The importance of delegation in pubs

It has now been established for a long time that it is not necessary for the designated premises supervisor (DPS) to be personally on duty all the hours a pub is open.

In fact, he does not have to be "resident" on the premises, as long as he exercises a supervisory role.

In the early days of the new law, one licensing authority tried to put a fixed percentage of the opening hours into its policy for the attendance of the DPS.

This seemed to me, apart from lacking in logic, to be completely unacceptable and it was ditched.

Under the old law, the justices expected licensees "to exercise effective control and supervision of their premises", to quote from the Good Practice Guide. They also made it part of their policy that there should be at least one licensed person in day-to-day control of the premises.

This was to prevent an owner or operator obtaining a licence and then appointing a manager to run the pub who was not a licensed person. That, however, is very different from saying that an existing resident licensee must always be on the premises when they are open for business.

It simply isn't practicable or supportable to have such a rigid rule in this regard. The maximum permitted hours in a week, under the old regime, together with drinking up time, was more than 78. Now it is even more. There must be times when the named licensee has to attend to other matters during the day or evening and so has to delegate his responsibility to others.

The principle of delegation has been long established in the licensed trade. That is why we had the words "servant or agent" used in the Licensing Act 1964 to cover certain offences. The licensee retained overall responsibility for the premises and could be prosecuted even when he was not present at the time the offence occurred. He would not, however, be convicted for certain offences if he could show he used "due diligence" to avoid the commission.

The designated premises supervisor must make sure that if he is away from the premises when the pub is open, he leaves a responsible person (not necessarily a personal licence holder) in charge and has instructed them about compliance with licensing laws and dealing with any trouble that may occur.

This may be a member of his own staff, but if he is to be away on holiday, he may consider a relief manager or couple (who might indeed hold personal licences). Either of these actions seems to me to be perfectly acceptable, as long as the licensee has assured himself that they know the law and how to run a pub.

Q&A​

Two types of licence​

Q.​ When we took over this pub we were contacted by the Performing Right Society (PRS). The premises licence, which was transferred to me, covers musical entertainment. Do I have to pay this charge as well?

A.​ Yes, you do. I am afraid that in your situation you may well be required to pay for two additional copyright licences, as well as your premises licence.

These extra "licences" are in fact copyright agreements and you cannot just inherit them from the previous lessee, nor do they form part of the new licensing system for alcohol and entertainment.

In fact, you have been contacted because you will need to take out a fresh licence from the copyright agencies concerned. They do not operate on a transfer system and require the incoming owner or occupier to take out a fresh licence.

They will then refund the unexpired portion of the copyright fee to the outgoing licensee. The reason for this is that, unlike other licences, it is a payment in respect of ongoing copyright activity, not a one-off payment, so when the copyright obligation ceases, there will be a proportion of the fee that is not due. The situation is different with the premises licence, which may be transferred from one occupier to another.

The PRS may well ask you to complete a form giving details of the music to be performed at the pub because of the change of ownership. Your decisions on how much musical entertainment takes place may well be different from the previous lessee. They will assess the fees to be paid on what you tell them.

Residents' friends​

Q.​ I seem to remember reading some time ago on your page that under the old law the right of residents to be served after time extended to their friends. What if they have made friends in the bar that evening? Can they continue to use the bar even when other people have been required to leave?

A.​ The answer to this will depend on the individual facts. You are, however, right that the old-established concession for residents still applies and that it extends to those residents being able to "treat" their genuine friends to a drink after the bar hours for non-resident customers.

There may be a debate as to whether they are real friends or whether there was some form of recompense made to the resident at the time (in other words, the friend was buying). It has been established that a licensee cannot turn his bar customers into friends, but there will be circumstances in which it is quite appropriate for someone staying the night to continue to be supplied with alcohol after the time stated on the premises licence, relying on the implied condition brought over from the previous legislation.

Although some licences were silent on this point, I advised those who had residential accommodation to insert a mention of it during transition, just to make it entirely clear that the right continued to exist.

Wine bottle quantity​

Q.​ Am I obliged by law to put the size of wine bottles on my bar menu? I am told by a knowledgeable customer that this is the case. We sell wine by the bottle and glass on a regular basis.

A.​ He is not right on this point. Although the normal bottle size for wine is 75cl, there is nothing in weights and measures law that requires you to indicate the actual size per bottle, although you should indicate half bottles, if you sell them, and you must indicate the quantity used for wine by the glass as 125ml or 175ml, or multiples, or both. Wine sold in carafes, however, should have a quantity marking on the menu or wine list.

From 1 October, you will be obliged to indicate that a serving of 125ml is available on request, as a new mandatory condition that applies to all licensed premises.