Talk:Alcohol licensing laws of the United Kingdom

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Suggested items to include:

  • History of licensing laws
  • Current laws in England & Wales
  • Current laws in Scotland
  • Current laws in Northern Ireland
  • Changes introduced by licensing act 2003+the controversy

Anything else? -- Joolz 18:04, 3 Apr 2005 (UTC)

  • New mandatory conditions
  • Something about drinking up times? ie. last orders -> time -> twenty mins drinking up PubLife 15:01, 12 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Is the picture of a licensing notice now out of date? Chris R 22:47, 27 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

  • How about something on the history of alcohol sales in supermarkets and corner shops? The hours and conditions have changed over the years, although I'm not sure exactly how or when. Chris W, 21 Oct 2007
outline of procedures for review of licence where responsible authoritites believe the objectives are not being met

- [2013] please update, or maybe better give links to other articles - this is a very partial article and does not include important information about scotland, such as banning of happy hours and 3-for-2 offsales, minimum pricing. Local situation on drinking in public varies hugely by local authority. Accurate information on child licenses and legal ages for consuming and buying/being bought alcohol is lacking.

Drinking up time in the UK[edit]

If a pub rings its last bell at 11pm what time must you be out of the pub? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 88.107.5.203 (talk) 11:10, 15 April 2007 (UTC).[reply]

30 minutes is now common, but it varies. Barnabypage 13:22, 15 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

15mins without food and 30mins with food —Preceding unsigned comment added by 217.33.9.79 (talk) 09:35, 19 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Drinking-up time vs Scotland[edit]

These two sections seem to gloss over the fact that, in Scotland, it is an offence to allow the consumption of alcohol outwith licensed hours (unless it happens to be within a 15 minute window): http://www.legislation.gov.uk/asp/2005/16/section/63#section-63-2. deizel. (talk) 16:36, 11 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Age to be in a bar?[edit]

I am confused about the age to be allowed in a bar. Back in school we were taught that the age to be allowed into a bar was to be raised to 16 from 14 in April 2005. To confuse things some pubs still displayed the old signs saying no one under 14. I am also under the impression that the age to consume alcohol out in public is 16 with a meal and 18 otherwise. (Tk420 (talk) 13:30, 22 July 2008 (UTC))[reply]

AFAIK, at 16 you can purchase beer, ale, wine, cider with a meal in a licensed restaurant. The age to be allowed into a bar is presumably at the licensee's discretion since some pubs and bars specify Over 18 or Over 21 only. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 193.30.232.1 (talk) 08:22, 9 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]


At 16 or 17 you can consume beer, wine, cider or perry with a meal but it must be purchased by someone over 18yrs. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 217.33.9.79 (talk) 09:38, 19 October 2010 (UTC) If the licensee has a 15 year old child, are they allowed to go in the bar and purchase drinks and then drink in the bar —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.33.73.4 (talk) 07:21, 13 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]


children under the age of 18 are only allowed in "wet dry" venues, venues which sell food and alcohol, but in a wet venue,a venue which exclusively sells alcohol no food/meals all patrons must be 18+. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2.102.46.85 (talk) 21:03, 22 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Licensee children[edit]

If the license holder has children under 16, are they allowed to go into the bar, buy drinks and then stay in the bar and drink them with out a meal or adult? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.33.73.4 (talk) 07:24, 13 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Point of Sale?[edit]

When describing On-Sales, the article both times refers to the legally required place of consumption as the "Point of sale". A point of sale is the location of the till where purchases are made. Even if you extend the PoS to the bar at which you order your drink, the phrase would not extend to the rest of the room in which one might sit at a table to consume the bought drink. Surely the phrase used should be "for consumption on the premises", which is why they're called "On-licences" in the first place.Silas Maxfield (talk) 23:11, 27 September 2010 (UTC) Is the sale of alcohol on a uk train subject to licensing laws? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 88.151.179.18 (talk) 03:34, 5 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Challenge 25[edit]

Most major retailers, and many minor ones, use Challenge 25 now, not Challenge 21. http://www.talkingretail.com/news/industry-news/retailers-launch-challenge-25-alcohol-scheme 86.161.29.90 (talk) 01:58, 9 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Table licence[edit]

I see no mention here of a table licence, nor indeed toes that topic exist (or it seems has ever existed). This is, in a sense, understandable since there is no such thing: MSN Encarta and Collins seem to define it as what is defined here (correctly) as a restaurant licence. The distinction round these parts is clear, though, the informal term "table licence" is one used for restaurants, usually fairly cheap ones, where customers are welcome to bring their own alcohol for consumption, sometimes with a small charge for opening the bottle, providing glasses and so on. The aim being not particularly to circumvent licensing laws but to allow customers to drink alcohol with their meal in unlicensed premises, no license is in fact required since no sale of alcohol is being made, so the term is purely allusional to the licensing system, but I thought it deserves a mention.

Does anyone agree or disagree (it may be that elsewhere from me in the UK it is synonymous with a restaurant license for example?) If there are no disagreements, I am tempted to add the article; if it is seen as synonymous, a redirect may be worthwhile (in the absence of a wikt entry). It may be better to suit wiktionary but there is no definition there, so I will start as a stub referring to this article for the context of licensing in the UK in general (and try to get some citations etc, though that may be hard to find where the distinction between table and restaurant licences are clear), and if it moves over then so be it.

Si Trew (talk) 12:50, 5 April 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Spelling of licence[edit]

As this is an article about the United Kingdom, I do not understand why somebody changed some, but not all, spellings of licence to license. I have reverted these edits. In the UK, licence - noun, license - verb. Licensee is the generally used spelling of that noun so I have left this in place, although licencee would be valid.(83.100.155.143 (talk) 19:39, 23 July 2012 (UTC))[reply]

You are correct except that "licencee" would be incorrect as it is from the verb; someone who is licensed. The legislation now of course has "licence holder". LG02 (talk) 18:51, 10 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

External links modified[edit]

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What is a unit?[edit]

The page says: "Another law, starting from 1st May 2018, states that alcohol cannot be sold for under 50p per unit." - 81.158.84.88 (talk) 05:05, 18 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]

A good question. It is a 'unit of alcohol' by standard definition. I have added a link on the line. LG02 (talk) 11:51, 29 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]
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