Exclusive: The future of thousands of pubs, clubs, hotels and off-sales premises is in doubt after new figures show that fewer than half of licensed premises have had managers checked and approved under new legislation.

The future of thousands of pubs, clubs, hotels and off-sales premises is in doubt after new figures show that fewer than half of licensed premises have had managers checked and approved under new legislation.

With only 11 weeks before Scotland's new liquor laws come into effect, figures obtained through Freedom of Information show just over 7500 applications for "personal licences" have been granted, from approximately 17,000 premises.

Previous estimates by the police, who also have to vet applicants, put the potential number of personal licence holders in Scotland as high as 60,000, since larger venues will require more than one holder.

Under the new act, all venues must have a licensed premises manager, the person who authorises alcohol sales, by the time the laws kick in on September 1, or they will not be permitted to open.

If they still have no licensed premises manager by December 1, the business is deemed to have lost its licence. Licensing boards and the Scottish Government insist that, by September, no licence holder means no trading.

In the past, premises ordered to shut could stay open pending an appeal, but the new law states that they will remain closed until their appeal has been heard by the licensing board.

The latest figures have been compiled by Scotland's largest licensed trade lobbying group, the Scottish Beer and Pub Association (SBPA), which has found that only 11,200 applications for personal licences had been lodged with licensing boards by March, the most recent date for submission.

But to date just 7683 applications have been granted and, of these, just 3000 have been issued.

The statistics come six months after The Herald reported that senior police officers were warning of the impact on the trade if there was not serious movement on the issue, adding they had no additional funding to carry out the task of background checks on all applicants. An over-burden of bureaucracy, tight timescales and a general ignorance on the part of the licensed trade are thought to be contributing factors to the backlog.

The boards with the highest percentages of applications granted were Stirling and the Western Isles, which had granted 100% of the applications submitted to them, and the City of Edinburgh Licensing Board, which had granted 97.8%.

Those at the other end of the scale were East Lothian and Falkirk, which had not considered any of the applications lodged with them, nor issued any personal licences. Perth and Kinross had only granted 0.7% of the applications lodged with it.

Patrick Browne, SBPA chief executive, said: "These numbers should be of real concern to anyone involved in the administration of Scotland's licensed industry."

Accusing some boards of "creating backlogs and sending signals that there was no apparent urgency in lodging applications", Mr Browne said the government had to reassure the trade there would be flexibility over dates.

Douglas Campbell, chairman of South Ayrshire Licensing Board, said: "The owners of all licensed premises have had more than three years to comply with the law but many have simply not put their minds to the task.

"They are leaving it very, very late and there is no doubt that some will miss the deadline. They need to act now.

"If any pub, club, hotel or off-sales premises is found to be operating on September 1 without a suitably qualified person in charge, Licensing Boards will have no option but to close those premises. And close will mean close."

A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: "Leaving an application until late in the 19-month window for applications does run the risk of a business not being able to sell alcohol from September."