want further confirmation that it will be enough if the police come to check my licence."

But Keith Ward, landlord at The Marine in Selborne Road, Littlehampton, has received neither his licence nor a letter from Arun.

"I was hoping the licence would be waiting on the mat for this morning," he said. "The council have had everything from us and said there was no problem so I don't know what the delay is."

Martin White, of E. J. Moyle solicitors in Littlehampton warned that Arun could face legal actions from frustrated licensees who did not feel the letter sent by the council to be an adequately legal document.

"The licensee could sue Arun for a loss of profit for not satisfying their statutory requirement of issuing a license," he said.

Mr White called for an amnesty up until Christmas to give Arun time to send out the licences and licensees time to understand them fully.

PC Whitcombe agreed that an amnesty of sorts was what was already planned by the police. He said: "We will not be taking action against people for not displaying their licences because it's impossible for them to display something they haven't got.

"However, we will still be taking a robust approach to licensing and will be visiting premises in Littlehampton and Bognor this weekend.

"We are not out to find petty reasons for prosecuting premises.

"We are not out to catch people out for making mistakes. We still intend as a police force to work with licensees and we want to keep that relationship going."