Balliol bar to go private
Balliol College JCR looks set to make its bar a private members' club to avoid hefty charges as part of new licensing laws.
Balliol's JCR-managed Lindsay bar is to attempt to avoid the £500 fee for the new form of licence, which comes into effect from November.
Faced with the practical and financial cost of measures including training a designated premises supervisor and additional licensees at a cost of £37 each, Balliol JCR will discuss applying for a licence as a private members' club at the General Meeting next Sunday.
The JCR has already been mandated to explore the possibilities open to it.
JCR President Triona Giblin says becoming a private members' club is almost certainly the route Balliol will take.
Access to the bar is of paramount concern, with popular events such as Crazy Tuesdays to consider.
"We're just trying to find a way to do things as close to the way we did them in the past.
"There may be measures brought in such as showing a Bod card for Crazy Tuesdays, but hopefully there will be as little disruption as possible.
"Last Tuesday there was a packed bar, so I think the likelihood of getting rid of Crazy Tuesdays is pretty low."
Daniel-Konrad Cooper, former JCR President of Balliol, expressed his concerns: "Balliol bar has always been a great centre for cross-college socialising with ludicrously cheap prices right in the centre of town.
"It would be a real shame to lose that.
"It seems establishments like College bars have not been taken into consideration when the Government drew up these plans."
The additional annual fee for the non-private members' club type of license may raise the cost to as much as £750, but Craig Abrahams, elected manager of the Lindsay Bar, told The Oxford Student this would be a "worst case scenario" and "something we can afford".
He assured punters that although prices had already had to rise, partly due to the new licensing laws, they will "hopefully see a through for quite a while."
Hertford College bar, which is also run by their JCR, has decided to follow the normal licensing procedure with college catering manager Bob Hard acting as DPS. He told The Oxford Student: "The college will be subsidising the costs".
St Hilda's College already operates as a private members' club, and will not be affected by the changes to the law.
Domestic bursars from most Oxford colleges have taken legal advice on the changes to legislation for college-run bars.
20th Jan 2005