This page contains information about the Licensing Act 2003 and premises licences. If you need any help or advice about anything on this page please contact us by telephone or email. Our telephone line is open Monday to Thursday 9am - 5pm and Friday 9am - 4:30pm. You can also offer us feedback on our service by filling out our online customer feedback form.
Premises Licence (Introduction)
This page is aimed at individuals or businesses who may need to apply for a premises licence granted under the 2003 Licensing Act in order to be able to conduct one or more of the following licensable activities:
- Sale by retail of alcohol
- The provision of regulated entertainment
- The provision of late night refreshment (hot food and drink sales) between 11pm and 5am
Regulated entertainment includes the following activities:
a) a performance of a play
b) an exhibition of a film
c) an indoor sporting event
d) boxing or wrestling entertainment
e) a performance of live music
f) any playing of recorded music
g) a performance of dance
h) entertainment of a similar description to e), f) or g)
The licensing objectives
Under the Act there are four key licensing objectives of:
- Prevention of crime and disorder
- Protection of children from harm
- Public safety
- Prevention of public nuisance
When you make an application particularly for a premises licence you must show
how your proposed activities will not have an adverse effect on the licensing objectives. Likewise if individuals or businesses wish to object to your application
they can only do so on the grounds of one or more the four licensing objectives. Responsible Authorities (see section 3 below) who must be sent copies of your
application can also only object on the grounds of one or more of the licensing objectives.
Responsible Authorities
When you apply for a premises licence you will need to send entire copies of your application to the Responsible Authorities. These are agencies which the government has given specific powers to under the Act to promote the four licensing objectives.
Overview of the application process
Before applying you need to consider what licensable activities you want your premises licence to authorise. There is a standard form (PREM1 downloadable from this page) which you need to use to apply for one or more licensable activities. Do not worry if large sections of the form are left blank. The form is designed for many business types so simply fill out the sections which relate to the activities you wish to apply for.
If you intend to apply for a premises licence allowing the sale and supply of alcohol then there are other matters which you will need to address.
1) You will need a personal licence holder to authorise the supply of alcohol in line with your premises licence.
2) You will need to nominate a designated premise supervisor (DPS) on your premises licence application. The premises supervisor must be a personal licence holder.
These items are covered in more detail in the guidance document GN-A which you can download from this page.
On page 14 of the application form you need to describe what steps you will take to promote the licensing objectives. When you send copies of your application to the responsible authorities they will look at this section to check whether you have taken sufficient steps to promote the licensing objectives. If one or more of the agencies are not satisfied with the content of this section your application may receive a representation.
To help you fill out this section you may also wish to use our risk assessment pro forma which contains many of the key issues which the responsible authorities will be expecting you to demonstrate. See the document (GN-C) that you can download from this page.
When you make your application you will need to provide a plan of your premises. It should be drawn in a standard scale of 1:100 and show the following items:
- the boundary of the building with any external or internal walls;
entrances and exits to the building;
- escape routes from the building;
- locations of different licensable activities in the building (if relevant);
where alcohol will be consumed in the premises;
- fixed or temporary structures which may block entrances or exits to the building
- the location and height of any stages in the premises; any steps, stairs, elevators or lifts in the premises
- the location of any public toilets in the building
- fire safety equipment or any other safety equipment such as;
- eg. The Location of fire alarms, smoke detectors, fire blankets.
- the location of a kitchen
When you send your application to the Licensing Authority and the responsible authorities you will then need to fulfil a 28 day notice period. This is a period of time when your application is advertised and when responsible authorities and other interested parties such as local residents can make representations to the licensing authority about your application.
If after this 28 day notice period your application has received no representations then your new licence will be granted subject only to certain conditions which are consistent with the measures you volunteered at page 14 of your application form plus any other mandatory conditions imposed by the Act. If representations are received during the notice period then your application will go to a hearing.
Your new licence will remain in force from the date of issue indefinitely. There will be an annual fee for your licence which will be payable on the anniversary of the date of grant of your licence.
What Next
This gives a brief overview of the application process. If you wish to apply simply download each of the documents available on this page to form a complete application pack.
Alternatively if you would like the documents sending to you in Microsoft Word format so you can fill them out electronically or you would like a hard copy of the application pack sending in the post please contact us and we will be happy to help.