Alcohol licensing laws of the United Kingdom
The alcohol licensing laws of the United Kingdom regulate the sale and consumption of alcohol, with separate legislation for England and Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland being passed, as necessary, by the UK Parliament, the Northern Ireland Assembly and the Scottish Parliament respectively.
Throughout the United Kingdom, the sale of alcohol is restricted—pubs, restaurants, shops and other premises must be licensed by the local authority. In England, Wales and Scotland the authority to sell alcohol is divided into two parts—the Premises Licence, which prescribes the times and conditions under which alcohol may be sold, and a Personal Licence, which allows individuals to sell alcohol or authorise its sale by others. Every Premises Licence that authorises the sale of alcohol must also name a Designated Premises Supervisor, or Designated Premises Manager in Scotland, who must hold a valid Personal Licence—otherwise alcohol may not be sold at those premises. The DPS has day-to-day responsibility for the sale of alcohol at licensed premises. Premises Licences, in as far as they concern the sale of alcohol, can be categorised to include on-licences and off-licences. However, these distinctions are not explicitly made in the Licensing Act 2003, and the position in Scotland and Northern Ireland is more complex. Many on-licensed premises also permit off-sales.
The minimum age at which people are legally allowed to purchase alcohol is 18. Adults purchasing alcohol on behalf of a person under 18 in a pub or from an off-licence are potentially liable to prosecution alongside the vendor.
However, legislation does allow for the consumption of alcohol by those under 18 in the following circumstances:
- The individual is aged 5 or older, and is at home or on other private premises—except in Scotland, where there is no longer a minimum age for alcohol consumption.
- The individual is aged 16 or 17 and the alcohol, which may be beer, wine or cider only, is consumed with a table meal.
The Licensing Act 2003 thoroughly revised and consolidated into one Act all the many separate legislative provisions that previously covered licensed premises in England and Wales. The Licensing Act 2005 brought the same reforms to Scotland.
The same reforms have been proposed for Northern Ireland, but have not been enacted; sale of alcohol there remains more strictly regulated than in Great Britain.
History
Medieval period
Within the British Isles, records show that ale was consumed in huge quantities without regulation throughout the medieval period. In 1272, a husband and wife who retired at Selby Abbey in North Yorkshire were provided with of ale per day along with two loaves of white bread and one loaf of brown bread. This was because beer was an important source of nutrition in medieval England. At the start of 14th century, it ranked alongside pottage and bread as one of three main sources of grain in the diet. Grains accounted for around 80% of the calorie intake of agricultural workers. Even the nobility received around 65% of their calories from grains.Everyone, including children, drank small beer, which has also been known as table beer or mild beer. This was a highly nutritious beverage that contained just enough alcohol to act as a preservative. It also provided hydration without the intoxicating effects of drunkenness. In the 1520s, brewers in Coventry produced of small beer per annum. By the 17th century in England, small beer was an excise class, which was determined by its wholesale price.
Small beer remained socially acceptable throughout 18th-century England because its lower alcohol content permitted people to drink several glasses without becoming drunk. William Hogarth's 1751 portrait Beer Street shows a group of happy workers going about their business after drinking table beer. It remained popular during the 19th century as the drink of choice for families and servants.
The lower cost for proprietors combined with the lower taxes levied on small beer inevitably led to the selling of some beer labelled "strong beer" that had actually been diluted with small beer.
First legislative controls
Late in the 17th century, the government enacted a range of measures aimed at restricting brandy imports and encouraging domestic gin production. As a result gin consumption rose sharply and, by 1740, half of the 15,000 drinking establishments in London were gin-shops. This period came to be known as the 'Gin Craze'. In an attempt to bring the situation under control, Parliament passed five major Acts, in 1729, 1736, 1743, 1747 and 1751, aimed at reducing the consumption of gin. The Gin Act 1736 imposed a prohibitively high duty on gin, but caused rioting, so the duty was gradually reduced and then abolished in 1742. The Gin Act 1751 was more successful: instead of a tax it restricted gin producers to selling to licensed premises only.The Universities Act 1743 was enacted to control the supply and sale of wine within the precincts of British educational institutions.
