Stephen McGowan

Sheriff Principal Pyle allowed the appeal by Clara House Ltd, the operators of the Caley Bar/Bar 57 in Peterhead.

Following a licence review hearing at the request of Police Scotland in October 2024, the Aberdeenshire Licensing Board had cut the premises’ trading hours to 2am, and imposed a midnight curfew.

The licence holders instructed Mr McGowan and Scott Blair, advocate with Terra Firma Chambers, to represent them in the appeal, which was heard on 10 April 2025 at Aberdeen Sheriff Court.

Sheriff Principal Pyle gave an ex tempore decision to allow the appeal and ordered the licensing board to hear the review application again de novo, under a remit.

He said, that in imposing the sanctions, the board had acted unlawfully in a number of ways, agreeing with counsel for the pursuer that the licensing board had “run out of intellectual steam” in the reasoning behind its decisions.

The board had failed to seek the views of the licence holder’s agent when a proposed curfew was debated as a possible sanction, and failed to explain why it preferred the police version of certain alleged events over the version presented by the licence holder’s agent, he said.

The court was also critical of the failure of the licensing board to provide reasons as to why the curfew and reduction in hours was either appropriate or necessary.

The licensing board will now require to re-hear the case at a date to be determined.