Under current laws in the UK, if you give your guests a bottle of wine either to mark an occasion or just in the welcome pack, you can be banged up in chokey with all the other criminal elements of society. Unless, of course, you've gone to all the trouble and expense of obtaining an alcohol licence for the premises, and you haven't, have you? Thought not. In which case you can expect the blues and twos on the horizon imminently. Or as soon as your new Police Commissioner decides to tackle serious crime. So maybe not imminently, then.
Anyway, there's potentially good news in a Government consultation on licensing laws and deregulation. Or not. But at least they've recognised that it's a nonsense.
Here's a couple of possible scenarios:
1) The Home Office say: Go ahead, give your guests small quantities of alcohol as long as you're not charging for it. Regulating against that is stupid!
or
2) Somebody comes up with the bright idea of a licence for people who want to give small quantities of alcohol to guests, obtainable for a small fee and loads of paperwork.
Any bets? Assuming you've got a Gaming Licence, of course.......
Something to celebrate with a bottle?
This is from the EASCO newsletter:
Its inclusion in a welcome pack, or as a gift to someone celebrating an anniversary or birthday is free. When I go to my hairdresser I'm offered a free glass of wine (and I have no doubt he is currently breaking the law).
Well it would be nice to think that there would be a simple solution, but you're right GB, the government are involved so therefore we must expect more red tape and fees........
The discussion seems to be about the sale of drink, whereas the case scenario for most of us surely is giving it away for free?The Home Office has been considering for some time whether the law could be relaxed in cases where the sale of drink is ancillary to the main business and on a small scale, as is the case in the self-catering situation. The issue also affects other types of business such as hairdressers wanting to give a glass whilst waiting for a permanent wave, cultural events in museums, and bed-and-breakfast establishments that offer an evening meal with the potential for a glass of Rosé.
Its inclusion in a welcome pack, or as a gift to someone celebrating an anniversary or birthday is free. When I go to my hairdresser I'm offered a free glass of wine (and I have no doubt he is currently breaking the law).
Well it would be nice to think that there would be a simple solution, but you're right GB, the government are involved so therefore we must expect more red tape and fees........
It's seen as an inducement - ie a sweetener for the sale, even if the guest doesn't know about it, or doesn't even want it. The "it's a free part of the welcome pack" argument doesn't hold up.Nemo wrote:
The discussion seems to be about the sale of drink, whereas the case scenario for most of us surely is giving it away for free?
Nemo wrote: When I go to my hairdresser I'm offered a free glass of wine (and I have no doubt he is currently breaking the law).
When you say you have no doubt he is currently breaking the law, is that because of the free drink or because he's a hairdresser........?
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salmoncottage
- Posts: 294
- Joined: Sun Jan 23, 2011 3:54 pm
The price of wine and spirits has risen by twice the level of inflation recently, (our rents have not) and if that wasn't reason enough to knock it off the welcome pack list, the government and other bodies thinks it's a very good idea to slap a minimum price per unit on it to encourage us to drink less of it. As if that wasn't a bad enough idea, we may even get taken to the European courts because that great idea is probably illegal already... 
Confused?....slurpppp...sho am I, 'hic'
Confused?....slurpppp...sho am I, 'hic'
'Oh, I do like to be beside the seaside'
