Premises Licence Application – FAQs

• A premises licence is a licence that is granted by a Local Licensing Authority for a specified premises or location which authorises the holder to carry out some or all the following licensable activities:
• The sale of alcohol
• Provision of late-night refreshment (hot food or drink, consumed on or off the premises, between the hours of 23:00 and 05:00)
• Performance of a play (e.g., a pantomime or amateur dramatic production, including a rehearsal), an exhibition of a film
• An indoor sporting event
• A boxing or wrestling entertainment
• A performance of live music (e.g., karaoke, a band or a choir)
• Any playing of recorded music
• A dance performance
• Facilities for making music, dancing and entertainment of a similar description

A premises licence is required when you offer or provide one or more of the following three licensable activities: the sale of alcohol, the provision of regulated entertainment, the provision of late night refreshment. A premises licence, or a club premises certificate, is a permanent licence granted under the 2003 Licensing Act for a specific location, that authorises the holder to carry on any or all of the following licensable activities: the sale of alcohol. the supply of alcohol by a club to its members and guests.

Not unless you supply to any member of the public

Yes you do. The premises where the alcohol is being dispatched from will require a premises licence. That includes a private dwelling if you are selling from home. Amazon also requires you to have a premises licence even if they are fufiilment of the order is completed by Amazon and the alcohol doesn’t come anywhere near your property. You can read more about selling on Amazon on our Amazon sales page.

Premises Licence applications are submitted to the local licensing authority where the premises is situated. A guide to which authority you should apply to can be found by entering the post code of the premises into the find my licensing authority page of the .gov website.

To make a Premises Licence Application you have two choices.

You can allow Innpacked to complete the whole process (including personal licence training if required) on your behalf which is by far the quickest and easiest way. We work on a fixed rate. No hidden charges. No hourly rate. Your own consultant from start to finish. If you would like to discuss your requirements please give us a call on Free phone 08000 786 056 or use the call back form on the right of this page.

or

You can follow our guidelines on how to apply for a premises licence here.

Each premises licence application is unique as there are various requirements that need to be fulfilled but as a rule of thumb it can take anywhere between one to three months, This however is an educated estimate. Once you submit your application a 28 day consultation period will take place. Obviously as Innpacked deal with premises licence application every day we can assure you that we can process the application quicker than doing it yourself.

Cumulative Impact Zones are often put in place by Licensing authorities to control alcohol-related disorder in specific areas of a town containing a high density of licensed premises. In a cumulative impact zone, applications will generally be rejected unless it can be shown that granting the premises licence would not add to existing alcohol related problems.

There are no predetermined hour within the Licensing Act 2003 but many local licensing authorities will have guidance  within their Licensing Policy which will advise what hours are more likely to be accepted based on local area requirements and what type of business that you are applying to licence.

Once the council is in receipt of your correctly made premises licence application, the responsible authorities have 28 days in which they are entitled to make representation to your application.
Any interested party wishing to make representation has 28 days to do so starting on the day after your application has been given to the council, i.e. the day you advertise your application.
Responsible authorities and interested parties are entitled to apply to the council for a review of an existing licence.
All representations must be based on the four licensing objectives contained within the 2003 Licensing Act.

The below responsible authorities can make a representation regarding your application

police
local fire and rescue
primary care trust (PCT) or local health board (LHB)
the relevant licensing authority
local enforcement agency for the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974
environmental health authority
planning authority
body responsible for the protection of children from harm
local trading standards

If there is an objection which is based on the four licensing objectives, a hearing of the licensing committee must be held within 20 days unless all parties agree that a formal hearing is unnecessary.
The licensing committee will consider representations with regard to the licensing objectives and can, on this basis, grant, reject or alter the terms or conditions of the licence.

If, following a hearing, your application is refused you can appeal to the Magistrate´s Court against the council´s decision within 21 days of being notified of the decision.

A premises licence application cost is based on various factors. You’ll be charged a fee that’s based on the rateable value of the property.Premises licence application fees start from £100 upwards depending on the fee band of your venue.

Newspaper advertising fees, plans, personal licence course and application, if you don’t already have one, printing, postage and photocopying.

Yes. Your will find full details of what plans you need to provide in our Premises Licence Application guide .

The licence is valid for as long as the premises exists or, until the licence is surrendered or revoked. The licence holder is liable for the licence until liquidation/surrender of licence or death of the licence holder. There is an annual fee payable on the anniversary of the grant of the Premises Licence.

Yes. A Premises licence can be transferred to another licence holder but not to another premises.

If you are purchasing a business with a premises licence you will need to take over the premises licence. To do this you must make an application to transfer the premises licence and also obtain consent from the existing licence holder.

Once you are a premises licence all of the below obligations must be fulfilled.
• The licence (or a certified copy) must be kept on the premises and available for inspection at all times by any police constable or person authorised by the council.
• The licence summary (Part B must be prominently displayed, at the premises,
• If your Premises Licence is lost, stolen or destroyed you must notify the council and apply for a copy of the licence.
• If you wish to surrender your licence you must inform the council.
• If you wish to make any changes to your designated premises supervisor, operating hours, activities, conditions and any alteration to the premises you must apply apply to the council for a variation of your premises licence.
• Any change of name or address must be disclosed to the council.
• You must apply to the council if you wish to transfer the licence to someone else.
• Pay an annual fee due on the anniversary of the grant date of your licence.

You must write to the licensing authority who issued the licence to inform them off the loss as soon as possible.

Apart from the designated premises supervisor who must hold a personal licence, this is a decision for each individual premises licence holder. That said, from a “due diligence” perspective it is advisable to have at least two or more. This will allow greater flexibility in fulfilling the requirement for every alcohol sale to be made or authorised by a personal licence holder. It also means that if a DPS leaves at short notice they can be replaced immediately because the premises licence cannot be operated legally without a DPS.

More details on changing the DPS.