Case Studies - What happens when things go wrong?

The Party Pooper

One licensee, the Designated Premises Supervisor for his pub, had a private party ruined by over zealous authorities. How could Licence999 have ensured that the party popped instead of pooped?

A licensee was celebrating a private birthday party in his pub on a Saturday night. He had a licence until midnight but once customers had gone home he wanted to keep his close family and friends in the pub for an hour more for drinks. A female singer was also going to carry on singing for that extra hour. All the drinks were free and he was also serving hot tea and coffee.

The problems started when the authorities were informed and gave the licensee inaccurate legal advice about the private party for friends and family, effectively ruining his plans, and telling him he had to close at midnight. The landlord's knowledge of the Licensing Act was also questioned.

An officer visited the premises on the Saturday night after midnight and found the pub in darkness. The party had ended.

The only consequence of the whole story is that this private function was "ruined" as the landlord worried from the moment the authorities contacted him on the Friday before the party, and sent all his close family away from the premises, quite unnecessarily, on the basis of defective legal "advice" given to him.

If the landlord had contacted Licence999 on the Friday afternoon, then he would have been told that his close family could attend, stay beyond midnight and continue drinking as the landlord's guests, whilst being entertained by the female singer.

The moral of the story? Even the authorities can get the law wrong!