Types of Licence

Following the introduction of the Licensing Act 2003, the following licences are available to be applied for.

Premises Licence

A premises licence is granted to a premises, and authorises that premises to be used for one or more licensable activities. The activities permitted will be stated in the premises' operating schedule, which is submitted with the licence application.

Premises must meet certain standards if they are to be granted a premises licence. Details of these standards can be found in the council's Licensing Policy. Click the link at the bottom of this page, to view the policy.

The following people may apply for a premises licence:

• a person who runs, or proposes to run, a business that will involve the use of that premises for licensable activities
• a recognised club
• a charity
• the proprietor of an educational institution
• a health service body
• a person registered by part 2 of the Care Standards Act 2000, in respect of an independent hospital
• a chief police officer

All applicants must be 18 years of age or over. Licences are granted to applicants on a permanent basis, but are subject to review where evidence exists that any of the licensing objectives are being compromised.

For further details on premises licences, click the link under Related Information on the right side of this page.

Personal Licence

Personal licences are granted to individuals, and allow individuals to sell alcohol to the public. Where alcohol is to be sold at a premises, this premises must also hold a premises licence. Personal licences are granted for a period of ten years, and can be renewed after this point for further periods of ten years. Individuals must apply to the licensing authority in which they are resident, not that in which they intend to supply alcohol.

The licensing authority should generally grant the licence where the applicant:

• is 18 years old or over
• possesses a licensing qualification or is a person of a prescribed prescription
• has not held a personal licence which has been revoked in the last five years
• has not been convicted of any relevant offence

For further details on personal licences, click the link under Related Information on the right side of this page.

Club Premises Certificate

Club premises certificates will be granted to premises occupied by and used habitually for the purposes of a recognised club. Clubs must meet a set of criteria if they are to qualify as a club in this context. Further to this, club premises must meet certain standards if they are to be granted a premises licence.

For further details on club premises certificates, including the club qualification criteria and the required standards for obtaining a licence, click the link under Related Information on the right side of this page.

Temporary event notice

Temporary event notices allow licensable activities to take place during a period of less than 96 hours, where there are no more than 499 people present.

The individual responsible for the event must inform the licensing authority of their proposal at least ten days before the event, although we encourage applicants to allow as much time as possible between the date their notice is given to us and the date of the proposed event. It is this notification that is known as the temporary event notice. The applicant must pay a fee (to be set by government), and send a copy of the notice to the Chief Police Officer.

Licensable activities will then normally be permitted, where:

• the individual is 18 years old or more
• the premise has not submitted a temporary event notice for a period ending less than 24 hours before the beginning of the new event

The licensing authority will acknowledge the receipt of the temporary event notice to the licensee. Personal licence holders may make up to 50 applications per year. Non-licence holders may make up to five applications per year. No individual premises may be used more than 12 times, or for more than 15 days in total, per year.

Operating Schedule

All applications for premises licences will need to include an operating schedule. This document should outline what licensable activities are proposed, and how the licence holder will ensure the licensing objectives are met.

Guidance on how to complete an operating schedule is given in the Licensing Objectives Guidelines document, available by clicking the relevant link below.