Clause 64 - The additional conditions for
Licensing Bill [Lords]
3:15 pm
Mr Andrew Turner (Isle of Wight, Conservative)
I am concerned by the Minister's response to the comments of my hon. Friend the Member for North-East Cambridgeshire. If I give an illustration, perhaps the Minister will tell me whether I again have the wrong end of the stick.
A club has a steward and its members own the alcohol. The steward enjoys a bonus, depending on lettings of club premises, some of which may be for dominoes matches or private dinners. [Interruption.] I was not going to suggest such an activity. At some of those gatherings, alcohol may be served. Is that ruled out by subsection (4)?
Additionally, there may be an arrangement whereby even without any such lettings—where only members are concerned—the steward gains pecuniary advantage depending on the volume of alcohol sold. Most clubs recognise that one of the ways they can build up their facilities and improve the service that they offer to members is to make a profit from the sale of alcohol. Perhaps it was even the profit from the sale of alcohol that enabled the Conservative club to which
the Minister referred to furnish the use of snooker facilities for those who may not even have been Conservatives. It is reasonable to reward a steward for that sort of benefit, which derives from increasing the volume of sales, but that appears to be ruled out under subsection (4). Have I got that wrong?