Licensing (Seamen's Canteens) Act 1954
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1954 c. 11 |
| Year | 1954 |
Licensing (Seamen's Canteens) Act , 1954
(2 & 3 Eliz. 2) CHAPTER 11
An Act to make provision for the sale of intoxicating liquor in seamen's canteens, and to revoke Regulation 60AA of the Defence (General) Regulations, 1939; and for purposes connected with the matters aforesaid.
Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—
1 Power to authorise grant of retailers' excise on-licences for seamen's canteens.
(1) If a body approved by the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation have provided or propose to provide a seamen's canteen the need for which has been certified by that Minister, after consultation with the Merchant Navy Welfare Board, the licensing authority may grant a licence under this Act authorising the person who is the manager of the canteen to hold a retailer's excise on-licence to sell intoxicating liquor in the canteen; and an excise licence may be granted to him accordingly notwithstanding that he does not hold a justices' licence or certificate.
(2) In this Act the expression ‘licensing authority’ means, as respects England and Wales, the licensing justices, and, as respects Scotland, the licensing court.
2 Procedure for grant of licences.
(1) The licensing authority shall not refuse to grant a licence under this Act except under the following subsection or on one or more of the following grounds, that is to say—
(a ) that the applicant is disqualified by any Act for holding a justices' licence or certificate or is in other respects not a fit and proper person to hold a licence under this Act; or
(b ) that the premises are not fit and convenient for the purposes of the canteen; or
(c ) in a case where objection has been made to the situation of the canteen, on the ground specified in the objection; or
(d ) that the applicant or body providing the canteen has entered into an agreement limiting the sources from which the intoxicating liquor or the mineral waters to be sold in the canteen may be obtained,
but nothing in this subsection shall prevent the licensing authority from specifying in the licence granted by them a kind of retailer's excise on-licence other than that requested by the applicant.
(2) Before application is made for the grant of a licence under this Act draft rules as to the persons entitled to use the canteen shall be prepared for submission with the application and the licensing authority shall refuse to grant the licence unless the body providing the canteen undertake to make rules for the canteen in the form of the draft, with the modifications, if any, required by the licensing authority, and not to vary those rules without the consent of the licensing authority.
(3) Any licence granted under this Act shall provide that at all times at which intoxicating liquor is sold food and beverages other than those of an intoxicating character shall also be provided for sale.
(4) Part I of the First Schedule to this Act shall have effect as respects the notices to be given and the documents to be served on an application for the grant of a licence under this Act.
(5) A licence under this Act may, in a case where it is proposed to construct or convert premises for a seamen's canteen, be a provisional licence to be made final after the proposal has been carried out; and Part II of the said First Schedule shall have effect as respects such licences.
(6) In Scotland, a person, other than the procurator fiscal or the chief officer of police, intending to oppose an application for the grant of a licence under this Act shall, not later than five days before the hearing of the application, give notice in writing of his intention to the applicant and to the licensing court, specifying the ground of his objection.
3 Repeal of emergency provisions authorising the sale of intoxicating liquor in canteens and consequential transitional provisions.
(1) Regulation 60AA of the Defence (General) Regulations, 1939 (which authorises the sale of intoxicating liquor in canteens without a justices' licence or certificate) shall cease to have effect on the appointed day.
(2) Where an authorisation under the said Regulation is in force as respects a seamen's canteen when application is made for the grant of a licence under this Act for that canteen to come into force on the appointed day—
(a ) the licensing authority shall not have power to refuse the grant on the grounds set out in paragraph (b ) or paragraph (c ) of subsection (1) of the last foregoing section, but may refuse it on the ground that the canteen has been improperly conducted; and
(b ) the licensing authority shall not without the consent of the body providing the canteen specify in the licence granted by them a kind of retailer's excise on-licence not permitting the sale of any description of intoxicating liquor to which the authorisation extends; and
(c ) the licensing authority shall not have power to require modifications in the draft rules submitted under subsection (2) of the last foregoing section if those draft rules correspond to restrictions and conditions subject to which the authorisation was granted.
4 Renewal of licences.
(1) A licence under this Act shall, unless renewed under this section, expire—
(a ) in England and Wales, on the fourth day of April, and
(b ) in Scotland, on the twenty-seventh day of May,
next after the date on which it comes into force.
(2) If the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation has, in the calendar year in which the licence would otherwise expire, certified that the canteen is still needed, the licensing authority may renew the licence for a further period of twelve months.
(3) The licensing authority shall not refuse an application for the renewal of a licence under this Act except under subsection (4) of this section or on one or more of the following grounds, that is to say—
(a ) that the manager is disqualified by any Act for holding a justices' licence or certificate or is in other respects not a fit and proper person to hold a licence under this Act, or
(b ) that the rules as to the persons entitled to use the canteen have not been observed or that the canteen has in other respects been improperly conducted, or
(c ) that the manager or the body providing the canteen has entered into an agreement of the kind mentioned in paragraph (d ) of subsection (1) of section two of this Act.
(4) On renewing a licence under this Act the licensing authority may by order, to be served on the holder, direct that, within a time fixed by the order, such structural alterations shall be made in the premises comprising the canteen as they think reasonably necessary to secure the proper conduct of the canteen; and if, when application for renewal of the licence is next made after the time fixed by the order has expired, it is not shown to the satisfaction of the licensing authority that the order has been complied with, the licensing authority may refuse to renew the licence.
If an order under this subsection is complied with, the licensing authority shall not make a further order within the five years following the first-mentioned order.
(5) If the applicant for renewal of a licence under this Act has given such notices as the licensing authority may require and so requests, the licensing authority may at their discretion in renewing the licence vary the kind of retailer's excise on-licence to be authorised by the licence so renewed.
(6) In England and Wales a person intending to oppose an application for renewal of a licence under this Act shall, not later than five days before the hearing of the application, give notice in writing to the holder of the licence specifying the ground of his objection and in Scotland such a person, other than the procurator fiscal or the chief officer of police, shall within that time give the like notice to the holder of the licence and to the licensing court.
5 Transfer of licences.
(1) A licence under this Act shall not authorise the grant or transfer of a retailer's excise on-licence to a manager of the canteen who is not the individual to whom the licence under this Act was granted unless the licence under this Act has been transferred to him; but where the holder of a licence under this Act has in pursuance of this Act been granted an excise licence and subsequently ceases to be the manager of the canteen, the person for the time being in charge of the canteen may, during the period of fourteen days from the date on which the holder of the licences ceased to be the manager, sell intoxicating liquor in the canteen as if those licences had been transferred to him.
(2) The power to transfer a licence under this Act shall be exercisable by the licensing authority or by justices of the peace for the petty sessions area in which the canteen is situated.
(3) A licence transferred under this section by justices of the peace shall become void at the expiration of three months from the date on which the transfer takes effect—
(a ) unless within that period the transfer has been confirmed by the licensing authority, or a further transfer has been made under this section; or
(b ) unless the transfer is to a person resuming the management of the canteen after an interval not exceeding four weeks.
(4) A transfer of a licence under this Act and the confirmation of such a transfer shall not be refused except on the ground that the applicant is disqualified by any Act for holding a justices' licence or certificate or is in other respects not a fit and...
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