All pubs and bars across the Stirling area are to be allowed to open later than usual over the Coronation weekend.
Stirling District Licensing Board unanimously agreed a general extension of licensed hours, for on-sale premises only, at a recent meeting.
This means that both licensed premises and those with a late night licence can, if they wish, open until 2am and 3am respectively on both Friday May 5 and Sunday May 7, one hour later than usual.
It also means that on Saturday May 6, the day of the King’s coronation, they can open until 3am and 4am respectively.
Police, however, had raised concerns about the blanket extension approach.
Sgt Malcolm O’May of Forth Valley Division’s licensing department said: “If it was a blanket policy we would be left wondering what the potential implications could be and planning for something we have limited knowledge of.
“If it was individual applications with the usual information required then we can react accordingly and properly resource it to ensure public safety and keep any negative community impact to a minimum.
“We have no way of telling what that weekend would bring for us and the wider impact on communities. The town centre is resource intensive for the police on normal weekends and this just adds to the pressures, which are already significant.”
Sgt O’May said a blanket extension was generally accepted over the festive season but that “at a time when policing resources are reduced year on year it’s more difficult” and there could be an additional impact.
However, licensing officials said: “More staff time is required for processing the individual application approach than would be required by a general extension, as officers need to process and determine these applications. While this is partially offset by the £10 fee charged for each application, the introduction of a general extension would lead to an administrative saving and a small financial saving for the licensed trade, while providing premises licence holders with the option to trade longer should they wish to do so.”
Licensing officials and the police said Belhaven and Greene King, who run many Stirling premises, had made enquiries about potentially later opening but there was no real sense of broader numbers.
Individual applications would have to come back to the board for approval as they were considered an exemption to board policy. Each premises also would be able to request their own combination of additional hours over that weekend.
Councillor Bryan Flannagan said: “I do question the practicality of managing potentially every business giving us a licensing application for this. If it was Christmas everybody just assumes places are open slightly later. Unless people are going to go round with lists of times how on earth is it going to be managed. You could have one premises open until 1am, one next door until 2am and another at 3am.
“My worry is if we start putting too many things in place for people to do it will become completely unmanageable for the council and for the police.
“This is a hugely significant event and once in a lifetime for a lot of people and we have to remember this will not be an annual thing.”
Councillor Martin Earl said: “There are pros and cons either way. At least with a blanket policy we are determining that everyone has one extra hour and everyone is playing to the same tune, whereas there could be a range of combinations. From a resourcing point of view the police does have the certainty of knowing every licensed premises could be open [longer] each night and all premises will be shutting at these times at the latest, whereas if we have individual applications asking for individual extensions on different nights and different times, which we cannot prejudge at the moment, that could open up a more complex landscape.”
Members unanimously agreed to approve the blanket extension while noting police concerns.
