There were 17,318 liquor licences in force in Scotland at 31 December 1999,
equivalent to 34 licences in force for every 10,000 persons resident in Scotland.
This total has changed little since 1996, following a fairly steady increase
during the 1980s and early 1990s.
More then one third of the licences in force in Scotland were for off-sale
premises and a further 29 per cent were for public houses. The distribution
of licences by type of premises varied across the country. For example, 42
per cent of licences in Renfrewshire and 41 per cent in Glasgow City were
held by public houses, while in the more rural areas of the island councils
and Highland, the proportion held by public houses was around 15 per cent.
The spread of the types of licences in Scotland has been widening very gradually
over the last decade. From 1991 to 1999, the number of refreshment licences
almost doubled from 234 to 453, and the number of restaurant licences increased
by 13 per cent, while the number of hotels decreased by 7 per cent.
The number of licences relative to population varied considerably throughout
the country, with the more rural areas having the highest rates and the more
urban areas outside of the cities having the smallest rates. The area with
the highest rate was Argyll & Bute, with 79 licences in force per 10,000
resident population at 31 December 1999, and the lowest rate was in East Renfrewshire,
where there were 12 per 10,000.
The number of premises with one or more regular extensions to permitted
hours at 31 December 1999 was 10,468, a decrease of 200 compared with 1998.
Of these, 45 per cent were public houses, 21 per cent were hotels and a further
21 per cent were registered clubs.
There were 743 new applications for liquor licences in Scotland in 1999,
almost 200 fewer than in 1998. Of these, 695 applications (94 per cent) were
granted a licence. Three per cent of applications for on-sale licences were
refused, compared with 12 per cent of those for off-sales.
There was a total of 2,501 registered clubs (golf, bowling, social etc.)
at 31 December 1999, 9 more than in 1998.
Numbers of Refreshment Licences in Scotland, 1991-1999
