Councillors in England say 'Trojan Horse' beer bike firm can operate in Cardiff

A decision to grant an alcohol licence to a beer bike company operating in Cardiff has been made by councillors more than 50 miles over the border in Somerset.

Beer Travel Ltd has been granted the licence by Bath and North East Somerset Council, as the alcohol is to be stored in Bath.

Alcohol cannot legally be sold on the bikes themselves and so is purchased in advance when booking the trip.

South Wales Police licensing officer PC John Crowther warned the decision "will have a significant effect on the streets of Cardiff".

A company spokesperson said they could operate on a bring your own beer basis with no licence, but they wanted to act within a regulated environment.

Beer bikes, which are a large cart powered by people sitting along the sides and peddling, are a popular activity with people on stag and hen dos - but police are less keen on them, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

Speaking at a licensing hearing in Bath on Thursday, PC Crowther said the fact Beer Travel Ltd had applied for a licence two counties and 56 miles (90km) from where the bikes were operating in Cardiff meant it appeared to be "a deliberate attempt to subvert the licensing act".

He raised concerns about "all you can drink" being used as a slogan on the websites, and about promotional videos which he said showed beer being drunk through traffic cones, public nuisance, traffic tailbacks, and the possibility of public urination.

"The drinking of the alcohol is not a licensable activity - but it is most definitely where the risk lies," PC Crowther said.

He said Beer Travel Ltd had never contacted South Wales Police licensing officers or Cardiff City Council's licensing department, despite operating in Cardiff, and police in Cardiff only became aware the beer bikes were operating in the city in February when a colleague spotted one.

PC Crowther said the advertised pick up point for the beer bikes was at a student let on a residential street in the Cathays area of the city.

He said he had spoken to the students who lived there and they were unaware it was the designated pick up point, as were the letting agents and the building's owner.

Beer Travel Ltd also operates beer bike tours in Bristol, with police there also objecting to the application, describing it as a "Trojan Horse scenario".

"It seeks to store alcohol in an out of the way, rather innocuous location, while the overall business plan is to operate in Bristol and Cardiff," they said.

The hearing heard Beer Travel Ltd plans to use a storage container in Bath to store the alcohol, which would be transported after purchase to Cardiff or Bristol to be drunk on the bikes.

The bikes themselves do not need a licence but the storage container does, with the situation technically no different in licensing law to purchasing alcohol from an online shop and having it delivered.

Solicitor Chris Grunert, representing Beer Travel Ltd, said the application was "no way a card trick or some sort of magic trick to try to deceive" and there were economic reasons for storing the alcohol in Bath.

He said the beer bikes could operate on a bring your own beer basis with no licence at all, but the company wanted to get a licence and act within a regulated environment.

"We are doing exactly what we should be doing," he said.

Grunert said that hiring a beer bike was "more of a sober affair" than depicted in the adverts and that public urination would not be tolerated.

"We do take very seriously the care of our customers when they are on the bikes with us," he added.

He said Beer Travel Ltd had run more than 400 trips in Cardiff and Bristol, adding "this has been going for a couple of years and you never had an issue with it".

Ahead of the meeting, police and the applicant agreed on 31 conditions which Beer Travel Ltd said it would accept as part of the licence, regulating conduct on board the bikes as well as around the container.

PC Crowther said ultimately he would prefer the beer bikes to operate with a licence that was subject to the conditions than to continue to be unregulated.

Steve Hedges, chair of the licensing committee, had to repeatedly remind the meeting that the council was only able to consider issues about the licensing of the storage container and that it had no power over the beer bikes in Cardiff and Bristol.

The storage container, which will only be accessed by Beer Travel Ltd staff, is located in the Twerton area of Bath.