Clause 64 - The additional conditions for
Licensing Bill [Lords]
3:15 pm
Dr Kim Howells (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Culture, Media & Sport; Pontypridd, Labour)
I fear that the hon. Gentleman has got it wrong.
I meant to answer the questions of the hon. Member for North-East Cambridgeshire about bar stewards, who profit from their labour via their employment by the club and not from the supply of alcohol per se. The club may enter into some arrangement with the steward about bonuses, but that is not what is being dealt with. The Bill does not prevent a club from employing a bar steward and the contracts between clubs and bar stewards are many and various. There was a time—I am sure that this is no longer the case—when the great problem with bar stewards was making sure that they did not run off in January with the takings and the barmaid. We lost quite a few in south Wales at one time—not, as far as I can remember, from the Con. club in Hirwaun—I cannot remember whether it was the Constitutional club or the Conservative club and I do not want to get the title wrong.