Changes to when and where alcoholic drinks can be served at the Wirral site have been made
Heswall Golf Club(Image: Google Maps)
New rules have been set for a popular Merseyside golf club. Wirral Council has agreed to alter the licence of Heswall Golf Club, with a number of key changes having been made.
Representatives from the golf club met with Wirral Council‘s Licensing Sub-Committee to discuss plans to make two changes to their premises licence. After discussions and deliberation, the alterations were approved by the committee, subject to a few small conditions.
Both changes affect the services the club can offer to its members and guests. The first change sees the times at which alcohol can be sold on the site being altered.
Prior to the meeting, the club’s staff could start serving alcohol at 11am. However, the Licensing Sub-Committee were told this caused issues when a member made a hole-in-one before 11am, as they could not have their celebratory shot of whisky.
The time when the whisky shots can be poured has now been changed to 10am.
The second alteration means the club’s licensed area has been widened from only including the clubhouse, to the entire site. The club’s representatives explained the reason for this change is twofold.
Firstly, it means that alcohol can now be served at the “half-way house” where players can stock up on refreshments after the 12th hole. Until now, the club has only been able to sell soft drinks and snacks from the half-way house.
The committee were told that members have regularly asked for alcoholic drinks to be served at the half-way house, and for drinks to be allowed to be taken out onto the course. However, while only the clubhouse was licensed, this was not permitted.
The change also means the club’s buggy can now sell alcohol drinks to players on the course. Buggies selling drinks are commonplace on golf courses in the United States but less common on this side of the pond. However the representatives from the club said the buggy is rarely used, usually just for large events.
The committee heard that another motivation to getting the licence to cover the whole site was to futureproof the club in case the clubhouse was to be relocated in a potential future re-routing of the course.
One specific part of the course that will not be covered by the alcohol licence will be The Wirral Way trail, which goes through the golf course. The committee explained that as this land belongs to the council, it cannot be included in the redrawing of the golf club’s licensing area.
The committee also added a condition which means the sale of alcohol outside the clubhouse will end at 5pm. The sale of alcohol in the clubhouse ends at midnight from Sundays to Wednesdays, and 1am from Thursdays to Saturdays.