Licensing

The Licensing Act 2003, which came into force in 2005, has established a single integrated system for licensing all establishments used for the supply of alcohol, providing regulated entertainment or providing late night refreshment. The authority to carry out one or more of these activities will require a personal licence, premises licence, club premises certificates or temporary event notices. The authorisation needed is granted by Licensing Authorities. The majority of Licensing Authorities will be the local authority for the area in which the premises are located, or in the case of personal licences, the local authority in which the applicant normally resides.

There are four activities that attract the need for a licence:

• the sale of alcohol by retail - any retail sale of alcohol requires a licence;
• the supply of alcohol by or on behalf of a club to, or to the order of, a member of a club;
• the provision of regulated entertainment - such as music and dancing; and
• the provision of late night refreshment  - the sale of hot food after 11.00 pm but before 5.00 am.

All of these activities will require a Premises Licence.

Premises Licence

In order to permit the above activities to occur on a relevant premise, it will be necessary to hold a Premises Licence, Club Premises Certificate or a Temporary Event Notice (T.E.N).  The application for a premises licence will need to be made to the local authority in whose district the premises is located. The applicant must be 18 years old or over and be the person carrying on the business for which the application relates to.

A Premises Licence application will need to include the following:

• An Operating Schedule, which must contain a brief explanation of the following:

1. The licensable activities taking place on the premises, for example the holding of live music inside the premises
2. The proposed opening times
3. Whether the provision of hot food or hot drink will be on or off the premises, or both
4. The steps to promote the Licensing Objectives (see below)
5. The Plan will need to be in a "prescribed form"
6. It must be drawn to the Standard Scale (unless given written authority to use another scale from the licensing authority).

• A plan of the premises in a "prescribed form" which must show:

1. The location of the extent of the boundary of the building, if relevant, and any external and internal walls which comprise the premises, or in which the premises is comprised
2. The location of exits from the premises and, if different, the location of escape routes from the premises;
3. The locations on or from the premises which are to be used for the licensable activity
4. Fixed structures (including furniture) or similar objects temporarily in a fixed location which may impact on the ability of individuals on the premises to use exits or escape routes without impediment
5. In a case where the premises includes a stage or raised area, the location and height of each stage or area relative to the floor;
6. In a case where the premises includes any steps, stairs, elevators or lifts, the location of the steps, stairs, elevators or lifts;
7. In the case where the premises includes any room or rooms containing public conveniences, the location of the room or rooms;
8. The location and type of any fire safety and any other safety equipment including, if applicable, marine safety equipment; and
9. The location of a kitchen, if any, on the premises.

• Public Notice, i.e. newspaper advertisement and notice at the premises. The applicant must place the prescribed notice on the relevant premises at 50 metre intervals for a 28 day period starting from the day after the application is made, and within the first 10 working days a prescribed notice must be placed in a locally distributed publication. This is necessary to provide the opportunity for "interested parties" to make either a positive or negative representation to the Licensing Authority regarding the application being submitted. Interested parties are local residents and business and other bodies representing these parties.
  
  
• Consent form from the proposed Designated Premises Supervisor (DPS) if alcohol permission is requested. A DPS will have to be nominated for the premises and if the premises has no DPS, or the DPS becomes unavailable, the premises cannot continue to see alcohol until a new DPS is appointed.
  
  
• The appropriate fee

Personal Licences

Any person who is responsible for the sale of alcohol will require a personal licence. A personal licence is separate to a premises licence. The reason behind this is to make it easier for individuals to move between licensed premises without the need to have to apply for a transfer of licence. A personal licence will authorise a person either to supply alcohol or to authorise its supply in accordance with a premise licence. A personal licence will only allow the holder to supply alcohol from premises which have a premises licence authorising the supply of alcohol, or from other premises under the authority of a temporary event notice. 

An application for a personal licence can be made by any individual who:

• is at least 18 years old;
• has not forfeited a personal licence in the previous five years immediately preceding the date when the application was made
• does not have any relevant criminal convictions
• possess an accredited licensing qualification or is a person of description prescribed by regulation.

A Personal Licence is valid for 10 years (or until it is surrendered or revoked).

Licensing Objectives

The Licensing Act specifies that applicants must state how they are going to promote the 4 licensing objectives under the Act. The licensing objectives are:

• Prevention of crime and disorder
• Prevention of public nuisance
• Public safety
• Protection of children from harm

All applications have to describe exactly how the applicant intends to promote each of these objectives. Similarly, any representations made have to limit themselves to one or more of the objectives. Representations outside the scope of any of these will be irrelevant.

At Hewetts we offer advice and assistance on Licensing matters and applications, in particular applications for premises and personal licences. We also offer a fixed price on licensing applications for uncontested matters.

For further information please contact Debbie Sumitra on 0118 955 9608