Spectre of drink

It doesn't require a huge effort to get solicitors to take a drop, in our experience, so it is perhaps a surprise that we don't have a profession dominated by licensing lawyers.

Nonetheless, they have an admirably high profile on these pages at least, because licensing lawyers are the legal PR equivalent of the open goal - any press release we receive relating to them is accompanied by a cheery and always usable picture of the lawyers involved lifting a glass or two in celebration of something or other.

The bar that doubled as a hairdressing salon is one that sticks in the mind.

This week, Richard Hutchings and Rob Newman from Torquay firm Kitson Hutchings (left and right respectively) are marking their work for Nick and Sheena Powe in securing what they say is the first full liquor licence for a cave, in this case Kent's Cavern, Torquay's oldest tourist attraction.

The Powes run ghost parties in the cavern - and adding a few spirits of the liquid kind is sure to make them even more successful, we have no doubt.