I had a meeting with a BCO who, when commenting on the means of escape from lecture theatre, said that if the area becomes licensed, the fire officer will tell you what he wants and you'll have to do it otherwise you won't the license irrelevant of the fire stategy.
Now, as all occupants are now relevant persons under the FSO, and the appropriate means of escape etc should be determined under the risk assessment, I was under the impression that the enforcement procedures should mean that, the Licensing Act should not be used to enforce fire safety legislation by the backdoor. Not granting a license is almost like a prohibition, but without the legal attachments that one served under the FSO would have.
Assuming that the BCO is not just blowing smoke, is this the case, or is the licensing system still being used by Fire Safety depts in a similar manner to the old Licensing/Ents regime?