I am not trying to stage a public entertainment in an establishment that does not have a Public Entertainment Licence. If I were trying to perform there with a three-piece band, the law is clear (if a little strange), that the establishment should have a PEL.

The local authority are claiming that what I am trying to do, which is to hold an informal musical session, constitutes such a public entertainment. On the grounds that more than two musicians will be playing and therefore does need a PEL.

As the threatened action is not against me but is against the publican, who does not want to obtain a PEL and is unlikely to want to contest the issue with the council, this interpretation of the law is unlikely to be tested in court. The only likely outcome of this pressure being applied on the publican to obtain a PEL to enable this event to take place, will be that the session will be asked to go somewhere else.

Given the laws definitions of what a public entertainment is, I do not agree that the event I am trying to hold constitutes a public entertainment. Therefore it does not require a PEL.