Punch Pub Company licensees are backing calls for licensing to stay with magistrates, the Punch Papers has revealed.
More than 72% of the 450 retailers questioned did not want to see licensing decisions handed to local authority control.
38% of those questioned saw no reason to change the current system, as magistrates had always done it, while 13% thought licensing would become a political decision if it transferred to local authorities.
Others (8%) believed costs would increase, and 4% said the licensing process would take too long if handled by local authorities.
Only 13% of licensees wanted to see licensing handled by local authorities - 7% said local authorities represented the views of local people and 4% said magistrates were too busy to handle the workload.
Much of the media speculation on licensing reform has focused on 24 hour opening. 57% of respondents said they would open longer hours if they were allowed to.
Less than 1% would open for 24 hours a day – most would open later at weekends (20%) or on an ad hoc basis (26%).
The biggest benefit for opening longer hours would be greater flexibility for the customer (33%) followed by extra revenue (18%).
Reasons for not wanting to open longer hours included no demand (15%), residents complains (3%) and the fact they worked enough hours already (22%).
Punch Pub Company commercial director Francis Patton said the survey had highlighted some key areas in licensing reform.
“As a company, the views of our retailers on such issues are paramount to us,” he said.
“We believe we have a duty to support them and we will forward a copy of the Punch Papers research findings to the All Party Committee on licensing reform.
“It is evident that licensees believe the home of licensing is with the magistrates because they have the experience and knowledge of the system.
“It is also clear that 24 hour opening is not necessarily the solution for all retailers or the customer, but more flexibility is required and this is what we shall be campaigning for on behalf of our licensees.”
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