Appetite for 24-hour licences limited to 240

by Ewan Turney

Only 240 pubs, bars and nightclubs have been granted a 24-hour licence - an average of less than one per local authority.

The Department for Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) statistics prove that fears peddled by the Daily Mail that Britain would be blighted by scores of pubs opening all day and all night were unfounded.

A DCMS survey of 270 of Britain's 351 licensing authorities revealed that 700 premises, including supermarkets and hotels, had been granted a 24-hour licence. With some applications still pending, that number is expected to approach 1,000 premises from a total of 200,000. Around half of all premises have applied for some form of variation in hours.

'We've always believed that, over all, very few premises would apply for 24-hour licences - our original prediction was that 1% to 2% would do so,' said a DCMS spokesman. 'These figures suggest that about 0.5% of all venues have actually been granted them.

'In the case of pubs and bars, indications from the trade are that many of those with 24-hour licences merely want the flexibility to use them on special occasions - for example to show sporting events on the other side of the world. 'They don't necessarily intend to make it a regular occurrence.'

Just one Punch pub from an estate of 8,200 has applied for a 24-hour licence. 'The pub is the Flag on the docks at Dover, where there is always some work going on,' said director of commercial services Francis Patton.

'They have done it because the police are happy for it to happen and that is what other pubs in the area have done to provide flexibility.'

Patton believes that even an estimate of 240 pubs, bars and nightclubs may be too high. 'If we have one in our estate, where are the others?'

British Beer & Pub Association chief executive Rob Hayward added: 'Predictions that pubs will be open for 24 hours were wide of the mark and have not been borne out by the trend in applications under the new Licensing Act.'