Licensing Act 2003 Licences Explained
Premises Licences and Club Premises Certificates
You will require either a Premises Licence or a Club Premises Certificate if you wish to carry out licensable activities at any particular premises. If you are applying for a premises licence or club premises certificate, you will need to contact the Council responsible for the area where the building is situated. You will need to submit a plan of your building, show how you will be operating the premises, and supply any original justices' licence or club registration certificate.
Every premises that sells or supplies alcohol (except for qualifying clubs) must have a Designated Premises Supervisor to carry out that activity. This is the person who is responsible for the day-to-day running of the premises. This person must have a personal licence and must be named on the Premises Licence.
You will need to submit an application for a premises licence or a club premises certificate as appropriate. The application form is in two parts. Part A covers an application for a conversion of your existing licence(s). If you wish to vary the conditions attached to your existing licence(s), for example, the opening times or change the licensable activities, you will then need to complete Part B of the form. Also, you will be required to complete an operating schedule describing the measures that you intend to implement to promote the four licensing objectives.
Your completed application should be submitted to the Council's Licensing Team along with the relevant fee and required documentation as specified in the guidance notes on the form. Copies of an application for variation of a licence must also be sent to the responsible authorities. A list of responsible authorities is available here! All applications for variation need to be advertised in accordance with a prescribed procedure.
You will also need to submit a scaled plan of your premises along with your application.
Representations regarding applications for Premises Licences
Responsible Authorities and interested parties (e.g. local residents) are able to make relevant representations in respect of an application for variation of a premises licence. A variation may, for example, include a proposal to extend the opening times for the sale of alcohol and/or the provision of regulated entertainment.
Personal Licences
You will need one of these if you want to sell alcohol at your premises. However, a personal licence is not required where alcohol is supplied to members at a registered club. If you are applying for a new personal licence you will need to contact the Council where you live. The licence will be valid for ten years and to get one, you will need to have a qualification and pass a criminal records bureau check. If you are already a licensee you will need to apply to the Council for a personal licence but you will not need the qualification or criminal record check.
You can access all the relevant application forms by visiting our application forms for premises and personal licences section. Alternatively, the forms are available from the Council's Licensing Section.
Temporary Event Notice
This is not actually a licence. It involves notifying the Council and the Police in advance if you want to hold a one-off event at unlicensed premises, or at licensed premises if the event is not covered by the Premises Licence/Club Premises Certificate. You will have to fulfil certain conditions, and there are a maximum number of events that you can stage at any particular premises.
Fees
Fees for premises licences, club premises certificates, personal licences and temporary event notices have been set by the Government, the Council has no control over the setting of such fees.
Guidance Documents
A full list of guidance documents covering the rules and procedures that should be followed when applying for the various types of licences can be found in our licence guidance documents section.
Documents include:
- Guidance to applicants on the submission of a plan
- Guidance notes for interested parties regarding relevant representations
- Temporary Event Notice Guidance
Where Can I Find Out More?
The Department of Culture, Media and Sport has issued Guidance under Section 182 of the Licensing Act 2003. You can also read the full Licensing Act 2003.
You may also find it useful to check out our frequently asked questions or download a copy of one of our regular Licensing Act Newsletters.
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