This Is Guernsey

Ship & Crown licensee Mark Pontin has lost his unblemished record as a landlord after a police and Fire and Rescue Service spot check found 117 people too many in the Town pub. (Picture by Daniel Guerin, 0285691)

PUBLICAN Mark Pontin let more than twice as many people into the Ship & Crown as he should have – and that cost him a £1,200 fine.

The Magistrate’s Court heard that 217 customers were inside when the police and Fire and Rescue Service did a spot check on 8 December.
The pub’s liquor licence limits it to 100.

Officers entered the pub just before 11pm. Mr Pontin was on the door. He said that the pub was busy and accepted it was ‘probably over the limit’.

It was a busy Saturday night and the weather was poor.

Advocate Jeremy Le Tissier said that it was the busiest time of year.

Since that night, Mr Pontin, of The Flat, Ship & Crown, The Quay, St Peter Port, has put bouncers with clickers on each door.

A re-inspection was carried out just before Christmas and the number inside the pub waswithin the limit.

Mr Pontin admitted breaching the terms of the licence both on behalf of himself and of the owner, Guernsey Leisure Company Ltd, of Giffard Lodge, La Rue de la Petite Lande, Trinity, Jersey. The company was also fined £1,200.

Advocate Le Tissier told the court that the pub had since applied for and had been granted permission to widen the entrances.

Work will start this week and an application will be made next month to increase the number the pub is allowed to admit.

Mr Pontin, a landlord for 16 years, had no previous convictions or cautions.

The company that owns the pub has reviewed all its other 11 establishments to ensure that they comply.

Assistant-Magistrate Philip Robey said that Mr Pontin had a long, impeccable history of running premises in Guernsey.

But he said that this was a serious breach and that it should have been obvious that the place was overcrowded.

He noted that issues raised by the incident had been swiftly addressed.