drinking up time

[del8oy]

Is there an official law for "drinking up" time at the end of the night?

[Davethedog]

There used to be not sure that its applicable any more.

When closing at 11 it used to be 10 minutes drinking up time. It was posted in the bar somewhere.

[Ethel]

http://www.caradon.gov.uk/index.cfm?articleid= 10839

http://www.ncdc.gov.uk/index.cfm?articleid=965 6

http://www.fylde.gov.uk/Faq.aspx?id=SX1299-A78 201A8

There is no drinking up time - it is up to the licencee

[loonytunes]

Sorry Ethel, normally excellent on law but wrong on this one. The Licensing Act 2003 did away with drinking up time as such, simply because there is now no permission required for consumption of alcohol, only its retail sale. However, in the application for a licence, the applicant must set down the hours during which "licensable activities" (ie. Sale of alcohol, music, dancing, etc) are provided and "other times during which the public will be on the premises". In practice, this means that, once alcohol sales stop, the public can only be on the premises for linked activities for whatever additional time has been asked for and granted. This is usually, now, 30 or 60 minutes after the end of the provision of the "licensable activities". If anything longer is asked for, the Police are likely to make a representation and have the application considered by the Licensing Authority (Council). At this point applicants usually back down and agree to the limitation rather than risk having stronger sanctions imposed. This extra time is, effectively, drinking up time although the Police may view it as a "cooling off period". The appropriate times will be shown on the summary of the licence which the Act requires to be on display on each licensed premises.