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Here's a question some of you might know the answer to...

My village has a pub. The landlord bought the pub about 5 years ago and tried to change it into a house. This was refused and he was told he couldn't change the business into residential and it was serving the community. So he shut the doors and he just lives there. Thats it, he never opens to serve beer or food now, he's just living in the building. My question is...

Is there a minimum opening time for him to be able to keep his license? Surely if he opens zero hours a week he should have his license revoked and be told to fek off?

redno7 » Wed Nov 20, 2013 11:37 am wrote:Here's a question some of you might know the answer to...

My village has a pub. The landlord bought the pub about 5 years ago and tried to change it into a house. This was refused and he was told he couldn't change the business into residential and it was serving the community. So he shut the doors and he just lives there. Thats it, he never opens to serve beer or food now, he's just living in the building. My question is...

Is there a minimum opening time for him to be able to keep his license? Surely if he opens zero hours a week he should have his license revoked and be told to fek off?

I actually held a publican license at one stage in my life. I ran a pub in putney in london. My memory is hazy, but I think if he does not have a license himself, he cannot operate the pub or run it as a pub. I think the question is, can the pub be re-zoned as residential. That is a separate issue, I have no clue.

Great help I was, 

are most of the pub's in britain not owned by the brewery?.
i live outside a big town in a small village surrounded by several other villages and there is at least 11 pubs within 10mins. there is 2 that are old thatched pubs, that are odd. one opens at 8pm till 11pm a few evenings a week and the other might open up 1 night a week. i passed that one a few days ago and seen that they were renovating the out side of it. another lad that was with me said they were only doing it to keep the licence and to get the maintenance grants. he was certain that as long as they opened up for more than 10 hrs a month they would continue to be eligible.
he was also certain that if they had regular hours he would be dead by now as it's only about 300yds away from his house 

Not much on the facts and I'm feeling lazy but I'll give it a go from a land law point of view.

The first thing that came to my mind is that he's bound by covenants, especially since it's beneficial to the community, like how it can increase the value of the surrounding property inadvertently simply by having such an amenity, bla bla. If certain conditions are satisfied (Tulk v Moxhay), then the covenant can be enforced against anyone who comes into possession of the land.

A lot of it depends on whether it was a freehold or leasehold, if the license was coupled with a grant, etc. If he bought the property without any restrictions, then he is more or less free to do as he pleases because licenses after all, are personal in nature. Covenants and easements on the other hand, touch and concern the land. Like I said, I'm feeling lazy but if you want, I can try to find similar case law.

redno7 » Wed Nov 20, 2013 12:37 pm wrote:Here's a question some of you might know the answer to...

My village has a pub. The landlord bought the pub about 5 years ago and tried to change it into a house. This was refused and he was told he couldn't change the business into residential and it was serving the community. So he shut the doors and he just lives there. Thats it, he never opens to serve beer or food now, he's just living in the building. My question is...

Is there a minimum opening time for him to be able to keep his license? Surely if he opens zero hours a week he should have his license revoked and be told to fek off?

Its his. He lives in it as a house. He doesn't need any licence for that. I used to be a cellar person so have a fair grasp on what is allowed and what is not. If he bought the property, and not the business, then he can pretty much do what he likes. If he is not selling beer, due to not having a licence then no problem. If he has no paying customers at all, he is doing nothing wrong. I am guessing he has no form of entertainment in there (pool table, juke box etc.) as he would need to pay licences for those.