Glasgow city centre venues could stay open until 4am

Glasgow's late-night venues could stay open until 4am under new proposals from the Licensing Board.

Clubs and other premises who could demonstrate a positive contribution to the night-time economy of the city could be allowed an extra hour of business.

With Glasgow’s night-time economy generating £2.16bn and also supporting 16,600 jobs, the Licensing Board say they’re keen to ensure the the city centre remains vibrant and attractive for residents, visitors and businesses.

If confirmed in the final policy statement due to be published later in the year, the proposal would allow the Board to consider 4am closing time for clubs and other venues.

However, the licence holders would have to show a positive contribution to the night-time economy, as well as excellent standards in managing licensed premises.

Chair of the Board, Councillor Matt Kerr, said the proposal for opening until 4am had emerged strongly from the wide-ranging discussions that had taken place during the preparation of the draft policy statement.

Councillor Kerr said: “We listened very carefully to the submissions we received about the importance of the night-time economy to the city centre. There’s also a strong view that a more European approach would avoid the rush to consume alcohol before closing time that then spills out on to our city centre streets.

“We want to support the licensed trade as much as we can while also ensuring we still provide the safeguards expected of us by the licensing legislation. By potentially granting licences until 4am while demanding the highest possible standards from licence holders we are striking the right balance between the licence trade and the needs of the wider community.

“It’s very important to stress that this is still a proposal and that in any event, 4am closing would still be the subject a pilot programme that will draw in evidence from the likes of the police and the health service. We want feedback from as many people as possible on this proposal and others in the draft policy statement before reaching a final position. It’s essential our policies are shaped by Glasgow as a whole.”

The licensing board is expected to renew its policy statement on regular basis. The statement sets out how licence holders and applicants can expect the licensing board will deal with issues that come forward for consideration, subject to each case being looked at on its own merits.

Other proposals in the latest draft statement include:

• The creation of DJ conditions that would allow venues to apply for extended hours so long as they satisfy technical criteria intended to support DJs to perform to the best of their ability.

• Offering venues with Best Bar None gold status the opportunity to apply for extended hours on ten additional occasions each year.

• Allowing 16 and 17-year-olds to remain on licensed premises until 11pm while the terminal hour for children under 16-year-olds would remain at 9pm.This would allow greater scope for young people to enjoy licensed premises such as restaurants, subject to the usual Challenge 25 controls.

• Creating a proper framework to regulate the delivery of alcohol, which has grown as part of the trend towards food deliveries.

• Encouraging more licensed premises to deliver awareness training to their staff on child sexual exploitation.

• Promoting the ‘Agent of Change’ concept so that the responsibility for addressing the impact on communities through changes to the local licensed trade is managed by licence holders themselves.

• Encouraging the use of the ‘Ask for Angela’ scheme which allows vulnerable customers to seek a safe place with the assistance from premise’s staff.

• Reducing the prevalence of single-use plastic.

• Alcohol-related harm data to be used to scrutinise applications for off-sales licences in areas of high alcohol-related harm that are outside the city’s overprovision areas.

Councillor Kerr added: “We want to see best practice delivered as a matter of course by the city’s licensed trade. All of the proposals in the policy statement are intended to incentivise the highest possible standards from the city’s pubs, clubs and restaurants. I hope people respond to the consultation to help inform our final policy statement.”

The consultation closes on October 5, with the final policy statement due to be published before the end of the year.