Friday May 29th 2026
East Lothian Council headquarters
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Marie Sharp
A licensed cafe bar boss has been given a written warning after she repeatedly allowed ‘irresponsible’ drink promotions to be offered to customers.
Cara Davies, premises licence holder for The Bear and Bull appeared before East Lothian Licensing Board after its trading standards officer raised concerns over the running of the establishment in the town’s High Street.
They said the premises first came to their attention in January when it offered customers half price booze when they ordered food.
In a report to the board they said the promotion which offered 50 per cent off any drink with breakfast, lunch and dinner was irresponsible and breached several licensing conditions.
Despite raising concerns with the premises licence holder they say further promotions including a scavenger hunt where people could find vouchers for free drinks in the cafe and a karaoke night which offered free drinks to singers were also publicised in the months that followed also breaching licensing rules.
It also came to light the premises manager who was required to be in place if alcohol was being served had left in 2024 meaning it could have been sold illegally for up to 18 months.
Ms Davies representative told the board the 50% promotion did not go ahead and suggested the others were ‘close but not quite right’ when it came to licensing law.
He said the breaches were down to a lack of knowledge while acknowledging the need for Ms Davies to get things right adding training had taken place at the premises since then.
Urging the board for understanding as Ms Davis had tried to boost her business during recent hard times for hospitality he said: “The purpose of irresponsible drinking promotion rules is to reduce the risk of binge drinking or under age drinking and I would suggest it is a stretch to suggest any of these promotions were aimed at binge drinking.”
The board then moved into private session to hear additional personal evidence on Ms Davies behalf before returning and voting to issue a written warning to Ms Davies by three votes to two with board chairperson Councillor George McGuire, Councillor Lachlan Bruce and Councillor Fiona Dugdale backing the warning.
Fellow board members Councillor Neil Gilbert and Councillor Lee-Anne Menzies voted for the licence to be revoked.
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