NEWS: Booze Ruck

By MARK McLAUGHLIN
Edinburgh Evening News
5 February 2010

A PUB landlord has branded the police and council killjoys for refusing to let him open early for Scotland's Six Nations rugby opener on Sunday.

The Mercat Bar on West Maitland Street is popular with fans en-route to Murrayfield, many of whom start their festivities early when the rugby comes to town.

However, Sunday's game has caused a headache for Mercat landlord Graham Blaikie, whose licence only permits him to sell alcohol after 12:30pm.

Mr Blaikie applied for a temporary extension on the grounds that the game was an "event of national importance".

Unfortunately, police and the council disagreed and the application was refused.

The city council maintains each case is considered on its merits but trade representatives fear there appears to be a blanket ban on all temporary licences.

Mr Blaikie's patrons will now have less than an hour's drinking time before they have to set off for Sunday's 3pm kick-off.

Mr Blaikie said: "I had hoped the Six Nations would help me recoup some of the money I've lost with having the tram works on my doorstep for the last year.

Police seem to be rejecting every request that's put to them on resource grounds, to the effect that there seems to be a blanket ban on all temporary applications as well now. I don't see how a Sunday game is any different from a Saturday game, where we normally serve beer from 9am."

Before the launch of the Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005 last September, only a handful of premises - such as pool halls, hotel bars and some working men's clubs - were permitted to sell alcohol before 12:30pm on a Sunday.

The council has since faced a deluge of applications for permanent early hours on a Sunday, and has decided to suspend the application process pending a consultation, due to begin on 17 February and take around 12 weeks.

The council maintains that it is still assessing applications for temporary extensions for "events of national importance".

Steve Mudie, president of the Scottish Licensed Trade Association, said: "We held a meeting of the SLTA last week where the matter was discussed, and I heard similar stories from landlords who have been refused temporary extensions for other events.

"The Six Nations is an important event in Scotland, and particularly in Edinburgh. If a pub in Dunblane was allowed to open at 8am last Sunday because Andy Murray was playing tennis in Australia, why can't a pub in Edinburgh open early when the national team is playing down the road?"

A council spokesman said the licensing board looks at each application on its own merit, and said the reason The Mercat was refused the licence was because "police will be ensuring that the streets and other areas on the ground are being controlled" and that an extra demand would "put a strain on resources".

A police spokesman confirmed objections were raised to the application on the grounds of resource implications and noise and disturbance to neighbouring residents.