Landlords fear higher costs under the new licensing system

The new system will mean local councils process licence applications from landlords instead of magistrates.

Paul Watkins, leader of Dover District Council, said no-one knew when or how the new system would be implemented.

And pub landlords and nightclub managers in Kent have warned passing the costs on to them means they may be forced out of business.

I think it will decide whether or not we stay in business Landlady Jackie Bowles

Jackie Bowles, who runs the Louis Armstrong pub in Dover and chairs local landlord groups, said the changes had been "dreaded".

She said speculation had put the cost - still not confirmed - at more than 10 times the existing �30 licence fee, renewable every three years.

"I think it's an incredibly steep rise for the smaller pubs like myself," she said. "I think it will decide whether or not we stay in business."

Councillors claim the government has failed to provide enough information even though changes under the 2003 Licensing Act have been planned for about two years.

'Still not firm'

A spokeswoman for Shepway District Council said: "You cannot put money aside when you don't know when it's going to be needed."

Dover's Conservative-led council last week won a promise from Local Government Minister Nick Raynsford that landlords would be charged enough to cover the costs of processing applications.

The authority had feared it would have to allow an extra 3%, or about �120,000, in its budget to cover the change - a cost that would have been passed on to council tax payers.

Mr Watkins said: "We still don't know the date on which this will be implemented.

"It was originally going to start in March, then moved to June and it now appears to be September - and that's still not firm.

"And yet we have to budget a year in advance to try and estimate the costs of these changes."