LEGAL EAGLE: THE IMPORTANCE OF DUE DILIGENCE
While private members clubs have many advantages over other licensed premises, they can’t afford to be complacent. Nick Walton advises club managers to play by the book to avoid negative sanctions from the police and enforcement officials.
There is further bad news for smokers as the Government tightens its grip on the advertising and supply of smoking materials.
New bits of law have been added to the Health Act (it seems in a hurry) to outlaw cigarette vending machines and the display of advertising and promotion of cigarettes and other smoking materials.
Gone are the days when cigarettes were stocked behind the bar and purchase was a relatively straightforward process. The availability of cigarettes at the club moved to the vending machine that has a prominent position beside the bar. Only those who preferred a cigar were able (in many clubs) to continue to purchase their choice from behind the bar when they ordered their drink.
Sales of cigarettes and smoking materials from vending machines will be outlawed on 1 October 2011. This is in an effort to reduce the “abuse” of machines by underage smokers. Drastic measures are called for to remove the risk to youngsters who rely upon machines to fuel their habit.
It seems that none of the law makers have visited other European countries, where vending machines continue to be used but under the control of the person behind the bar who has to provide the customer with a token to gain access to the cigarettes in the machine.
“We will have to put them back behind the bar” I hear you say, but unfortunately this will also be outlawed.
Tobacco products (including the cigars currently sold individually from behind the bar) will have to be hidden from view, and only displayed to the purchaser. Even then, only for the time it takes to make a purchasing decision. Price lists will have to be available upon request to the customer but cannot be linked to branding information for individual suppliers (the Marlboro man has gone forever!).
The new Display of Tobacco Products Regulations has a staggered start date and you will see changes in your local supermarket (1 November 2011) before the law comes into force for your club in 2013. Food for thought, however, as another potential revenue stream for the club is fractured and disappears.
And now for something completely different:
Speaking to licensing officers, they report that a number of private members’ clubs continue to believe that they can rely upon the “Little Ship” Clubs Limited rule for hire of their premises for private functions. The decision of the Court in the Little Ship case has been translated over the years to mean that without further reference to the Court (or now the Licensing Authority) up to 12 private functions could be held each year in the club premises; this without affecting the status of the club as a private members club.
The Licensing Act 2003 changed forever the opportunity to take advantage of the revenue from private functions in private members clubs and removed the “Little Ship” rule.
I have (in earlier articles) identified the necessity to control access and hence revenue to your club from private parties in order to maintain your preferential status as a club. Previously I discussed changes to the rule book so as to define temporary members; you may also wish to consider issuing a Temporary Event Notice (TEN) for events which are effectively private and not member-led.
The effect of a TEN is to dislocate the requirements that are placed on the club premises certificate in order to operate (conditions) and allow access to the general public to events organised within the club.
Designed for one-offs, the TEN will accommodate up to 499 people at the event (including any performers or entertainers). Conditions, which currently sit on your Club Premises Certificate, do not apply and only the Police can object to the notice on the grounds of crime and disorder.
You can protect your club status and your Club Premises Certificate by using TENs. The club premises is allowed to have up to 12 TENs per year, spread over a period of 15 days.
If, for example, you are having a special event run over a weekend (a flower show or summer fair) and wish to cater for the general public, a TEN can be issued to the Local Authority to cover the event. Although the event may last two days it counts as 1 event, similarly if a wedding reception finishes at 2am the next day, it counts as one event but two days.
TENs must be issued to the Local Authority and Police so that receipt by those regulatory bodies is at least 10 working days before the event takes place. The TEN, however, can be issued several months before the proposed date. An individual is required to issue the notice rather than the club and that could be the person who is organising the event. They must provide two copies of the notice to the Licensing Authority who will return one to you signed to confirm it has been received.
