Premises licences

The premises licence is a single licence which covers any of the following licensable activities at any premises (which is defined as a vehicle, vessel or moveable structure or any place or a part of any premises):

The sale of alcohol
The supply of alcohol
The provision of regulated entertainment
The provision of late night refreshment

The applicant can decide which activities s/he wishes to apply for, and may wish to include certain activities which s/he may not provide at the time of application, but may wish to provide in the future. This would avoid the need to vary the premises licence at a later date. The fee is the same, irrespective of how many activities the applicant selects. Applicants are advised that certain premises will be exempt from the licence fee (e.g. village halls, community centres offering regulated entertainment only), however, where the sale of alcohol is included at these premises, the fee will be payable. This also applies where an ‘entertainment’ is exempt, in that no licence is required when the exempted entertainment is taking place, but if there is alcohol on sale, then a licence would be required.

Please refer to exemptions notes for further details.

If you want the premises licence to last for a limited period, for example, one week/one month, then you may specify this on the application; otherwise the premises will last for the lifetime of the business (unless suspended, surrendered or revoked).

There is a facility to vary the premises licence or to transfer it to another person. Please note however, that the variation facility cannot be used to extend the length of a licence, for example, if you have a premises licence which lasts for three days and want to change it to four days, you would have to make a new application. Likewise, if major structural alterations are taking place, you would need to make a new application.

FAQ

I have a burger and a hot dog van, which I trade from outside a night club; do I need to do anything?

If the hours of trading include the hours between 11pm and 5am, then you would require a premises licence, as this activity is classed as providing late night refreshment.

I own a kebab shop, and I trade after 11pm, but I don’t have any tables and chairs, so only cater for takeaways. Do I need to get a licence?

Yes, again this is late night refreshment. You will require a premises licence.

I want to organise a disco to raise funds for the local scout group. I will have a bar selling alcohol and soft drinks, and I would like to hold the disco in the main hall in the scout headquarter. It’s for charity, so will I need to get a licence?

Even though you are organising the even for charitable purposes, you are seeking to make a profit (raise funds). There are two ways to deal with this situation.

You could apply for a premises licence (for the scout headquarters), either for a limited period of time for a full term licence. You would also have to have at least one personal licence holder to authorise the sale of supply of alcohol, and a DPS named in the premises licence; or
You could give the licensing authority (the council) a temporary event notice (TEN). If you are a personal licence holder, you can give up to 50 TENs in any one year, although you may only hold a maximum of 12 such events in a year at any one premises (no more than 15 days in total). If you do not hold a personal licence you can give up to five such events each year. Strict limitations exist for these notices, so please refer to the notes for further details.

What you need to do to obtain a premises licence?

If you are applying as an individual, you must be 18 years old or over.

Any person (which includes a business or a partnership) who is carrying on or who proposes to carry on a business which involves the use of premises (any place, including one in the open air) for licensable activities may apply for a premises licence.

In addition, a wide range of other individuals and bodies may apple, e.g. government departments, local authorities, hospitals, schools, charities or police forces (list not exhaustive).

An application must be made, in the prescribed form, to the relevant licensing authority (the authority where the premises is situated) and be copied to each of the appropriate responsible authorities.

The application must include the following:

A plan of the premises

Where the application includes the sale of alcohol, the applicant must provide details of the individual to be specified as the designated premises supervisor
A form of consent signed by the designated premises supervisor
The appropriate fee

Reviews

At any stage, following the grant of a premises licence, a responsible authority, such at the police or the fire authority, or an interested party, such as a resident living in the vicinity of the premises, may ask the licensing authority to review the licence because of a matter arising at the premises in connection with any of the four licensing objectives.

Where the request originates with an interested party – e.g. a local resident, residents’ association, local business or trade association – the licensing authority must first consider whether the complaint made is not relevant, vexatious, frivolous or repetitious.

These include situations such as:

A ground for review specified in an earlier application for review made in respect of the same premises licence which has already been determined; or
Representations considered by the licensing authority when the premises licence was first granted; or
Where a reasonable interval has not elapsed since that earlier review or the grant of the licence.

Licensing authorities are expected to be aware of the need to prevent attempts to review licences merely as a second bite of the cherry following the failure of representations to persuade the licensing authority on earlier occasions.

An application for a review must be made in the prescribed form to the relevant licensing authority (the authority where the premises is situated).

Forms

Contact us

Licensing Unit
Walsall Council
Challenge Building
Hatherton Road
Walsall
WS1 1YG

Telephone 01922 653583 / 653581
Email licensing@walsall.gov.uk

This page was last updated on 19 June 2009