Leisure Sector Update: Enforcement against licensed premises

Welcome to the Harrison Drury Leisure Sector Newsletter. Your regular update on legal developments across the leisure, hospitality and tourism sector. Our aim is to keep you informed, prepared and ahead of the curve with insights tailored to support you and your business.

During the pandemic and in the period that immediately followed, there was a noticeable decrease in enforcement against licensed premises.  Whether that was some sort of central mandate or whether it was born out of sympathy for the trade is unknown, but it was noticeable.  Unfortunately, whatever the cause, that position has undeniably now changed.  There has been a noticeable increase in reviews over the course of 2023, and over recent weeks and months we have seen a definite increase in the number of test purchases being carried out.  It goes without saying that the ideal position when a test purchase is carried out is that the premises has conducted sufficient training, service is refused and the test purchase is passed.  If you have doubts about whether that would be the case with your premises then you would be well advised to remedy it now. 

If you are in the unfortunate position of having already failed a test purchase then don’t make the mistake of viewing that as the end of the matter.  In our experience, premises that fail test purchases are almost always visited and tested again in the weeks after the failure so it is imperative that you and your staff are on high alert, and that you comprehensively train your staff and document the training – even if you then find yourself in the worst case scenario where you fail a second test purchase, that evidence that you have done everything within your power to make sure it didn’t happen can be the difference between having a defence and having none.

We have a team of solicitors across a range of legal disciplines all with significant experience in supporting businesses in the leisure sector. Meet our leisure sector team to see how our team can help support you. If you wish to subscribe to our leisure newsletter, please do so here.