In England, under what laws can a pub refuse to serve/ban a member of the public?

Answer 1

as i understand it, the law gives the landlord - or the person acting on the landlord's behalf ie the barstaff - the right to refuse service to anyone s/he chooses. without having to give any reason...

there are other laws that need to be taken into consideration too:
it is illegal to serve alcohol to a person under the age of 18, or allow them to drink alcohol on the premises. unless they are also having a meal, in which case from the age of 14 they can be served wine, beer or cider, but not spirits.
it is illegal to serve alcohol to someone who is already intoxicated, a policeman in uniform, or a prostitute.
it is, i believe, illegal to allow *drunk and disorderly* behaviour on the premises.
it is illegal to allow the selling of controlled drugs, or to allow soliciting for sex on the premises.
so, a landlord is highly likely to throw someone they suspect of any of the above out of the pub. (apart from the drunk bits, which no-one seems to take any notice of....)
and
it is illegal to discriminate against someone on the grounds of their sex, race, skin-colour or because of disability.
this means that you really need to have a *valid* reason to refuse to serve someone unless you want to risk action for discrimination.

and in practice, landlords want to earn money by selling drinks to customers. so it is unusual for them to refuse someone without good reason. and most of the time that reason is that they consider a person to be a threat, or a potential threat, to themselves or their other customers.

Answer 2

Under the Licensing Laws it is prohibited to serve an intoxicated person, a policeman in uniform or a known prostitute. Even where a person does not fall into any of these categories his presence may be banned within the discretion of the licensee if his presence is considered undesirable.

Answer 3

Anyone under the age of 18 or looks as if they are but Its up to the landlord. Landlords have quite a lot of power in this respect after all it is their livelihood they need to protect. I would refuse to serve anyone who is overly drunk and anyone who looks underage and has no ID to prove they are old enough. Obviously anyone causing trouble fighting bad language etc would be removed too.

Answer 4

Under the Licencing Laws a landlord can refuse to serve anyone he likes and ask them to leave the premises. Even if it's just because he doesn't like your tie.

Answer 5

Not so sure for England but in Scotland it is entirely up to the Landlord who is barred from the pub. The Publican has a responsability of care for his patrons so if someone is too drunk or displays aggresive attitude to himself or others then he is entitled to bar them. They do not need a reason to bar anyone its entirly up to them its there pub. So if your face dont fit you may not be served and asked to leave.

Answer 6

A pub landlord is treated under the law just like you and me. If you or I don't want to let anyone into our premises, we don't have to. It's just the same for him.

Answer 7

They can ban who ever they want to, whenever they want to. it is a bit like the pub is their home and they call the shots on who they let in.

Answer 8

only if there are good reasons pubs used to have signs declaring open house this meant everyone was welcome
they cannot use race religion gender or social background
to refuse entry or they risk losing their license.

Answer 9

It is illegal to serve alcohol to someone who is already intoxicated, a policeman in uniform, or a prostitute.

With reference to the other point, a pub is only right to refuse to undesireable persons such as a policeman in uniform, common prostitute, drunk, known thief, drug dealer, etc, the same rules should also apply to other undesireables such as heavy thugs, drug addicts, skinheads, bailiffs, traffic wardens, etc, etc

Answer 10

it is the landlords right to refuse service for any reason he sees fit! Its not covered by a law, its just the way it is!
If you are thinking you can sue a landlord for barring you, you cant!