Having visited The Bell in the past I noted that children are allowed in the pub just not in the main bar area in accordance with licensing law; I find it hard to believe that this is the only licensee that disagrees with underage children being in pubs especially when it can often be hard to find a pub that does allow children.

Even in Market Rasen most of them don't allow children after 7pm (unless, it appears, they play for a pool team).
Personally I agree that pub pool leagues should be for those old enough to frequent pubs, ie those over 18, and that children as young as 10 and 12 should not be playing for such teams.

Local social clubs which are governed by different licensing laws would be more appropriate than having young players out until the midnight hour in pub environments on a school night. Prehaps the 'virtual collapse of local youth center facilities' should be something the local council, schools, and parents of these young players could work on together, to give youth players like this a place to play in a safer more appropriate environment in an after school league of their own.

In today's world where underage drinking and yob behaviour is such a growing concern surely we should not be encouraging children into pubs at such a young age.
More importantly it should not be upto a few members of a local pool committee with little knowledge of licensing law to try and dictate to landlords / landladies what their business policies should be. Both The Bell and The Crown at Glentham were threatened with being excluded from this Pub Pool League simply because they did not allow children in their bars.

One wonders if this issue would have been raised at all and whether 14 year old Sam Bennett would have been allowed to captain a pub pool team if both his father and grandfather didn't make up half of the committee!

John Davidson
Licencee of an off licence on Lincoln High Street.