Dust Those Notices Down

There is never a bad time to carry out a quick premises check, and make sure that you are legally compliant. One of the most common questions we are asked as licensing solicitors, are what notices should I have on display?

We provide a useful summary on our website, at the link below:
https://www.popall.co.uk/expertise/licencescertificates/a-guide-to-notices-displayed-at-licensed-premises.aspx but I include in this article a brief summary, albeit time and space will not permit me to go into all the detail which you can find at the link above.

Licensing Act 2003

• The Premises Licence summary needs to be prominently displayed, together with a notice advising who has “control” of the Premises Licence, otherwise known as a “Nomination Notice”.

• Customers should be made aware of the availability of half pints of beer or cider, 125ml glasses of wine, and whether spirits are sold in 25ml or 35ml single measures.

• You must check your Premises Licence to ascertain what other signage you have to display by the conditions on it.  The most frequent signage that you will need to display is a “Challenge” notice advising that customers looking under a specified age (usually 21 or 25) will be asked for identification.

• Other signage often required by Premises Licences are notices advising customers to leave quietly, or of the existence of a search policy and failure to agree to being searched means that a customer will be refused entry.

Pricing

• There is a general obligation to give sufficient information to customers at the point of sale, so they are not misled on prices.  Price menus should include all material information which a customer needs to make an informed choice, including an accurate description of the name; brand of the drink, including alcoholic strength where appropriate;

• Prices should be inclusive of VAT.

• Where wine is sold in various measures, then it is fine to simply display the price of one measure, provided the other measures are sold at proportionately the same price, for example, if a 250ml glass of wine is £8 then there is no need to display that a 125ml glass is £4 etc.

• Any pricing needs to be clear and easily legible by an average customer.  The most sensible place to display the price is at the bar.

Smoking

• It is a legal requirement to display in a prominent position a sign not less than 297mm x 420mm (A3 size), with characters no less than 36mm high stating:
“It is illegal to sell tobacco products to anyone under the age of 18”.

• Additionally, there must be at least one no smoking sign displayed in the premises which must be legible, although the size and design is a matter for you.

Company Details

• If your pub is run by a trading company, then it must display its registered name at the location where it carries on its business.  Again, the notice must be legible, and displayed where it can easily be seen at any time.
Data Protection

• You must let anyone know where they are in an area which is covered by CCTV.  Signs need to be visible and legible to members of the public, contain details of the organisation operating the system, the purpose for using the CCTV and who to contact about it.

Health and Safety

• Assuming that you employ members of staff, then a notice advising of health and safety laws needs to be displayed, advising employees all that they need to know about health and safety.  Copies of this can be obtained from the Health and Safety Executive.  Additionally, you need to display a health and safety policy statement about how you manage health and safety risks within the work place.

• Both of these notices should be displayed in staff areas.

Food Allergen Labelling

• Any allergen information about the 14 most common foods known to cause allergic reaction must be supplied on menus, chalkboards or in another written format.  If you choose to provide allergen information verbally, then notices need to be prominently displayed, we would suggest at the bar or point of sale of the food, advising customers that this is the case.

Other Signage

• If you do operate strobe lighting, we would also advise that it would be sensible to display notices advising of its use.

• You may want to display your food hygiene rating (although experience says that only those pubs with good ratings tend to display it).

• You can display your PRS and PPL licences but, again, there is no legal requirement to do so.

Take some time, look around using this guide and make sure that you have a few picture frames and tacks on hand!

For further information on this issue or any other legal licensing problems contact managing partner Jonathan Smith on 0115 953 8500.