Incidently, at this same meeting the members who according to their Chief Executive have no discretion on what is a performer in their borough, are being asked for their discretion for a 10% increase in PEL fees!

It is probably worth repeating that there is no evidence that musical activities within the Cove House Inn (or anywhere else in the Borough) have been adversely affected by the requirement to have a licence.

Had the licensee not applied for the licence when faced with the threat of prosecution from the council and a possible £20,000 fine or 6 months in prison, the session would have been lost. It is credit only to the licensee that it was not. For Mr Grainger to attempt to gain any credit for this from our MP is quite unacceptable.

Many licensees do not agree to pay and valuable musical activities are not just adversely affected by not being able to ensure the event will be able to take place, as this was, but are prevented altogether.