Implementation of restrictions
During the 19th century, licensing laws began to restrict the opening hours of premises. The Sunday Closing Act 1881 required the closure of all public houses in Wales on Sundays.With the outbreak of First World War, the UK Parliament passed the Defence of the Realm Act 1914. One section of the act concerned the hours pubs could sell alcohol, as it was believed that alcohol consumption would interfere with the war effort. Licensed premises were restricted to opening for luncheon and supper.
The restrictions on serving alcohol in the UK continued after the war. In 1921 the wartime restrictions were extended indefinitely with the passing of the Licensing Act 1921. The law meant that pubs in urban areas could open between 11.30am and 3pm, and between 6.30pm and 11pm. Pubs outside urban areas could open between 11.30am and 3pm but only between 6.30pm and 10pm after that. Sunday opening times were limited to a maximum of five hours divided between 12noon–3pm and 6pm–10pm. All licensed premises in Wales and Monmouthshire were banned from opening on Sundays. However, private members' clubs were permitted to set their own opening times according to their own club by-laws after obtaining permission to serve alcohol from the relevant licensing justices of a licensing district. Two years later, the first woman MP in the UK Parliament Nancy Astor got her bill, the Intoxicating Liquor Act 1923, passed into UK law. It still remains an offence to serve alcohol to anyone aged under 18 in the UK.
The law did not change in the UK through the interwar period, Second World War, and post-war period. One of the reasons that restrictions were not lifted, despite a Royal Commission in 1929–31 looking into Licensing in the British Isles, was the pervasive attitude that public houses, in general, were "disreputable drinking dens".
In the 1960s, several new licence acts were enacted into UK law. One defined what sort of places, such as bars, pubs, restaurants, hotels and clubs, could serve alcohol. Another made it an offence to sell alcohol in any premises without first getting a licence from a licensing authority. However, none of these new Acts changed the times that alcohol could be served.
Repeal of restrictive laws
It was not until Scotland became the first part of the UK to repeal the times people could drink that the law had changed in more than 50 years. When the new licensing laws of the Licensing Act 1976 came into effect in 1977, local authorities in Scotland were given the powers to determine opening hours.More than 10 years later, the restrictive licensing laws were repealed in England and Wales with the passing of the Licensing Act 1988. On 21 August 1988, for the first time in almost 75 years, British pubs were permitted to remain open through the day; uninterrupted consumption of alcohol was allowed on premises from 11:00 until 23:00. In November 2005, revised rules were introduced which scrapped hour limits. All pubs were allowed to apply for licences as permissive as "24 hours a day".
Traditionally, the phrase "Last orders!" is still often used to announce the last opportunity to purchase drinks, typically ten or fifteen minutes in advance and is often announced via a bell. At the point when the bar will no longer serve drinks, the bar staff will announce "Time, please!", again, either shouted or by use of a bell.
Regulatory licences
On-licence
On-licence describes an establishment where alcohol must be consumed at the point of sale, such as a pub, bar, nightclub or café.The name derives from the distinction between types of licence that could be granted—a distinction now repealed in England and Wales, and repealed in Scotland in 2009. In England and Wales, the magistrates would formerly grant either an "off" licence, permitting the sale of intoxicating liquor for consumption only off the premises, or an "on" licence, permitting sale for consumption on the premises—which permitted, to a limited extent, off sales, too: many public houses were permitted off sales, to sell sealed alcoholic drinks for consumption elsewhere. A restaurant licence was an on-licence with a restaurant condition attached. Until 2009, in Scotland the types of licence were Hotel, Public House, Restricted Hotel, Restaurant, Entertainment, Off-Sale, and Refreshment licences. In Northern Ireland, there are [|numerous] types of licence.
Under the Licensing Act 2003 and the Licensing Act 2005, there is only one type of Premises Licence, though the conditions placed on each one will determine whether on sales or off sales are permitted.
The Premises Licence is granted to a person, and not to the establishment. Before the Licensing Act 2003 came into effect, there was a legal requirement to display the name of the licensee above the entrance to an on-licence location. The sign would typically say " licensed for the sale of alcoholic beverages for consumption on the premises". Under the 2003 Act, that requirement has been repealed, although such signs are still often seen. Instead, the Premises Licence holder must ensure that the official summary of the licence is prominently displayed on the premises, as well as the name and position of any person nominated as the custodian of the summary Premises Licence.