Children 15 & under in Scottish restaurants that serve alcohol

[Harters]

I was surprised to see this restriction on the website of an Edinburgh restaurant:

"As of 1 September 2009, due to new alcohol licensing requirements, children 15 and under are not allowed on the premises during dinner hours. Please be advised that we require proof of age."

Is this some new legislation applying only north of the border? Is it going down well with the punters and/or the restaurants? Or is it a matter that this restaurant is simply introducing a specious "no kids" policy.

http://redwood-restaurant.co.uk/contactus.aspx

John

[Mjx]

This must have something to do with the legal drinking age in public places in Scotland being 16 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_drinking_age#Europe ). Must be a response to some sort of crack-down on reinforcement, although when I scanned news items, I didn't find anything specifc regarding September 2009 (I did think it was odd that it applied to dinner hours only, then noticed that don't serve lunch).

[nickrey]

That title is open to far too many interpretations. I thought they were going to start sending them up the chimneys as well.

[PhilD]

"As of 1 September 2009, due to new alcohol licensing requirements, children 15 and under are not allowed on the premises during dinner hours. Please be advised that we require proof of age."

Is this some new legislation applying only north of the border?

John, different country, different laws. The new law became effective in Sept 2009, it was passed in 2005 with the intervening years being the transition period.

I also understand it is license specific, so the licensee specifies what is intended in the application. The local licensing body then approves it or not. I assume this means lots of factors like location, target market, structure of premise (separate room), and nature of offering (i.e. full restaurant vs. bar snacks) are all considered. Thus it can and will vary from place to place.

[Harters]

Phil

A bit more Googling indicates that the relevent legislation is the Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005. This appears to mirror the relevent legislation in England - the Licensing Act 2003.

There are various websites with summaries of the Scottosh legislation but I cant clearly see that legislation, as such, prevents a child being in a restaurant. Obviously I understand that pubs and bars throughout the UK have always had restrictions on the presence of children. But a full-on restaurant like this claiming such a legal restriction just seems odd. Unless, of course, it's something it has voluntarily included in its licence application - sort of having a self-impose dban on children but giving it the facade of it being imposed by law?

[PhilD]

Unless, of course, it's something it has voluntarily included in its licence application - sort of having a self-impose dban on children but giving it the facade of it being imposed by law?

That is my read of the Scottish legislation, the licensee needs to be explicit in their application about lots of things, one being children's access to the premises. The application is then heard by a local board who make a decision based on the details of the specific application.

I assume Scottish "conservatism" would lead to "pragmatic" applications by potential licensees i.e. you may stand a better chance of securing a license if you don't include children. I think this is different to to England where the overarching rules take precedent.