Brewery pays out nearly £30,000 for fire safety breaches

A brewery has been ordered to pay £27,481 in fines and costs following a number of fire safety breaches at one of its pubs in London.

Punch Taverns Plc pleaded guilty to seven contraventions of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 at Thames Magistrates Court on 6 January.

Fire safety officers who first investigated the Milestone pub on Mile End Road in July 2008 found that there was inadequate maintenance of the fire alarms and poor emergency lighting. In some cases, emergency lighting was non-existent.

The London Fire Brigade also found that the building, which is a House of Multiple Occupation, had not been installed with self closers on a kitchen door and one of its bedroom doors.

Punch Taverns was issued with an enforcement notice and time to comply following the first visit, however a second investigation in November 2008 revealed a number of faults still to be addressed.

Assistant commissioner for fire safety regulation, Steve Turek, said: “London Fire Brigade will continue to take action when businesses, large or small, do not take their fire safety responsibilities seriously. Failure to comply with the law can, as this case has shown, result in a prosecution.”

This story was originally published on our sister website Info4fire.com

Fire Safety in 2023 eBook

SHP's sister site, IFSEC Insider has released its annual Fire Safety Report for 2023, keeping you up to date with the biggest news and prosecution stories from around the industry.

Chapters include important updates such as the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 and an overview of the new British Standard for the digital management of fire safety information.

Plus, explore the growing risks of lithium-ion battery fires and hear from experts in disability evacuation and social housing.

Click here for more information and to view this Fire Safety eBook