A Bridge too far?

It has been reported that the High Court has granted the English Bridge Union leave to bring a judicial review of Sport England's ruling that bridge is not a sport and accordingly not eligible for lottery funding. The ruling reportedly states that despite a lack of physical activity the game is "arguably" a sport and that the "the brain is a muscle."

Under the Licensing Act 2003, indoor sporting events provided in front of an audience of no more than 1,000 people between 08.00 and 23.00 are licensable when their purpose is to entertain the audience. Further, ‘sport' under the Act is classed as "any game in which physical skill is the predominant factor" and "any form of physical recreation which is also engaged in for purposes of competition or display".

We freely admit that we make better licensing lawyers than doctors but as far as we are aware the brain is not a muscle and it is hard to see how bridge could cross the threshold of being a game based on mental skill to physical skill being the predominant factor (even for the most vigorous of games!)

We await the outcome of any judicial review with interest as it might be the case that future late night Bridge nights (or other similar games) held at your premises might need licensing approval!

I am sure that you would agree that you could only read something like this here!!!