THE PROVISION OF ALCOHOL AT VILLAGE HALL EVENTS
An event that includes the sale of alcohol will
require the organiser to issue a TEN (A temporary
Event Notice).
A TEN can be obtained from the Chester City
Council Licensing Department at a cost of £21, giving 10 working days notice.
A TEN can last up to 96 hours, which for
instance would have covered the whole of the Upton Festival weekend.
However, no more than 12 TEN’s
may be given in respect of any particular premises in a calendar year.
Moreover, unless the individual holds a Personal
Licence then he or she can give no more than 5 TEN’s per year.
So this means that we cannot sell alcohol on the
premises during more than 12 events per year, regardless of who organises the event.
For the time being we believe that this limit
does not constitute a problem and only if the limit starts to prove
insufficient
will we consider varying our
premises licence to include the sale of alcohol.
This does mean though that user groups and
societies must obtain permission from the Upton Village Hall Board of
Management, specifically the Secretary,
to hold an event that
requires a TEN so that we can ensure that we do not use up our quota in advance
of a planned event that requires a bar.
If permission is given it will still be the
responsibility of the group or society in question to issue their own TEN.
There has been quite a lot of confusion over
what constitutes the sale of alcohol, requiring a TEN to be issued.
It is not true, as has been suggested, that any
event at which alcohol is on the premises requires a TEN, and in fact a number
of our events
at which alcohol is
consumed do not require a TEN.
The Act specifically refers to the sale of
alcohol, and this sale can be indirect, insofar as the price could have been
included in an entrance fee
for example. The following examples, taken from our own
experience, have been put together to illustrate what is or is not a sale.
|
Any event that has any sort of bar over which
alcohol is sold |
|
|
The Horticultural Society’s summer
Strawberries and Wine evening for which an entrance fee is charged that
includes a “free” or complimentary glass of wine |
|
|
Wine and cheese provided free of charge by the
Board of Management following a Forum meeting or AGM |
NO |
|
The History Society Christmas event where
there is no entrance fee and food and wine are provided free, either by the
committee from society funds, or donated by members |
NO |
|
A party where there is no entrance fee and
people bring their own alcohol and nothing is sold |
NO |
|
The Flower Club Christmas meal whereby the
food is provided by an outside caterer at say £12.50 per head and the members
pay £12.50 each for their meal, but a free glass of wine is provided
separately by the committee from club funds |
NO |
The last example potentially covers a number of
other events. It is of paramount
importance, however, that there is no element of cross-subsidy between
the food and the
alcohol. The price charged to members
for the event must match exactly the price per head charged by the caterer, and
any
free alcohol must be
provided separately by the club and not by the caterer. An event where there is not this clear
distinction will constitute the sale of alcohol.
We must insist that all user groups and
societies adhere to the rules governing the sale of alcohol, and we will not permit
any “grey areas” to proceed
without a TEN.
Any queries about the status of
particular events should be addressed in the first instance to the Secretary.