Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver’s restaurant and luxury hotel Malmaison are among 42 businesses in Aberdeen facing a hearing over late or unpaid licensing fees.
Councillors have requested that representatives of all of the businesses – which include bars, restaurants, hotels and shops – appear on December 10 to explain why the annual payments have not been made on time.
It is understood that 11 of the 42 premises named also failed to pay on time last year.
Members of the licensing board agreed on Thursday to call the companies to account, but a full list was not made public until yesterday.
Letters had been sent out advising that fees had to be paid by October 1.
In the case of non payment, the board has a list of options to consider including a warning, suspension or, in the most serious cases, revoking of a premises licence.
Under the Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005, anyone selling alcohol must pay an annual fee, calculated on the rateable value of the business.
Aberdeen solicitor Tony Dawson said unpaid fees caused a lot of unnecessary work for local licensing boards.
He said: “Every year, there are many licensed premises which don’t pay in time.
“This costs the licensing board a great deal of extra administration work and nowadays a lot of the boards are off the same view which is, if people have been reminded to pay and they haven’t, they will be called before the board to explain themselves.
“The procedure is perfectly fair and reasonable.
“It usually turns out that the vast majority of the license holders pay up.
“In the past there have been a couple of good reasons put forward like someone being abroad, but in general it is just an oversight.”
Other venues named on the list include the Malt Mill bar on Holburn Street, Viva Brazil restaurant at Golden Square, the Hilton Treetops on Springfield Road and the Marriott at Overton Circle in Dyce.