Pub in mourning banned from selling alcohol

A grieving son has slammed a council for banning his pub from selling alcohol after he failed to change licence details within a week of his father's death.

Julian Hyland and his family were left devastated when 64-year-old John Hyland died from bowel cancer last month.

But now the family's livelihoods have been put under threat because they missed a seven-day deadline to change the licence of their pub - the Dyffryn Arms, in Neath, South Wales - into mother Sonia Hyland's name.

Neath and Port Talbot Council initially banned the pub from opening at all. Now, after a partial climb down, the pub can open while the licence is being processed - but the Hylands are not allowed to sell alcohol.

Julian said the business was at "serious risk" because the alcohol ban could last as long as six weeks.

"My father built his business up over 20 years, he's not even been dead a month and the council will not budge on the fact that we missed out on the seven-day window to reassign our licence," he said.

"We weren't aware of this - our minds were obviously on other things - so the seven days elapsed while we cremated my father and said our goodbyes to him.

"How they expect anyone to have to deal with paperwork during this time is anyone's guess."

Julian urged families of other licensees to sort out paperwork as soon as possible after death. "Their business, and the futures of their families could depend on it," he said.

A spokeswoman from Neath and Port Talbot Council said: "Whilst the authority is very sympathetic to the situation that the family now find themselves in, it is bound by the requirements of the legislation, and there is no discretion available to the authority in this matter."