LICENCE HOLDERS

manager of that premises. A person can only be a PM on one licence at a time. If you know the manager is to leave, if the premises manager dies, loses their personal licence, or is no longer capable to run the business due to mental health issues , then you must remember to advise the licensing board within 7 days. This activates a grace period of 6 weeks for you to lodge an application naming a new manager.

Remember that the new manager must hold a personal licence, and that he or she cannot be named on another licence. It is always best to have one spare personal licence holder on your premises staff as it can be nearly impossible to recruit, and or train anther person to take on the role in the 6 weeks period. This is incredibly important. If you miss the 7 day notice, or separately if you miss the 6 week deadline to name the new manager, then the police or the LSO can come calling and ask you to shut – it is unlawful to sell alcohol if the 7 days or 6 weeks deadlines are missed. Most local police and LSOs are pretty clued up as to who is named as a manager on which licence so don’t underestimate this point. Not only might you have to close for a short period until a new manager is named, ultimately the premises licence could be subject to a review.

A PM does not need to be on the premises at all times. There is a general expectation that the person named should have day to day control of the premises but there is no legal requirement for that person to be physically present. That being said, as the police and LSOs will expect the named manager to have control of staff it is sensible to have someone named who is genuinely on or around the premises on a frequent basis.

What You Must Display In Your Premises

In addition to your weights and measures and smoking notices, you have a legal duty to display certain licensing notices too. The premises licence itself can be quite a large document, with the main licence encompassing the layout plan and the operating plan, and a separate licence “Summary”.

It is the separate, smaller Summary document which has to be displayed prominently so it can be viewed by the public – not necessarily just behind the bar if it cannot be read from there. It is an offence not to have it displayed properly so make sure you’ve got this covered.

The main licence, which is normally a document that could be 10 – 20 pages long and sometimes more, does not need to be displayed but it does need to kept on the premises in a safe place where it can be accessed by staff both for training purposes but also because a police officer or LSO are entitled to see it upon request. The main licence should either be the principal (original) copy, or a photocopy which has been certified by a solicitor as a true copy. It is good practice to keep a certified copy on the premises and the original in a safe place as it has to be returned to the board if any applications were made such as a change of manager.

We suggest you keep a copy of the whole premises licence in a folder behind the bar together with copies of all personal licences kept on the premises and copy staff training certificates behind the bar. Keep the originals in the safe in the office. If the licence is lost or stolen, you must make a lost property report on the Police Scotland web site, in order to get a reference number, and a duplicate requested from the licensing board, which normally attracts a small fee. In addition to displaying the summary of the licence, you must also display a notice referred to as the “Section 110” notice which details age related offences and confirms the position that alcohol will not be sold unless verification has occurred.

In addition to this, whether or not if your premises allows under 18s, then a separate notice should also be on display indicating that under 18s can or can’t access the premises and if required detailing which parts of the premises and under what terms under 18s have access e.g lounge bar only; for the purposes of having a meal There is no legal obligation to display notices or signs concerning Challenge 25, but it is no bad thing. In addition, you may also wish to display notices concerning the use of external areas and smoking areas or asking patrons to leave quietly asking customers to respect neighbours.