I'm asking this question on behalf of a group who want to save our last
remaining village pub by diversifying its business. It is at present
closed with an application for change of use to dwelling in play.

They are grasping at straws to try and make it work financially and want
to use the premises as a childcare centre during the day when it is not
serving alcohol. Is this lawful?

I thought not on licensed premises but I can't find anything to confirm
my view. The closest that I came was the FAQ on children and licensed
premises I found (but it is more concerned with under age drinking):

https://www.adur-worthing.gov.uk/media/Media,98512,smxx.pdf

It doesn't really answer my question.

It is certain that at least some, perhaps most of the under age children
will be unaccompanied by their parents if that makes a difference...
(ie an after school club for those whose parents are still at work)

Thanks for any pointers to relevant legislation or success stories of
pubs that have been saved this or any other way...

--
Martin Brown

On Saturday 20 January 2024 at 18:03:44 UTC, Martin Brown wrote:
> I'm asking this question on behalf of a group who want to save our last
> remaining village pub by diversifying its business. It is at present
> closed with an application for change of use to dwelling in play.
>
> They are grasping at straws to try and make it work financially and want
> to use the premises as a childcare centre during the day when it is not
> serving alcohol. Is this lawful?
>
> I thought not on licensed premises but I can't find anything to confirm
> my view. The closest that I came was the FAQ on children and licensed
> premises I found (but it is more concerned with under age drinking):
>
> https://www.adur-worthing.gov.uk/media/Media,98512,smxx.pdf

Not sure that the licensing part of it is a problem if there isn't actually
drinking going on around the kids.

Thinking of other licensed premises, typically the whole of a hotel is
licensed - obviously that doesn't prohibit non-alcoholic functions etc from
taking place.

On 20/01/2024 18:03, Martin Brown wrote:
> I'm asking this question on behalf of a group who want to save our last
> remaining village pub by diversifying its business. It is at present
> closed with an application for change of use to dwelling in play.
>
> They are grasping at straws to try and make it work financially and want
> to use the premises as a childcare centre during the day when it is not
> serving alcohol. Is this lawful?

Plenty of community halls have alcohol licences and also host childrens'
events, so I suspect it is outside of licencing hours.

>
> I thought not on licensed premises but I can't find anything to confirm
> my view. The closest that I came was the FAQ on children and licensed
> premises I found (but it is more concerned with under age drinking):
>
> https://www.adur-worthing.gov.uk/media/Media,98512,smxx.pdf
>
> It doesn't really answer my question.
>
> It is certain that at least some, perhaps most of the under age children
> will be unaccompanied by their parents if that makes a difference...
> (ie an after school club for those whose parents are still at work)
>
> Thanks for any pointers to relevant legislation or success stories of
> pubs that have been saved this or any other way...
>

--
Colin Bignell

On 2024-01-20, Martin Brown <'''newspam'''@nonad.co.uk> wrote:
> I'm asking this question on behalf of a group who want to save our last
> remaining village pub by diversifying its business. It is at present
> closed with an application for change of use to dwelling in play.
>
> They are grasping at straws to try and make it work financially and want
> to use the premises as a childcare centre during the day when it is not
> serving alcohol. Is this lawful?
>
> I thought not on licensed premises but I can't find anything to confirm
> my view. The closest that I came was the FAQ on children and licensed
> premises I found (but it is more concerned with under age drinking):
>
> https://www.adur-worthing.gov.uk/media/Media,98512,smxx.pdf
>
> It doesn't really answer my question.
>
> It is certain that at least some, perhaps most of the under age children
> will be unaccompanied by their parents if that makes a difference...
> (ie an after school club for those whose parents are still at work)
>
> Thanks for any pointers to relevant legislation or success stories of
> pubs that have been saved this or any other way...

I think you need to be looking into what the requirements are for
licensed childcare centres, rather than looking at pub regulations.
As far as I can tell, there are no laws that pertain to children in
pubs - it seems nearly all the things that people say are urban legends.
The only things that prevent children being in pubs are management
policies, and individual licence conditions.

(Obviously there are laws that pertain to children *buying alcohol*,
but that's a different issue.)