End-of-year deluge expected

HUNDREDS of bottlenecked licensing applications could leave Camden Council with an even bigger headache than anticipated.
The Town Hall has long been bracing itself for a deluge of requests from pubs and clubs for later opening hours under new licensing rules.
But, five weeks after fixed pub hours were scrapped by the government, only three of the borough’s 1,700 nightspots have asked for a change in hours.
Even if pub bosses do not want to vary their opening hours, they still have to update their licences under the new system by November.
Camden fears applications will flood in towards the end of the year, leaving the Town Hall’s already-strained licensing committee struggling to cope with more than 50 hearings a week.
In a new report to be considered tonight (Thursday), environment director Peter Bishop said: “There is a risk that bottlenecks in application submissions will occur.
“The implication is that there will be extremely high workloads for licensing committee members… Despite efforts by Camden to make licensees aware of the implications of the legislation, there are indications that many independent operators are unaware of the reality.”
Camden has already had to boil down its 16 strong committee to five mini-panels of just three members each.
Mr Bishop added that Camden hoped a new survey of pub bosses would indicate when most applications were likely to arrive at the Town Hall.