News Yet another Late Night Levy coming to London?

“The London Borough of Southwark is due to consult on the introduction of a Late Night Levy within its area, planned to come into force on 1 September 2019. 

London already has five levies in place across the capital, half of the 10 currently in place within the country, in the City of London, Camden, Islington, Hackney and Tower Hamlets. 

The levy is intended to apply to premises licensed (via a premise licence or club premises certificate) to sell/supply alcohol between midnight and 6am (00:00 to 06:00 hours), subject to certain exemptions 

The Council intends to apply the following exemptions: 

• Premises with overnight accommodation, where alcohol can only be supplied to persons staying at the premises for consumption on the premises,
• Theatres and cinemas
• Bingo Halls
• Community Amateur Sports Clubs
• Community premises
• New Year’s Day (i.e. 1st January) premises only (this relates to premises which are authorised to supply/sell alcohol between 00:00 hours and 06:00 hours, ONLY on New Year's Day). 

The London Borough of Southwark also intends to apply a reduction of 30% to premises that are within a defined Business Improvement District (BID), which meet the relevant criteria.

Please see the link below for more details: 

http://moderngov.southwark.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=171&MId=6277&Ver=4 

We understand that the levy consultation is set to run for 12 weeks, from 25 February until 19 May 2019. 

There is also a public meeting planned, which will be followed by a Licensing Committee and Full Council meeting to approve the introduction of the levy. 

Further details to follow and as always we will keep you updated.  

In the meantime, if you have any comments or queries about the Late Night Levy, or wish to check whether one applies in your area, feel free to contact us.”

To watch a relevant YouTube clip that you may find interesting, please click here.

For more information on this topic or anything else licensing related, please contact solicitor Suraj Desor on s.desor@popall.co.uk or 0115 9349 183