Roger Smith of The Clarence Inn in Brecon has criticised the government’s new licensing proposals and believes they will be ineffective for hospitality businesses.

This month saw a public consultation launched on the government’s reform of licensing rules, which includes a proposal to remove the statutory requirement for alcohol licensing notices to be advertised in local papers.

The proposals are aimed to make it easier for hospitality businesses to serve food outside, host live music, or stay open for later.

“My feelings on the proposals are that it’s not actually going to increase trade by a significant amount, or if anything at all,” Roger told the Brecon & Radnor Express.

“The problem that we have is we only have X amount of people with X amount of money they can spend, and that is getting less and less as more people are feeling the pinch.

“Therefore the proposals aren’t going to cause anyone to go out and spend any extra money. The only way to do that is to decrease taxes, make things more affordable for people, and currently the way the government are going they are going in the opposite direction.

“Everything is spiraling out of control financially upwards, and there isn’t any spare cash for anyone to spend, which is stunting growth. Good luck to them, but they’re doing a bad job at the moment.”

The proposals would also mean plans to open a new pub or nightclub, or for an existing venue to change its opening hours, would no longer be publicised within local communities, giving local people no opportunity to have their say on plans.

The News Media Association has urgently called on the government to rethink the proposal, saying that removing alcohol licensing notices from local papers would “leave local communities shrouded in secrecy”.