Resident drinking after hours
There are numerous excellent town and country pubs offering bed and breakfast as part of their trade. I have stayed in many which, as I have commented before, are far more pleasant and friendly than anonymous national chains. It is an activity that I hope continues, although it is far from being free of red tape.
What some of them may not appreciate is that their premises licence may allow them to offer 24/7 bar service. Not to everyone, of course, but to those of us who are lucky enough to be staying.
Some time back, I had a question in from a country pub in Kent with three letting rooms for B&B. The licensee had recently refused service to a couple at 11.20 pm, on the grounds that he did not have a residential licence. They told him he was wrong. So did I, when he asked. I suppose it is natural to think that a premises licence only covers sales made up until the hours stated. Most licensees would assume that if you make any sales after that time you must have some form of temporary event notice to cover it. This isn't the case.
Residents were specially covered in the Licensing Act. The prohibition on sales made after hours did not apply to "the sale to... or consumption by... any person of intoxicating liquor in any premises where he is residing". Hopefully, those provisions have been "grandfathered over" on to your existing licence.
The same section of the Act also allowed the residents to buy a drink for someone else after time - even if they are not staying the night. A resident can buy a drink for a "private friend" and that person can stay on the premises to drink it, without any fear of the law. Of course, the transaction has to be genuine and not a device to allow drinkers to stay on when they should legally have finished.
For example, if I befriend one of the locals during my tour of duty round the country, I could ask him to stay on for a drink, and the barman could quite legally serve both of us.
It isn't a requirement that residents can only drink after time in a separate area, and that the bar must be closed. They can drink wherever they or the licensee chooses. But clearly, the landlord doesn't have to serve them, and they cannot insist.
