THE NEW LICENSING BILL: OVER‐REGULATING THE BRITISH PUB?

A rash of new youth‐oriented pubs over‐concentrated in city centres has led to drunken youths menacing our city streets, and to the decline of Britain's traditional pubs, the cornerstones of local communities. Far from addressing these problems, the Licensing Bill now before Parliament proposes much greater regulation which will increase costs, reduce pubs’ ability to adapt, ban unlicensed live music and discriminate still further against community pubs.