I know where the TV licence fee revenue goes - administration.
My family and I took over tenancy of The Prince of Wales pub in Brighton in September last year. It was previously a Shepherd Neame managed house so it became my responsibility to cover the TV licensing costs. I requested the transfer of the licence from my previous pub in Lewes, as it had some months of validity left. I told my son, who lives above the premises, to cover the domestic licence costs separately.
In January of this year I received a renewal notice addressed to "manager's accommodation", which had been covered by my son. I phoned to arrange the records to be changed to the business for which I am responsible and was told that the brewery had paid for the business licence. The TV licence office appeared to be quite happy that two licences were running concurrently for the manager's accommodation!
I asked the brewery to cancel its licence as I would be in trouble if it subsequently cancelled without my knowledge.
I then called TV Licensing to make the change and ask for confirmation. When it arrived, I was astounded to find it was addressed to "manager's accommodation". After more calls, I finally received a letter confirming they had correctly converted the licence to cover the business.
So I was agog to receive a notice from TV Licensing threatening me to get a licence or else, as there was no record of one being in existence.
Are they for real?
The Prince of Wales,
-Clarence Square, Brighton
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