HC Deb 24 July 1969 vol 787 cc422-3W
54. Mr. Boston

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what restrictions on the grant of licences to gaming clubs he intends to provide under Section 22 of the Gaming Act, 1968; and whether he will make a statement.

Mr. Callaghan

I have decided to accept recommendations by the Gaming Board and to make regulations under this section to the following effect.

The licensing authority will be required to refuse a licence to a gaming club other than a club for bingo, bridge or whist, except in twenty-eight specified towns and cities in England and Wales and three in Scotland. A list of the places concerned is appended below.

Gaming clubs other than bingo, bridge or whist clubs will be licensed only on condition that they do not provide any form of live entertainment. The licensing authority will be required to restrict a licence to purposes other than dancing or live entertainment. To prevent the evasion of this ban by the provision of cabaret and gaming in intercommunicating premises, the licensing authority will be empowered to refuse a licence unless there is no direct access from any other premises.

As I announced on 2nd April in reply to a Question by my hon. Friend the Member for Rowley Regis and Tipton (Mr. Archer), regulations will also prohibit the playing of bingo otherwise than at a club licensed for bingo only.

My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Scotland will make comparable regulations for Scotland.

The places in which the licensing authority will have power to licence premises for gaming other than bingo, bridge or whist will be as follows:

England and Wales

London—the City of Westminster, the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and the part of the Borough of Camden included in the Licensing (Metropolitan Special Hours Area) Order, 1961.

  • Birmingham.
  • Blackpool and Lytham St. Annes.
  • Bournemouth.
  • Brighton and Hove.
  • Bristol.
  • Cardiff.
  • Coventry.
  • Great Yarmouth.
  • Kingston-upon-Hull.
  • Leeds.
  • Leicester.
  • Liverpool.
  • Manchester.
  • Margate and Ramsgate.
  • Nottingham.
  • Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
  • Plymouth.
  • Portsmouth.
  • Salford.
  • Sheffield.
  • Southampton.
  • Southend and Westcliff.
  • Stoke-on-Trent.
  • Swansea.
  • Teesside.
  • Torbay.
  • Wolverhampton.

Scotland

Aberdeen. Edinburgh. Glasgow.