Landlord wins battle to keep CCTV out of his pub

By Georgina Littlejohn |

A landlord has won the right not to install CCTV cameras in his pub after he argued that it would threaten drinkers’ civil liberties.

Nick Gibson was told by police that he would have to install the security cameras when he applied for a licence for the Draper’s Arms in Barnsbury Street, Islington.

But after the Information Commissioner’s Office intervened, the police dropped their case and Mr Gibson was granted his licence.

The office told the Metropolitan Police that the blanket introduction of CCTV in pubs “raised serious privacy issues” and added: “We recognise that CCTV plays an important role in the prevention and detection of crime and can help to reduce crime.

“However we are concerned at the prospect of landlords being forced into installing CCTV in pubs as a matter of routine in order to meet the terms of a licence.”

A police spokeswoman said the force would still continue to call for the installation of CCTV as a proviso for the granting of all future licences.