Edinburgh licensees slam seating plans
Licensees in Edinburgh have expressed serious concern over council plans to force licensed premises to provide seats for at least 50% of drinkers. They are worried that some of the city's smaller, more characterful pubs, with limited seating, will lose out to the bigger players.
The Dagda Bar, in Edinburgh city centre, has only 28 seats and, under the new plans, the total capacity could be limited to just 56.
Sandy Patterson, licensee of the Dagda Bar, said: "It's a terrible idea and it will spoil the atmosphere at traditional pubs as well as hitting them financially. It will also send out a confused message about drinking culture - small historical venues with no history of trouble will be penalised for no reason at all."
Colin Wilkinson, secretary of the Scottish Licensed Trade Association (SLTA), said: "It's absolutely ridiculous. How can somebody sitting down cause less trouble than if they're standing up?
"The fact that licensees might be asked to force people to sit down is also extremely worrying. It's going to hit traditional pubs particularly hard but everybody's going to feel it if it comes in."
Licensing chiefs also want to cut weekday opening hours from 1am to midnight.
On the seating plan, the convenor of the Edinburgh City Council's licensing board Marjorie Thomas said: "This is a draft policy and we're very happy to talk about the proposals. Nothing is set in stone.
"We have been speaking to some hosts already, but I would welcome contact from others, including trade organisations, to discuss any concerns they may have."
