Limits on pub music are 'quite ridiculous'

Restrictions on pubs hosting live music bought in by the Licensing Act are "quite ridiculous", one Peer told a group of MPs.

Liberal Democrat Peer Lord Clement-Jones said that he hoped the restrictions could now be lifted by the time of the General Election.

Clement-Jones tabled a Bill last year that would make it easier for pubs to host live music.

The Bill wants the two-in-a-bar rule for unamplified live music to be re-introduced and for pubs with a capacity of less than 200 to be exempt from extra licensing conditions.

"Some of the conditions imposed on smaller venues are quite ridiculous as a result of the idiocies of the Licensing Act 2003," Clement-Jones told an All Party Parliamentary Save the Pub Group meeting.

"It is quite proper to be concerned about noise, but if there is a nuisance, we still have the environmental noise legislation to deal with it.

"The government thinks venues with a capacity of 100 should be exempt, but I do not think that is adequate."

The second reading of the Bill will take place on Friday.

Clement-Jones also drew attention to the differences between the behaviour of local authorities, and called for consistency.

Live music campaigner and semi-professional drummer Hamish Birchall agreed that current licensing rules are ambiguous.

"Live music in pubs is central to the live music scene, but it is dying out as hosts are getting tangled up in licensing," said Birchall.

Chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Save the Pub Group, Greg Mulholland MP, told the meeting he was "afraid the current licensing regime is doing grave damage to pubs".

"The heritage and culture of live music in pubs is not being served by the government," he said. "It needs to be addressed."

The official petition to "stop criminalising live music with the Licensing Act, and to support amendments backed by the Culture, Media and Sport Committee" has around 14,000 signatures and is number eleven in the chart.

The petition can be viewed and signed here​.