Max HeyraudThe North of Ireland’s long-promised licensing reform for nightclubs has hit a major roadblock, as Communities Minister Gordon Lyons has chosen to reject the key recommendations of the Independent Licensing Review commissioned by his own department.
The Review, which cost £478,000 in public funds, proposed wide-ranging reforms aimed at modernising the region’s restrictive licensing framework. Its key suggestions included opening up the occasional licensing system, easing access for community groups and independent promoters, and creating a new cultural licence category designed to support grassroots organisers and non-profit cultural activity.
Campaign group Free The Night says the Minister’s response leaves the sector “exactly where they were before”, noting that the Review had identified the current system as “not fit for purpose.” A central target of the Review, the long-criticised “surrender principle”, which requires an existing licence to be given up before a new one can be granted, remains effectively unchanged.
According to Free The Night, the Minister’s decision amounts to siding with commercial lobbying groups at the expense of independent promoters, artists, community organisers and other contributors who took part in the Review’s evidence-gathering process. The group argues that by disregarding the Review’s peer-reviewed research, the Department for Communities has ignored the needs of the wider cultural sector.
In response, Free The Night says it will begin raising concerns with the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority and other regulatory bodies, while continuing to work with councils, community organisations, academics and elected representatives to push for the reforms the Review called for.
“If the Department will not act, we will,” the group said in a statement.
