Almost eight in 10 licensees want licensing control to remain with magistrates, according to a new report.
The report, commissioned by pub chain JD Wetherspoon, asked a total of 1,017 licensees for their views on licensing reform. It concluded that 79 per cent favoured magistrates over government plans to give local authorities control of licensing.
It also found that 90 per cent of licensees had not been consulted over plans for licensing reform.
The survey is the latest step in a campaign by JD Wetherspoon boss Tim Martin to prevent licensing control moving to local authorities.
The move had been proposed in the licensing reform White Paper that was dropped from the Queen's Speech at the last minute and is now likely to be delayed by at least two years. Mr Martin sees the delay as an opportunity to step up his lobbying efforts and promote the alternative licensing bill he has drawn up.
He, along with his supporters, claimed the Government's proposals would have been damaging to the pub trade. He warned that a move to local authority control would have led to increased red tape, politically-biased decisions and raised costs.
But he clashed with other industry leaders, including the Brewers and Licensed Retailers Association, who claimed the reforms would benefit licensees by extending hours and introducing dual-licensing.
Welcoming the results of the survey, Mr Martin said: "The survey clearly illustrates the total disarray on licensing reform."
He called on ministers to use deregulation to introduce extended opening separately from the rest of the proposals.
"Licensing reform is necessary and a simple deregulation order could allow flexible opening hours to happen within a few weeks," he added.