The Background
I've previously written about the set of different licences that can be hold by what I consider to be a pub; and how that may, inconsistently, not be agreed with by others; but there are a few other types which are not currently represented in Dublin which I would allow - and three of which really can't be disputed.
Ignoring the currently completely unused Omnibus Station Licence, which was created for and used for Busaras's former bar; the categories I'm going to cover here are the Six Day and Early Closing categories of licences. The Early Closing bit requires pubs to close an hour earlier than otherwise, with the Six Day bit being the same as applied to all pubs in Northern Ireland until 1987 - that pubs could not open on Sundays; with the potential to have both of these applied at the same time.
At the time I wrote that list of licences, there was a single Six Day licence in Dublin - N0355 for the closed refreshments bar in the Four Courts - but this has not (yet) been renewed for 2020/2021. There have been no Six Day & Early Closing or Early Closing licences in Dublin in the time I've been able to obtain files from Revenue. However, these certainly have existed here.
The Beginning
A relic of another era, 6 day licences were introduced via the Licencing Act, 1872; as an option for the applicant. They were understandably cheaper - priced at 6/7ths of the normal licence duty - but you would need to have very poor or no Sunday trade for this to make a difference; so presumably it was intended as a money-saving measure for those who already did not open on a Sunday for their own, undoubtedly religious, reasons.
Early closing licences, and the option for having both restrictions, were introduced shortly after by the Licencing Act, 1874 with a saving of 1/7th of the licence duty available for taking this, or 2/7ths for both restrictions. For some very specific publicans, trade in the last hour may have been quiet enough - or non-existent, if they closed earlier - that this saving may have been worthwhile, but I suspect this was a rare reason for applying - at least initially.
From newspaper reportage of court proceedings, it would appear that in the bulk of cases, each type of licence was effectively imposed on an applicant by the local magistrate, either directly or by virtue of being known to refuse 7 Day Ordinary licences. Potentially, they were used as a form of probationary (in the new hire, not punishment sense) service, as many relatively new premises are seen applying to remove one or both restrictions a few years later.
Reasons for magistrates requiring either/both restrictions are rarely given, but it is clear from court reportage that many prospective publicans applied for a 6-day on the assumption that it would be more likely to be granted; and at least one case of it being effectively a punishment - a 6 day granted after a 7 day was stripped. This happened in Armagh, but obviously pre-1902 is also pre-1922, so the same legal system applied.
Reports of specific magistrates refusing to transfer a licence (e.g. on sale or death) unless it was downgraded to 6 day also occur - this piece stating that whether there was any legal basis for this was to be investigated
Some agreements to change a 6 day to 7 day included an agreement to surrender a 7 day licence from another pub - effectively preshadowing the modern era of how all licences are moved.
Outside of Dublin - and the cities of Belfast, Cork, Limerick and Waterford - the sale of alcohol on Sundays at all was banned in 1878, under the Sale of Liquors on Sunday (Ireland) Act; meaning that it was entirely sensible to apply for a 6 day licence and save the 1/7th duty. This ban lasted until 1927.
The End Of The Beginning
The last of these licences were issued new prior to the 1902 licencing changes; but then again this applies to *all* licences except a very limited set of categories which have been added since. They have, as with all Publican class licences, remained transferrable within the restrictions of whatever conditions were in force at the time; but I do not believe that any additional licences of either type have been created by conversion from a Seven Day Ordinary since 1902.
The Decline
So, how are there so few of them left?
In Dublin, a major reason for sale of Seven Day Ordinary licences in overcrowded or declining areas from 1902 on until roughly the 1930s, was so that the holder of a 6 day and/or early closing licence could transfer this licence to their premises and extinguish the less useful licence. This would have appealed to the attitude of certain court officials of the time who wished to reduced the total number of licences - one notable case not involving restricted licence was The Gresham and Wynns Hotels being instructed to buy a licence on Marlborough Street between them; and present it for cancellation in return for being allowed alter their own licences.
That many of the 6 day licences in question were created to satisfy a whim of a past generation of court officials, and were now being swapped out for 7 day licences to satisfy another whim does seem to present some irony.
Nationally, the Intoxicating Liquor (Ireland) Act, 1906 introduced 10pm (cities/towns) / 9pm (rural) closing on Saturdays for all pubs. This meant that Early Closing licence holders now had to close at 9pm - or even 8pm - on a busy trading day, which would have provided a specific incentive to change to a non-restricted licence. This Act was repealed in full in 1927, returning Saturdays to their normal opening hours.
Revenue allowed for conversion of these licences to full for a cash payment, but without cancelling another licence, during at least two periods - 1960-2 for £200; and again in 2000 for £2,500. The 2000 offer included restrictions on selling the licence for a period, however.
Update insert: The 1960-2 conversion fees were put in to an investment fund, intended to fund alcohol awareness and alcoholism supports. This made occasional disbursements, mainly to fund specific ad campaigns, and was eventually wound up in 2009, returning about €300k to the Department of Health at the time.
Revenue only provide full licence registers back to 2010; but they provide a statistical report every year from 1996 to 2012; which also contains the two previous years, although some of the figures show cliff-edge drops or massive jumps year-on-year, which would be rather suspicious, even given that licences can 'go missing' for a few years even on current registers. These figures are national, not Dublin-specific
1994 - 9 six day, 631 early closing, 36 both
1995 - 78, 46, 25
1996 - 36, 25, 26
1997 - 57, 17, 28
1998 - 62, 20, 19
1999 - 61, 14, 18
2000 - 37, 1, 7
2001 - 22, 1, 8
2002 - 14, 4, 8
2003 - 11, 2, 5
2004 - 7, 6, 5
2005 - 7, 0, 5
(The figures continue much the same to 2012)
The impact of the 2000 conversion offer is notable, and assuming the exceptionally strange 1994 figures to be inaccurate, the only significant deviation from a slowly declining trend. The question must be asked - why did anyone retain their old type at all after 2000?
The End?
These licences were to be abolished, by automatic conversion to the 7 Day Ordinary, were the Intoxicating Liquor Bill 2005 to be enacted in to law. This Bill, generally remembered as the "Cafe Bar Bill", was rejected due to mass opposition to it allowing holders of Wine Retailers On Licences to sell other drinks without food - current rules allow them to only sell wine without food, beer with food and no spirits; but there is an entire future article in that debacle!
Despite England & Wales having a different licencing structure even pre-Independence, they also had 6 day and early closing licences, but it appears that these restrictions can be removed on request without charge since 1964 (section 65 subsection III)
I would hazard a guess that any future modernisation of licencing will automatically convert these to 7 Day Ordinary, and also that the last of type in Dublin - the Four Courts one - will not be further renewed
Updated extra stats:
Via the Oireachtas Library I have found scanned copies of similar statistical data as given from Revenue above:
1992 21 six day, 54 early closing, 26 both
1991 61, 4, 137 (I'm fairly certain this has the 6 day / 6 day early closing figures backwards)
1990 139, 3, 48
1989 164, 3, 63
1988 201, 4, 51
1987 204, 4, 59
1986 183, 3, 60
1985 208, 6, 61
The figures are not broken out prior to this, as far as I can see.
Updated Dublin stats:
A 1942 Parliamentary Question provided a figure of 16 six-day licences left in Dublin City, and 10 further in Dublin County.
The bar in The Four Courts, affectionately known as The Pit, was converted into Courts Service offices the year before last. There is no nowhere selling alcohol on-site so I strongly doubt that the licence will ever be renewed.
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