I notice that a significant number of newspaper advertisements of applications for justices' liquor licences now contain wording to the effect that any person wishing to object to the application should give written notice to the applicant and to the court at least seven days before the application date.

The wording mirrors the strict requirements of the Licensing (Special Hours Certificate) Rules 1982 and similar restrictions on objections to betting and gaming licences.


Yet there is no procedural requirement in the Licensing Act 1964 that prior notice of objection to a justices' licence must be given, in writing or otherwise. Any objector can simply turn up on the day and is entitled to be heard.


It seems to me that, in certain circumstances, a potential objector reading the offending words in the advertisement a few days before the hearing date might assume that he was out of time and could not object and that there was no point in attending.


To that extent, I would suggest that the advertisement is misleading and the application is defective.



Jonathan Austin, Boys & Maughan, Margate, Kent