Council Banstibation: Mulled Wine.

From The Telegraph

The threat was made by council chiefs, who even announced that they will send officers into salons under cover in an effort to catch offenders. Hairdressers have criticised the move as "Scrooge-like".

Norwich City Council wrote to all hairdressing businesses in the city ordering them to get a licence if they want to serve alcoholic drinks.

Sent to 104 salons in Norwich, the letter states that the practice of serving complimentary alcoholic drinks is a breach of the law and requires various licences.

It then warns: "To address this issue enforcement action, including the use of undercover officers, may be undertaken in the near future."

The council also declares that anyone found guilty of unlawfully supplying alcohol could face a maximum of six months in jail, a maximum fine of £20,000 or both.

Nigel Matthews, owner of Nigel Alexandre salon, said: "The vast majority of salons serve tea and coffee throughout the year and in the couple of weeks before Christmas offer a glass of wine or mulled wine or sherry. It seems very Scrooge-like to send a letter out just as we are entering the festive period.

"It is traditional, the clients are rewarded and it is all part of the customer service.

"What struck me was the potential sentence – you get a lot less than that for a lot more than serving a glass of wine."...

Georgia Parry, who works in the Max Giammello salon, said it would no longer be able to offer champagne with its VIP package, which is available all year round.

She said: "Champagne and strawberries is a nice thing to have, and having to stop that brings the whole VIP package to a lower level."

A council spokesman said that under the 2003 Licensing Act "sale by retail" includes providing alcohol to customers as part of the service.

He added that a letter of complaint was received last month about salons offering drinks.

"We wanted to make sure small businesses did not unwittingly fall foul of the law while trying to spread a little Christmas cheer in the build-up to the festive season," he said.

Michael Stephenson, regulatory services manager, said: "We know that with the credit crunch all businesses need to do everything they can to encourage customers through their doors and will be offering various incentives in order to achieve that.

"We accept the letter we sent out to hairdressers in the city may not appear to be in keeping with the festive mood and are sorry if it has been misunderstood.

"However, we are a licensing authority and there is a serious message here about the enforcement of licensing laws and helping businesses make sure they do not fall foul of the law."

Now does anyone believe that we are a free society any more? My first point is that this is a money raiser for the council, either through a licence or fines.

Although the second point is that it is not actually on sale but offered as part of a service, a small difference but one that seems to have passed the bean counters of Norwich Council.

Offering someone a drink - a customer in this case - as far as I can read the licencing act is so long as the drink is free of charge not actually a criminal offence. 

Although I do wonder quite how many of the salons will have the will/time and money to fight a case against the Council?

As I have said before councils need to be parred to the bone, the assorted glorified dog wardens who issue tickets for ever more infractions of laws - which in this case appear to be made up - need to be removed from office.

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