Licensing
Camden introduces Late Night Levy
It means operators opening between these times will be ordered to pay up to £4,400 a year to the local authority.
The only exemption which the council’s licensing committee agreed is for premises which are only permitted to sell alcohol after midnight on New Year’s Eve.
Clare Eames, partner at licensing specialist Poppleston Allen said: “They have also given a 30% discount to premises within the BID area and premises with a non-domestic rateable value of £12,000 or less.”
Camden Council is set to ratify the decision on 25 January 2016.
If the decision gets ratified, Camden will join the City of London and the London Borough of Islington as the third London authority to have a LNL in place.
Michelle Hazlewood, partner at licensing law firm John Gaunt, made submissions at the meeting as to the benefits of further exemptions, particularly for hotels providing overnight accommodation and the unintended consequences of the levy.
Hazlewood said: “Although the levy was voted in, I believe our submission raised the unintended consequences of the adoption of the Levy and widened the debate from just financial returns for the Borough and financial impacts on the operators.”
