11 December 2007
The law that allows take-away outlets to open until 02:30am takes effect from the early hours of tomorrow, Wednesday 12 December 2007. The amendment to the law follows a States debate on a proposal put forward by the Minister for Economic Development, Senator Philip Ozouf to extend the permitted opening hours of selected late night food outlets from 01:00am to 02:30am.
The proposal received the approval of the Police Licensing Unit and Constable of St Helier, who will now work with the Economic Development Department in implementing the new law and deciding on a case-by-case basis those establishments which should be granted an extension to their licence.
A proposition to amend the Places of Refreshment (Jersey) Law 1967 was first discussed in 2006 when the Economic Development Department was approached by Remi Poulliquen, the owner of a popular take-away outlet. At the time, Mr Poulliquen received written confirmation from the States Police saying that, “In the view of the Licensing Unit, allowing premises to open later would not cause any problems and may help to assist with staggering the number of people wanting to leave town in the early hours of the morning”.
Strict measures are in place to ensure that premises which have been granted the late night licence fully comply with the appropriate regulations; and it has been made clear that licenses would be revoked if they are seen to be abused. Senator Ozouf also confirmed that at present, only outlets within the vicinity of liquor licensed premises or a convenient public transport point would be considered for a license.
On confirming the amendment to the Licensing Law, Senator Ozouf says, “This change should probably have been made a number of years ago when licensing hours were changed. These proposed changes should help with the staggering of people who leave town at the end of the night. Furthermore, over the next few months we will be proposing further changes to licensing laws to help law and order in town
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