The new licensing Act, approved this month, will give retailers the freedom to apply for a 24-hour alcohol licence, although the extensions cannot be brought into operation until 2005. However, the multiples are already weighing up the opportunity that late licences will bring their way.
The long-awaited relaxation of licensing laws looks set to take the competition between retailers to a new level as they seek to swell profits from their drinks fixtures.
Some multiples have made it clear they view liberalisation as the next platform on which the battle for market share will be fought since stores were permitted to open round the clock.
Gabrielle Williamson, Safeway’s store operations controller who is also a member of the British Retail Consortium’s working committee on licensing reform, says: “Exactly what we can do under the Act is still up in the air but we are reviewing our estate to see which stores would benefit from 24-hour licensing. Although I don’t think everybody will open for 24 hours to sell alcohol, if an Asda store opens longer we will have to extend our opening to compete.”
Tesco says it is unlikely to open all its stores round the clock and is appointing a licensing specialist to maximise “the opportunity”.
A spokeswoman for Sainsbury says that the chain has no plans to increase the number of stores that are open 24 hours beyond the current 12, although it would look at increasing hours “around key trading times such as Christmas and Easter”.
Other operators, including multiple specialists like Threshers, are remaining tightlipped about their strategy.
They are waiting for the implications of moving licensing control from magistrates to local authorities - a major component of the Act - to become clear.
And that is unlikely to happen until September, when the government will issue local authorities with guidelines on how to interpret their new powers.
Each individual authority will then be required to produce a policy on licensing and a period between March and September 2004 has been set aside for applications to start rolling in.
The extra workload which local authorities are expected to undertake as all licences across the country come up for processing places a question mark over the January 2005 timetable laid down by the government.
Legal advisers predict the transition
period will be a minefield of problems. Licensing solicitor Peter Coulson warns: “There is so much work that the local authorities will have to do and they have never handled licensing before. It promises to be shambolic.”
Shane Brennan, the Association of Convenience Stores’ public affairs executive, echoes these concerns. “Local authorities will be keen to get through 2004 and process as many applications as possible otherwise they will be severely criticised. January 2005 is the earliest date extended hours can start, but that depends on whether councils can process them in time.”
There is also the suspicion that the workload will scare the local authorities into premature action. Chris Mitchener, general manager of licensing consultants Lockett & Co says: “There are concerns that some local authorities will start putting their policies together now, before the guidelines have been issued.”
Senior public affairs officer for the Local Government Association Kevin Hocter says local authorities would welcome more time. “Authorities have to start preparing their budgets and the staff who will be involved, but they cannot draft their policies until the guidelines come out.”
And that should offer some comfort to retailers who fear that handing over licensing powers to local authorities will produce a patchwork of different policies that would jeopardise their ability to respond competitively.
The long-awaited relaxation of licensing laws looks set to take the competition between retailers to a new level as they seek to swell profits from their drinks fixtures.
Some multiples have made it clear they view liberalisation as the next platform on which the battle for market share will be fought since stores were permitted to open round the clock.
Gabrielle Williamson, Safeway’s store operations controller who is also a member of the British Retail Consortium’s working committee on licensing reform, says: “Exactly what we can do under the Act is still up in the air but we are reviewing our estate to see which stores would benefit from 24-hour licensing. Although I don’t think everybody will open for 24 hours to sell alcohol, if an Asda store opens longer we will have to extend our opening to compete.”
Tesco says it is unlikely to open all its stores round the clock and is appointing a licensing specialist to maximise “the opportunity”.
A spokeswoman for Sainsbury says that the chain has no plans to increase the number of stores that are open 24 hours beyond the current 12, although it would look at increasing hours “around key trading times such as Christmas and Easter”.
Other operators, including multiple specialists like Threshers, are remaining tightlipped about their strategy.
They are waiting for the implications of moving licensing control from magistrates to local authorities - a major component of the Act - to become clear.
And that is unlikely to happen until September, when the government will issue local authorities with guidelines on how to interpret their new powers.
Each individual authority will then be required to produce a policy on licensing and a period between March and September 2004 has been set aside for applications to start rolling in.
The extra workload which local authorities are expected to undertake as all licences across the country come up for processing places a question mark over the January 2005 timetable laid down by the government.
Legal advisers predict the transition
period will be a minefield of problems. Licensing solicitor Peter Coulson warns: “There is so much work that the local authorities will have to do and they have never handled licensing before. It promises to be shambolic.”
Shane Brennan, the Association of Convenience Stores’ public affairs executive, echoes these concerns. “Local authorities will be keen to get through 2004 and process as many applications as possible otherwise they will be severely criticised. January 2005 is the earliest date extended hours can start, but that depends on whether councils can process them in time.”
There is also the suspicion that the workload will scare the local authorities into premature action. Chris Mitchener, general manager of licensing consultants Lockett & Co says: “There are concerns that some local authorities will start putting their policies together now, before the guidelines have been issued.”
Senior public affairs officer for the Local Government Association Kevin Hocter says local authorities would welcome more time. “Authorities have to start preparing their budgets and the staff who will be involved, but they cannot draft their policies until the guidelines come out.”
And that should offer some comfort to retailers who fear that handing over licensing powers to local authorities will produce a patchwork of different policies that would jeopardise their ability to respond competitively.
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