The 2003 Licensing Act's impact on crime and disorder
| Author | Gillian Hunter,Mike Hough |
| DOI | 10.1177/1748895808092428 |
| Published date | 01 August 2008 |
| Date | 01 August 2008 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
239
The 2003 Licensing Act’s impact
on crime and disorder:
An evaluation
MIKE HOUGH AND GILLIAN HUNTER
King’s College London, UK
Abstract
The Licensing Act 2003, coming into force in November 2005 in
England and Wales, abolished set licensing hours for pubs and clubs.
The aim was to liberalize a rigid system while reducing the problems
of drinking and disorder associated with a standard closing time.
This article summarizes the results of an evaluation funded by the
Home Office. Despite widespread concern that the legislation would
lead to ‘24-hour drinking’ and an increase in associated problems,
the experience of the first year shows very little change. The scale of
change in licensing hours was variable but modest: while the
majority of pubs extended their hours, most of these extensions
were short. Thus the average national increase in opening hours was
small. Alcohol consumption showed a slight fall. There was no
obvious impact on violent crime and disorder, according to a range
of measures, including crime statistics, victim surveys and medical
statistics. These results are not particularly consistent with findings in
other jurisdictions which have relaxed controls over opening hours
of pubs and clubs.
Key Words
alcohol-related crime • binge drinking • disorder • licensing
• violence
Criminology & Criminal Justice
© 2008 SAGE Publications
(Los Angeles, London, New Delhi and Singapore)
and the British Society of Criminology.
www.sagepublications.com
ISSN 1748–8958; Vol: 8(3): 239–260
DOI: 10.1177/1748895808092428
ARTICLES
Introduction
The Licensing Act 2003, introduced in November 2005, simplified licens-
ing law by introducing a single premises licence—covering the provision of
alcohol, regulated entertainment and refreshments late at night—in place of
the six types of licence that previously existed. Crucially, it replaced statu-
tory licensing hours with opening hours set locally through the conditions
of individual licences. This provision gave rise to fears about ‘24-hour
drinking’, although the aim was to liberalize a rigid system while reducing
the problems of rapid heavy drinking and disorder associated with a statu-
tory closing time. The intention of the Act was not simply to relax drinking
hours but to provide licensing authorities with new powers to deal with
problematic licensed premises.
Problems associated with pub closing times had been a source of concern
for many years. On the one hand, the simple fact of a closing time was
thought to encourage some to drink as much as they could while they could.
On the other hand, standardized closing times meant that large numbers
of—mainly young—people in various states of drunkenness in towns and
cities were decanted into open public space and onto public transport
simultaneously, an obvious recipe for alcohol-fuelled violence and disorder.
More flexible pub and club closing hours were intended to avoid the clos-
ing time melées, discourage excessive drinking and, in time, encourage a
more relaxed drinking culture.
Under the provision of the Act, the responsibility for licensing was
passed from magistrates’ courts to local authorities. These new licensing
authorities were expected to grant licences unless there were well-founded
objections that doing so was inconsistent with the Act’s four licensing
objectives. The Act also introduced a range of offences and sanctions to
control alcohol-related problems, including the power to place conditions
on licences, the extension of police powers to close premises associated with
noise and disorder and increased penalties for selling alcohol to those aged
under 18. The legislation also gave a greater voice to the public: the powers
of local residents were enhanced to enable them to ask for reviews of exist-
ing licences and to have input into decisions on licensing applications.
Much has been written about the ‘night-time economy’ (NTE) and its
impact on alcohol consumption and drinking patterns in the UK. Its
expansion in the 1990s was explicitly encouraged by licensing and planning
policies (ODPM, 2004) and the NTE makes a significant contribution to
the economy (Tierney, 2006; Winslow and Hall, 2006). Government strat-
egy has prioritized the development of tourist, retail and leisure activities to
revitalize city centre locations beyond traditional office hours and towards
the ‘24 hour city’ concept (Hayward and Hobbs, 2007). However, concerns
were voiced within national and regional government, by academics and
the wider public, about the negative repercussions of these developments.
They have been described as narrow in focus and largely targeted at young
people. The growth of city centre pubs and clubs and the corresponding
Criminology & Criminal Justice 8(3)240
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