Shambles. I would be amazed if you could produce evidence that anyone said that supermarkets would need to apply for a premises licence just to permit carol singing. I doubt that there is a single supermarket in the land that does not sell alcohol. A premises licence is required to sell alcohol and indeed they all hold a current licence at present.

I would be interested to see where you can find 'incidental' as being considered as incidental only to some other entertainment. And how that works for incidental recorded music, when a juke box is the only 'entertainment' provided?

5.18 (page 49) of the latest draft guidance -: The incidental performance of live music and the incidental playing of recorded music may not be regarded as the provision of regulated entertainment activities under the 2003 Act in certain circumstances. This is where they are incidental to another activity which is not in itself entertainment or the provision of entertainment facilities. This exemption does not extend to the provision of other forms of regulated entertainment. -

The Government 'spin' has always tried to claim that there was only to be one Licence (one ring to rule them all etc) but it has always been clear that in practice the entertainment licence concept was still very much alive. This has caused and is still causing confusion.
Not to mention that making music is now thought to be the same crime as selling alcohol is, without the same Licence.

There is a diference between a supermarket (or indeed an off-licence) needing a Premises Licence for the licensable sale of drink and needing to obtain additional in that Licence permission to also provide licensable regulated entertainment. Which was certainly the argument (before the exemption for incidental recorded music was extended to incidental live music) and is the point I am making.

They do not currently need to do this - to provide incidental recorded music and they will not under the Act. So now it follows that they will not require to specify any incidental live music that may take place in their Premises Licence.
   
I think what Shanbles might have had in mind more, though, was the position of shopping malls or railway station precincts and carol singers, where I am pretty sure it was indicated at some stage of the debates that it was envisaged that they would need a licence to allow this kind of activity.

It would appear from 5.14 (page 48) of the latest draft guidance - that it is still envisaged that they will have to. It should be noted that there is nothing in the legislation to prevent shops, stores and supermarkets proposing the inclusion of regulated entertainment in their premises licences. For example, many shops may decide to present a variety of entertainment at Christmas and other festive times or more generally in support of promotional events. Or is there a (Sir Humphrey style) difference between having to - and the legislation - having nothing to stop them from applying for the additional entertainment permission. What a mess!

And again we now have in the Guidance, (the extract that Richard P has suppied in this thread) the DCMS trying to change the words and implications of the Act, into something different. The need for LAs to issue Premises Licence (regulated entertainment permission) to whole public areas. No wonder we are confused. When all that is needed is for LAs to consider this live music to be as incidental live music and exempt, as recorded incidental music in the same places automatically is and would continue to be.