Overview

• Business Secretary Peter Kyle has opened a four-week consultation on licensing reforms that include removing the legal requirement to publish alcohol licence notices in local print newspapers.
• Regional editors and the News Media Association have urged ministers to keep print notices and have begun an advertising drive warning that communities could lose a clear route to object to venue plans.
• A House of Lords committee report highlights that about 10.2 million adults struggle with basic online tasks, underscoring fears that moving notices online would exclude many people.
• Industry figures note that notices also appear on the free Public Notice Portal, but publishers say print remains a trusted channel that drives audience and revenue for local journalism.
• Critics say the taskforce was heavily weighted toward hospitality interests, and Alcohol Change UK warns the proposals could increase crime, anti-social behaviour and alcohol-related harm.