Pubs charging entry fees

Q I used to believe it was illegal for a pub to charge an entrance fee for the bar itself.

However, I recently went to another entertainment pub not far from mine where I was refused entry to the actual bar unless I paid £3.

Is this legal?

I remember you saying that charging for TV football in a pub was not allowed.

A Was he charging for football, or for musical entertainment?

He could be in trouble if he wanted people to pay to watch a match on TV, but with that exception, it isn't illegal for a pub to make a charge for entry to entertainment, either as a "one-off" or regularly.

And that applies to the bar, too.

There is a popular misconception that a public house is a public place, and that there is some ancient right for anyperson to be admitted to such premises during the permitted hours, as long as he is properly dressed and sober.

In fact, entirely the opposite is the case.

A public house is, in essence, a private place, and persons enter and remain entirely at the behest of the licensee or person in charge of the premises.

The "right" to remain may be withdrawn at any time, because the licensee is entitled to accept or reject whoever he chooses, subject only to the legal restrictions on actual discrimination merely on the basis of race, colour, gender or disability.

This means that there is no legal requirement that all or one of the bars of a pub must be constantly available to the public during the permitted hours.

A pub may hold private functions, or restricted functions, and is entitled to refuse admission to anyone not holding a ticket or authority to enter.

It is also not illegal to make an admission charge for acertain event or special evening, fixing the charge atwhatever level the landlord wishes.

Where entertainmentis provided, some pubs may charge for admission onevery night of the week, without losing their status aspublic houses.

The problem only occurs with copyright laws on TV, films and video, for which charging would definitely be illegal.

Notices for extended hours Q When we took over our pub it had a supper hour certificate and we have never been challenged about it.

But last week, the police licensing officer visited us about something else and looked around.

He said we had to have a notice up at the bar entrance.

Is this right

and what should it say?

A He is right.

Although there is no obligation on a licence holder to post up the actual permitted hours of the premises, the Licensing Act requires a notice when those hours are extended on a regular basis.

This applies not only to the supper hour certificate, but also to a general order of exemption under section 74, and an extended hours order or a special hours certificate.

The requirement is to keep a notice posted "in someconspicuous place" in that part of the premises to which the extension applies.

If it is the whole pub, then the most obvious place is at the entrance.

If it is the restaurant or dining area, as in your case, then the notice should be positioned at the customer entrance to that area.

There is no statutory form of notice, but it should state the effect of the extension and the days on which it operates.

Drinking up in Scotland Q I had an argument with a Scottish licensee recently about drinking-up time and meals.

He says in Scotland it is only 15 minutes, but we have half an hour.

A

So do they, but the permission is more restrictive than in England and Wales.

The drinking-up time is only allowed at a meal, so if someone has actually finished their meal, they are subject to the same 15-minute concession as everyone else.