Scottish Government

LIQUOR LICENSING IN SCOTLAND, 1998-2002

2. Key Points

• There were 17,059 liquor licences in force in Scotland at 31 December 2002, 103 fewer than at 31 December 2001 and the equivalent of 43 licences for every 10,000 persons aged 18 and over resident in Scotland.
• Over a third of the licences in force in Scotland were for off-sale premises and a further 30 per cent were for public houses. The distribution of licences by type of premises varied across the country. For example, over 40 per cent of licences in Glasgow and Renfrewshire were held by public houses, while in the more rural areas of the island councils and Highland, the proportion held by public houses was between 13 and 17 per cent.
• The spread of the types of licences in Scotland has been gradually widening over the last two decades. From 1980 to 2002, there was an almost 16 fold increase in the number of refreshment licences (from 34 to 539) and a 58 per cent increase in the number of restaurant licences (from 921 to 1,453), although the number has declined slightly in the past five years. In comparison, the number of hotel licences has decreased by 18 per cent (from 2,959 to 2,424) between 1980 and 2002.
• The number of licences relative to population varied considerably throughout the country, from 17 per 10,000 population aged 18 and over in East Renfrewshire, to 89 per 10,000 population aged 18 and over in Argyll & Bute. The more rural areas generally had the highest rates with the more urban areas, outside of the cities, having the smallest rates.
• There were 10,114 premises with one or more regular extensions to permitted hours at 31 December 2002. Of these, 46 per cent were public houses, 21 per cent were hotels and a further 19 per cent were registered clubs.
• During 2002, licensing boards considered a total of 710 new applications for liquor licences; 2 more than in 2001, but 170 less than in 2000. Of these, 652 applications (92 per cent) were granted a licence. Four per cent of applications for on-sale licences were refused, compared with 13 per cent of those for off-sales.
• There were a total of 2,526 registered clubs (golf, bowling, social etc.) at 31 December 2002; 13 more than at 31 December 2001.
• A total of 905 liquor licensing offences were recorded by the police in 2001. Most (86 per cent) of the convictions for liquor licensing offences in 2001 resulted in a monetary penalty.