Licence threat to landlords (From Penarth Times)

Licence threat to landlords

DIANE Jones, landlady of the Cefn Mably, is hoping and praying her second attempt at the weighty application for an alcohol licence is accepted this week - otherwise she faces losing the 30-year lease on her pub.

And Sian Fox of Foxy's Deli on Victoria Road, Penarth, found writing her name and address 14 times and re-doing the application in black ink because blue was unacceptable, extremely tiresome.

They both suffered at the hands of the government's new licensing law, which requires all premises wishing to serve alcohol to apply to the council by August 6 - or face possible closure or prosecution.

Each application costs in the region of 300 - however, Diane Jones was forced to shell out twice due to an error on her first form.

"This has been a total waste of time," said Diane.

According to figures released by the council last week, the vast majority of expected applications from businesses in Vale had still not been received - despite the looming deadline.

A council spokesperson said: "The council encouraged businesses to make their applications as early as possible to avoid a last-minute pile-up. Unfortunately that has not happened and our licensing department will now face a huge task if all the applications come in during the last week before the deadline."

But like Diane, Sian maintains she was held up in the application process by the fact the document took so long to get through and she was given conflicting advice.