Clause 63 - Determining whether a club is established
Licensing Bill [Lords]
3:00 pm
Mr Mark Hoban (Fareham, Conservative)
I thought that I would break with tradition and move this amendment myself. These are both probing amendments intended to allow us to consider what is meant by whether a club is
''established and conducted in good faith''.
Clearly, the clause is important for determining whether an organisation is declared to be a bona fide club.
Amendment No. 318 relates to subsection (2)(a), which refers to any arrangements that have to do with
''the club's freedom of purchase of alcohol''.
What impact will that provision have on a licensing authority that is considering a club's arrangements for the purchase of alcohol from a brewery? I am well aware that some clubs have an agreement that requires them to take a certain amount of beer from a particular brewer. Quite often, that agreement is tied to the provision of a loan from the brewery to the club, perhaps to refurbish premises or provide working capital.
When I was a student, the bar in our hall of residence was funded by one of the brewers—I think that it was Samuel Smith's—which provided a generous loan to refurbish it. I am not quite sure what the outcome of that refurbishment was, as the
bar still looked pretty basic to me. However, the money had been supplied, and I am sure that we were all very grateful to the company for supplying it. Student unions are not the only such clubs. The Fareham Conservative club had a similar arrangement with a local brewer.
It is important for those of us seeking to interpret subsection (2)(a) that the Government help us to understand how important the arrangements are, and to what extent the closeness of the tie between the club and the brewery means that the club is no longer
''established and conducted in good faith''.
Amendment No. 303 refers to subsection (2)(e), and raises questions about the nature of the premises of the club. When my hon. Friend the Member for North-East Cambridgeshire spoke in the stand part debate on clause 61, he referred to the Caravan Club, which clearly felt that the fields where it held its caravan rallies would be appropriate premises for the purposes of clause 63. I am not sure that that is the case. However, what is it about the nature of the premises of a club that will determine whether the club is
''established and conducted in good faith''?
I have been to sports clubs—at least, they would probably fall into the category of clubs—where the premises were very basic, and there was not much to them. Equally, I have been to clubs that are much more lavish and well appointed, and there are a range of clubs in between.
It is important that the local authorities taking on responsibilities as licensing authorities under the Bill, and the club operators and their lawyers, understand what is meant by paragraphs (a) and (e).