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LIQUOR LICENSING IN SCOTLAND, 1998-2002

3. Liquor Licences, by Type of Premises (Tables 1 and 2) and Council Area (Tables 3 and 4)

3.1 There were 17,059 liquor licences in force in Scotland at 31 December 2002 (Table 1). Thirty-seven per cent of these licences were for off-sale premises, 30 per cent for public houses, and 17 per cent for hotels. A further 17 per cent of licences were for restaurant, entertainment and refreshment premises.

3.2 The number of liquor licences in force at the end of 2002 was 103 (0.6 per cent) lower than in 2001, but 3,167 (23 per cent) higher than the figure for 1980.

3.3 The balance of off-sale to on-sale licences has remained relatively stable since 1980 (Table 1). The proportion of on-sale licences of different types however, has gradually changed over the past two decades; a comparison between 1980 and 2002 is illustrated in Chart 1. There has been a general decline in the number of hotel licences from 2,959 (21 per cent of all licences) in 1980, to 2,424 (14 per cent of all licences) in 2002. In contrast, the proportion of restaurant, refreshment and entertainment licences has increased from 8 per cent to 17 per cent of all licences over the same period. As illustrated in Chart 2, there were 539 refreshment licences in force in Scotland in 2002, 40 more than in 2001 and more than double the 234 in 1991. The number of off-sale licences has also increased since 1980 (by around 30 per cent), although the number has remained fairly steady at around 6,350 on average since 1996.

3.4 The distribution of licences by type of premises also varied across the council areas (Table 3). The more rural areas tended to have a higher proportion of hotel licences and a lower proportion of public house licences than average, while in the more densely populated areas the reverse tended to be the case. For example, at 31 December 2002, 38 per cent of licences in the Highland council area were hotel or restricted hotel licences and 15 per cent were public house licences; whereas in Glasgow City, 42 per cent of licences were for public houses and only 5 per cent were for hotels or restricted hotels. The higher prevalence of hotel licences in rural areas is likely to reflect the pattern of the tourist trade.

3.5 At 31 December 2002, there were 43 licences in force for every 10,000 persons aged 18 and over in Scotland; this figure has changed very little over the past five years (Table 2). However, there was considerable variation in this rate between council areas. The areas with the highest number of licences in force per 10,000 population aged 18 and over, tended to be those in the more rural areas such as Argyll & Bute (89), Highland (87), Shetland (87) and Orkney (77). The more urban council areas outside of the cities tended to have the lowest number of licences per 10,000 population aged 18 and over, for example East Renfrewshire (17), East Dunbartonshire (19), South Lanarkshire (25), and North Lanarkshire (28). Of the four main cities, Edinburgh had most licences for its population aged 18 and over (54) and Glasgow had the least (36) (Table 4 and Chart 3).

3.6 The number of off-sale licences per 10,000 population aged 18 and over averaged 16 in Scotland at 31 December 2002. This rate varied from 7 in East Renfrewshire and 9 in South Lanarkshire, up to 29 in Shetland and 33 in Orkney. The proportion of off-sale licences to the total number of licences per council area was highest in Clackmannanshire (58 per cent) and lowest in Highland (31 per cent), (Tables 2 and 3).

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