Again from Terry Redmond - in reference to the officer's reply given in the preceeding post. This is what they were replying to.

Hi all Good luck with the respective Licensing Departments under which you suffer....
For information I've copied part of an exchange between Wandsworth Licensing Department and myself. Watch out for this, it's a 'wait and see' strategy that could prevent any discussion until it's too late.

At present, a solo musician (or a duo) would be allowed with the Licensees permission to play without needing a Public Entertainment License. As Kim Howells (when taking the Licensing Bill through Commitee stage on behalf of the Government) publicly stated that he had 'no intention of making something licensable that was not already so' can you catagorically state that the 'two in a bar' rule will continue to apply in the Brighter Borough?

Or are you actually saying that Wandswoth Councils Licensing Policy will be to wait and see if anyone plays music in premises that would require a license for other activities - such as the sale of Alcohol -and only then decide if a 'crime' has been committed?

Isn't that bordering dangerously on entrapment, as on the one hand you are saying it MAY be legal and on the other you say it MAY NOT be legal - what does it depend on exactly?

I'm not sure about the validity of your answer to the spontaneity part - if someone takes an instrument into a public house the presumption must be that it was taken with the intent to use the instrument.
(Oh look, I've got my Cello with me. Fancy me not noticing. Yeah, right! )

If on the other hand the licensed premises supply the instrument (a piano would be a good example, something that used to be a feature in a lot of pubs until the seventies craze for piano smashing contests) a breach of the Licensing Act would definitely have occurred So before anyone inadvertently - OR deliberately - commits the dreadful
crime of playing a musical instrument in Wandsworth, under what
circumstances would it be legal to do so without the Licensee having made formal application for the musician to be allowed to play?