Reliance on the courts to interpret this act in an even handed and rational way is the thing that worries me most, for the following reasons.

1. Licensees are most unlikely to initiate proceedings to fight against adverse LA decisions, because of the battery of high profile barristers and QCs likely to be fielded (at council tax payers' expense) by said authorities. It is a fact that decisions tend to favour the side with the best (i.e. most expensive) representation.

2. Licensees will fight shy of putting themselves in the way of prosecution by LAs to prove a point, given the dire penalty faced on conviction.

3. If a licensee should feel strongly enough to fight in court, it should be remember that it was just such a court which established that "two in a bar" meant two in a whole session, rather than a number of pairs performing sequentially. This decision, IMHO, was totally irrational in that the latter served the stated purpose of the law as well as the former, and I find it very hard to believe that future decisions will be any more rational.

We have heard much about how many licensees have submitted applications, but we should remember that these figures refer to liquor sales applications, whether or no live music accompanies same.

I would expect that many applicants have not ticked the box, this being the easiest way for a licensee to avoid the additional hassle of becoming involved in the inevitable round of argument and counter argument which will attend on establishing what this law really means.

Oh, by the way, would someone who knows him please tell that prat Sharkey the facts of life.

Don T.