A STRANGE COURT

Hokitika Guardian, 11 October 1932, Page 6

A STRANGE COURT

OLD TIME LICENSING'LAW. LONDON, September .'2. There are three public-houses in Irondon whose proprietors cannot make any structural alteration without visiting Buckingham Palace When they arrive they are ’ conducted by footlnen in |toy ,a i .Jivery to the strangest and 'least-known Court i:i the country—the Licensing Justices of the ,Board of .Green Cloth.' It will come as a surpris e to most people to learn that the King, through the Board of. Green Cloth,. Ihojds ljceusing jurisdiction oyer a tiny area .of. London. It contains only ,/ix licensed premises —one hotel, two restaurants, and three ; public houses. They .are respectively t| e Hotel Mctropo.p, in Nortliurnbev- • land Avenue; the restaurant .at Whjte:hall Court, an?d the Ship restaurant in •/Whitehall; and the “Old Shades,” “Silver Cross” and '-Clarence” in /Whitehall. Qn e of tohose who attend the. meet-' jogs of! 'fhe Justices at Buckingh/un Palace is -Miss Campion, of the “Ship” restaurant. She told a reporter:—/ “The summons to attend the meeting bears th e Grown. When I arrive at the palace I am conducted to a waiting-room -by .a footman. ' “i ;am then .taken* into .tl° room where .the Board*-of Green .Clotn sits. At the head :of th 6 .table is ;Sir Derek ■Keppel, th'e Master of the Ntog’s iHou e ehold. •. * “When wef apply for a renewal of our licenses a ,polic 6 .inspector is asked. whether ,there Is an objection. .