Hospitality trade leaders fear small pubs and licensed grocers will go to the wall after the government announced the cost of footing the bill for Scotland's new liquor laws would double.
There is also anger that new fees set out yesterday will also see a seven to nine-fold increase in the basic annual tariff for the right of a pub, club or off-sales to sell alcohol.
Under the new system, major hotels, large nightclubs and supermarkets could pay almost 30 times the present flat rate as the Scottish Government moves to create a more-even playing field.
The charges are intended to relieve the public purse of the need to subsidise the licensing system over the longer term and meet the costs of the legislative shake-up across the next 18 months.
Councils already bail out licensing boards by over one-third of their running costs.
As well as servicing the new system, the money will fund the costs of employing licensing standards officers, who will police it.
But the cost of one-off licences for an average pub or off-sales will go from the £400 proposed in the summer to a maximum of £800, while the current flat fee for all venues of £86 for three years will rise to an annual £220.
Large venues, according to their rateable value, could pay £2000 and £900-a-year after that.
Hospitality trade lobbyists claim the mounting fees will see already hard-pressed businesses throw in the towel.
There are also concerns that it will dent tourism revenue in the next decade, while early next year the government is expected to set out how it expects the licensed trade to fund measures against alcohol-fuelled disorder.
Janet Hood, of Bii Scotland, a trade lobbying group, said: "Villages shops, guest houses and community pubs will close as a result of this, creating deserts across Scotland. Are we looking to create temperance tourism?"
Patrick Browne, of the Scottish Beer and Pub Association, said: "This is a sad day for the trade in Scotland."
The present system sees licensees pay an initial fee of £172 for a three-year licence, regardless of the premises, followed by a basic £86 for the three years after that.
Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill said the annual fees were capped so as not to give boards "a blank cheque".
He added: "I've looked very closely at the current system for charging fees and I don't think it's fair that the taxpayer has to subsidise the cost of providing a licensing service."
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