http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/jan/04/small-venues-live-music-licence

The following, from the above Guardian article, ends on rather a cynical note......

Furthermore, while the new proposal may sound generous, a parliamentary select committee recommended in May 2009 that an exemption be created for any venue with 200 people or less. They also called for a resurrection of the older "two-in-a-bar" law, which allowed any size of venue to host unamplified music by one or two people. Perhaps these ideas will be included in the inevitable tenth, eleventh or thirteenth consultations.