Double appointment for TLT's Stephen McGowan

Partner and Head of Licensing (Scotland) for TLT LLP, Stephen McGowan, has been appointed to the Board of the Scottish Tourism Alliance (STA), the representative body for the tourism industry in Scotland.

Stephen, who won Lawyer of the Year at the Scottish Legal Awards 2024, will take up his prestigious new post amongst a clutch of other new board members recently announced by the STA. Stephen has worked closely with a number of trade bodies in the hospitality and leisure sector over many years as previous Chair of BII Scotland and Past President of the Benevolent Society of the Licensed Trade of Scotland.

Stephen said: “I am honoured to have been asked to join the board of the STA which for many years has been the voice of the tourism and hospitality sector in Scotland. I look forward to meeting and working with my new colleagues on the board together with Marc Crothall the CEO. Scotland is famous the world over for its hospitality and warm welcome and I am excited to hopefully be able to make a positive contribution to the work the STA does, and to help unlock growth opportunities for the tourism sector".

In addition, Stephen has been appointed to the position of Chair of the new Scottish Government Task Force on Civic Licensing Reform. This group of practitioners, selected by the Scottish Government, has been tasked with reviewing the licensing provisions of the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 with a remit to produce a report with recommendations for possible reform of the legislation, now over forty years old.

The report is expected to be produced prior to the Scottish Parliament elections in May 2026. The group includes representatives of a number of local authorities from all Scotland, Police Scotland, trading standards, licensing standards officers and more. The 1982 Act licensing provisions deal with a huge variety of activities and businesses which require to be licensed from taxis, public entertainment, boat hire, short term lets, late hours catering premises and more.

Stephen commented: “I am very grateful that the Scottish Government has constituted this group as I think it is broadly accepted across licensing practice that the 1982 Act has not kept pace with the rate of change both in terms of civic society but also on matters like technology. I am honoured to be asked to chair the working group and it will be very interesting to see what suggestions and ideas come out of the process. It will then be a matter for Government to decided what actions, if any, to take noting the feedback of the group.”