Q What is the future situation for caravan site clubs? I wrote to you some years ago about my site, where we have a proprietary club licence for the site users. We put on entertainment but because it is a private club we do not need a PEL from the council. What do we do about conversion? Do we stay as a club?
A It sees to me that you are caught up in the new legislation to a greater extent than before. Your route seems to be to obtain a revised premises licence for the site. The entertainment which you currently provide without the need for a licence is going to be caught by the new rules this means that all types of "regulated entertainment" must be covered by a premises licence or club premises certificate. You do not operate a registered club at present, but have a club licence, presumably with conditions limiting sales of alcohol to members and guests, and possibly with other conditions. Your current club licence will not mention entertainment at all.
So you are faced in any event with an application to vary the existing terms and conditions of your licence, in addition to obtaining "grandfather rights". So you will have to pay the additional fee and advertise your intentions if you wish to continue with regulated entertainment at the site club.
You should also consider whether you wish the club conditions to be removed entirely. There will be no such thing in future as a club licence, but obviously you will carry over your existing restrictive conditions in Part A. If you want to operate in a simpler way, seeing as you have to license your entertainment, you may think it worthwhile to operate as a straightforward licensed bar.
Representations may be made if you wish to "clean up" the licence, but I cannot see how the licensing objectives would be adversely affected if you did.
There's still life after the death of a licence holder
Q A local licence holder sadly died after a short illness recently and the family is continuing to run the premises, but doesn't the licence lapse when someone dies? Should they not apply for a new licence at the sessions next month? He was the only one on the licence.
A This issue came up last year when licences were renewed, and my answer is the same as it was then. There is provision in the Licensing Act to keep such a licence "alive" even when the sole holder has died.
The Act gives a right to the personal representatives of a deceased licensee to treat themselves as automatically holding a protection order for the premises from the date of death. This usually means someone in the family.
No application needs to be made at that time to the licensing justices and, technically, there appears no requirement even to notify the clerk or the police. But of course, it does mean that someone then has to apply in the usual way for a transfer of the licence within the specified period, which is set as the end of the second licensing sessions after the date of death. This is clearly important now in view of the need to complete the transition process in good time.
There is technically no need for a protection order or interim authority in these circumstances, but the opportunity should be taken as soon as possible for someone to put in for a transfer of the licence. In the circumstances that apply this year, I think you should advise the family to consult an experienced licensing practitioner who can ensure that the licence does not become "lost" at this difficult time.