Licensing board rethinks glass ban

July 1, 2006: The Scottish Beer and Pub Association (SBPA) has given a cautious welcome to a decision by the Glasgow Licensing Board to have a re-think on a proposed ban on glassware for the city's pubs.

The board had planned to implement the blanket ban on glasses in all lcensed premises next year. However, the ban willnow apply only to late-opening venues and venues with the highest risk of glassing attacks.

However, the SBPA says it will be seeking a continuation of its legal action against the board until it has assessed the full impact of the board's policy changes.

"Given the eleventh hour change in the position of the Glasgow Licensing
Board in amending its policy, there cannot be detailed consideration of our
petition in the Court of Session at the end of this week, and we will
therefore expect our costs in raising the action to be met by the Glasgow
Licensing Board."

"We have argued consistently against the board's blanket ban on the use of
glass," said SBPA chief executive Patrick Browne. "We believed such a policy to be unjustified in terms of cost or risk and was a totally disproportionate response to the issue. Hopefully, the board's amended policy will offer a more reasonable, commonsense and targeted approach.

"We reserve our right to protect our members' interests and, if appropriate,
will seek future judicial reviews on this issue or any actions by any
licensing board where we believe a board to be acting outside of their
powers under licensing legislation."