A ROW has broken out following a dire warning about possible pub closures and job losses in Largs.

Cunninghame North MSP Kenneth Gibson has slammed a licensing board chief after he issued a 'major jobs warning' for the hospitality sector in the town and Millport.

Cllr Ronnie McNicol believes a number of licensed premises could be forced to close their doors next year amid uncertainty over licensing arrangememts.

He is concerned that the 19 off-sales and 55 on-sales premises in region could be put at risk.

But Cunninghame North MSP Mr Gibson says Cllr Nicol is 'scaremongering'.

In order to sell alcohol in pubs and other licensed premises, a premises manager requires to hold a personal licence.

No fewer than 1,677 of these licences were issued by North Ayrshire Licensing Board but the majority are due to expire in August 2019 and the board are said to be 'in the dark' about how they will be renewed.

Councillor McNicol has now issued an urgent call for the government to either abolish the current system or change the law so personal licences continue in perpetuity, as in England.

He said: “We have reached the tipping point – unless the Scottish Government deals with this issue immediately, we will see pubs and other licensed premises across Scotland closing.

“Those worst affected are likely to be small businesses because it often happens that the business is both owned and managed by one person, so if he or she loses a personal licence there might not be an alternative person who can take over the management.

“In spite of repeated warnings from licensing boards such as ourselves, Scottish Local Authority Lawyers & Administrators, and professional organisations representing trade lawyers, the government has not fixed the problems. It now appears almost certain that many applicants will lose their personal licence on 31 August 2019.”

The government is in the process of updating its statutory guidance on alcohol licensing and MSP Mr Gibson insists there is no need for alarm.

He said: “Cllr McNicol should stop scaremongering and encourage interested parties to feed into the review into how we can do things better.

"The licensed trade should and will make their views heard as part of that process.

“There is no intention of damaging small licensed businesses and the suggestion that in just over 13 months from now everyone’s going to lose their licence is simply not credible.”

The council says it is aware of the situation and added that it affects the whole of the country.

A spokesman said: "This is a Scotland-wide issue. It is not only a North Ayrshire issue. It is possible for someone with a personal licence granted elsewhere in Scotland to be working here, and similarly people with North Ayrshire personal licences may be working all over Scotland.

"The issue still affects them."