Off sales not on for Iona Bar

The Iona Bar on Easter Road has lost its off sales licence as a result of complaints about anti-social behaviour outside. The Licensing Board varied the licence and removed the ability to sell alcohol to take away. The pub has retained its licence to serve food and drink inside the premises.

Cllr Norman Work is the Licensing Convener and we asked him whether there would be any further repercussions following other reports of crowding outside pubs. While he declined to talk about particular cases, he confirmed that he would be taking a firm line where pubs do not comply with restrictions.

Cllr Work said: "You know the important thing to remember is that bars and licensed premises are only allowed to operate if they agree to abide by the emergency measures against Covid-19.

I've been very supportive of our licensed premises, and was disappointed they didn't open earlier. I am very keen that any outside spaces are used, as I believe this reduces the risk. Most of our licensed premises have put

The off-sales licence for Iona Bar was revoked PHOTO Martin P McAdam in place a number of restrictions to tackle the issue.

"Of course what's happened in Aberdeen is quite a wake up call. You know this could happen anywhere else - it could happen in Edinburgh. If there's a spike, all because of people not social distancing in our pubs, then it is a worry.

"We are unique in Edinburgh as drinking outside is not illegal. The reason that off-sales was introduced however, was for people to take home, say a bottle of wine that they liked. But what happened was that some people were congregating outside bars, and there was a lack of social distancing. Instead of taking drinks home, they were outside blocking pavements, and so we were getting complaints from members of the public. A lot of that happened during spells of good weekend weather."

The Convener conceded that a complaint to the Licensing Board is really the ultimate sanction, and that most of the time matters of noise or lack of social distancing are dealt with by police or licensing standards officers on the ground.