This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Liquor licensing 2001-2005
07/11/2006
Figures released today show there were 17,187 liquor licences in force in Scotland at December 31, 2005, the equivalent of 43 licences for every 10,000 persons aged 18 and over in Scotland.
Other main findings include:
- Over a third (37 per cent) of the licences in force in 2005 were for off-sale premises and a further 30 per cent were for public houses. The remainder covered licences for hotels, restaurants, cafes, etc. The distribution of licences by type of premises varied across the country. For example, 38 per cent of licences in Glasgow were held by public houses, while in more rural areas the proportion held by public houses was less than half this
- From 1980 to 2005, there was a near 17-fold increase in the number of refreshment licences (from 34 to 604) and a 64 per cent increase in the number of restaurant licences (from 921 to 1,506). The number of hotels (excluding restricted hotels) decreased by 24 per cent (from 2,959 to 2,261) over this period
- The number of off-sale licences rose from 4,899 in 1980 to 6,355 in 2001, an increase of 30 per cent, and has remained at just under 6,400 ever since
- There were 9,906 premises with one or more regular extensions to permitted hours in 2005
- There were 652 new applications for liquor licences in Scotland in 2005; 129 fewer than in 2004. Ninety-four per cent of these were granted a licence
- There were 2,338 registered clubs (golf, bowling, social etc.) at 31 December 2005, 9 fewer than at 31 December 2004
- A total of 1,439 liquor licensing offences were recorded by the police in 2005-06. Most (91 per cent) of the 129 convictions for liquor licensing offences in 2004-05 resulted in a financial penalty
Statistics on liquor licences are collected from local authority licensing boards. Information on the number of registered clubs was obtained from the Sheriff Courts.