FIFE Council has insisted that pubs and clubs in the Kingdom will be open over the festive season despite 765 personal licences being revoked.

To operate legally, all premises that sell alcohol must have a premises manager who holds a personal licence – if they don’t the business can still trade but can’t sell alcohol.

All those who received their licence on 1st September 2009 had to undergo mandatory refresher training by the end of August, and inform Fife Licensing Board by the end of November, or risk it being revoked.

While 765 licences were cancelled, it’s believed the vast majority were in the names of people who no longer worked in the premises and did not want the licence renewed. June Barrie, the council’s managing solicitor in the planning and licensing team, said, “It is a legal requirement that all personal licence holders undergo refresher training within five years of the initial date their licence was granted.

“This is to ensure that licence-holders are up to date with changes to legislation, the responsibilities they have to the public as well as the impact of alcohol on health and in the community.

“We have been working closely with our licence holders to ensure that they remain compliant and can continue to serve the public, especially over the busy festive period, and have been personally contacting those affected to help them resolve any issues.” There were 27 premises in Fife where the designated premises manager held a personal licence and failed to provide evidence that the training had been carried out.

However, even in these cases where the licences were revoked, the premises, which can include shops and restaurants as well as pubs and clubs, can still sell alcohol over the festive period as long as they contacted the board in the first week of December and nominate a new premises manager within six weeks.