Licensing Court records

[LesleyB]

Has anyone any idea of how much and what type of information Licensing Court records contain?

I'm guessing the name of the establishment, the owner's name (who applied for the license, perhaps?) as a minimum? Would they list employees at all? Any other details about the establishment?

I'm specifically interested in records from the late 1950s to early 1960s for a particular area of Dunbartonshire, and I believe these records are held at the Brookwood Library, Bearsden. I'd really like to hear from anyone who has any experience at all with these type of records. especially those of the 1950s to 60s.

Best wishes
Lesley

[Currie]

Hello Lesley,

The only posting about Pubs in that time period that comes to mind is this one viewtopic.php?f=16&t=13364&hilit= I don’t know how far Dennis got with that. The Times or Scotsman may be worth a look in case it has hit the news because of grant or renewal of license or for some other reason.

Sometimes Pubs and owners and licensees get listed in Parliamentary Papers although I’m not sure that happened in the 50’s. If you would like to post the pub name or send it to me I could have a look. I doubt that employees would be mentioned in connection with licensing as I imagine there could be a large turnover in some areas.

Here’s something I found in parliamentary Papers, the application for a license as required by the 1959 legislation. It doesn’t ask many useful questions. Unfortunately I can only download it one page at a time as a tif image rather than the usual multi-page pdf.


“1958-59 (117) Licensing (Scotland) [H.L.] A bill intituled an act to consolidate certain enactments which relate to licensing in Scotland……………….” Pages 105-106.

THIRD SCHEDULE
FORMS FOR USE IN CONNECTION WITH APPLICATIONS FOR CERTIFICATES
1.
Form of application for grant of certificate
Unto the honourable the licensing court for ………………….
The application of [state full name, designation, and address of applicant]
Humbly showeth,
That the applicant desires to obtain a certificate for a hotel [or a certificate for a public house or an off-sale certificate in respect of premises, as the case may be,] at [state address of premises for which certificate is desired] in the parish [or burgh] of ……….. and county of …………., for the ensuing year [or half-year, as the case may be], in terms of the Licensing (Scotland) Act, 1959, and refers to the answers which are truly made to the questions below :
Is it a new certificate, or the renewal of a certificate at present in the applicant's name, or the renewal of a certificate at present in the name of another person, or the renewal of a transferred certificate, that is desired? ………………
Has the applicant attained twenty-one years of age? …………………
Is the applicant bred to the trade or, if not, to what other trade or business? ……………
Does the applicant carry on or does he intend to carry on or follow any other trade or occupation? ………………
Does the applicant hold an excise licence for the sale of exciseable liquor in respect of any premises at present and, if so, where are those premises situated and how long has he held that licence? ……………………
Has the applicant any interest in any other business in premises for which an excise licence for the sale of exciseable liquor is held or in premises for which a certificate is sought ; and if so, where are those premises severally situated? ………………
What is the actual rent of the premises and the owner's or factor's name and designation? …………………
[Signature of applicant.]
Date.

2.
Form of report by member of licensing court
I, ………………….. , a member of the licensing court for ……………………, hereby report that I personally examined the premises described in the foregoing application and that they are of suitable construction and accommodation for the purpose applied for.
[Signature of member.]

3.
Form of certificate of character and qualification
I, …………………., a member of the licensing court for …………., certify, after careful inquiry, that ……………………….. designed in the foregoing application, is [here state result of inquiry touching applicant's character and qualification].
[Signature of member.]

"Bred to the trade?"
Hope that’s useful,
Alan

[Alcluith]

Lesley,
the local newspaper usually gave notice of license renewal and the name of the licensee granted the license but nothing much more. In our local area it was the Lennox Herald, Also try Bearsden & Milngavie Herald archive probably help at local library .

alcluith

[Anne H]

Hi Lesley,

If all else fails you could try contacting http://www.oldglasgowpubs.co.uk/munns.html . As you can see from my Munn's pub, all the license holders have been listed so the author might give you some hints as to where to enquire.

Regards,
Anne H