“Personal, efficient and quality service.”
We offer advice and assistance in all aspects of Licensing matters to clients in the leisure and entertainment industries.
This includes assistance with:
- Alcohol and Entertainment Licensing
- Objecting to Applications for Alcohol and Entertainment Licences
- Betting and Gaming Licensing
Alcohol and entertainment licensing
How can we help you?
- Applying for new Premises Licences and Club Premises Certificates
- Applying to vary Premises Licences and Club Premises Certificates
- Applying for Personal Licences
- Dealing with contested applications and representing clients before Licensing Committees (and before the Magistrates Court on appeal if necessary)
- Advising on the sale, purchase and leasing of licensed premises
- Advising on planning issues
Do you need a licence? Under the Licensing Act 2003 (the Act) anybody wishing to supply alcohol, provide “regulated entertainment” (which includes activities such as live and recorded music, films and dancing) or sell food between 11pm and 5am needs to obtain a licence.
There are 4 types of licence:
- Premises Licence: this is a licence authorising premises to be used for one or more licensable activity
- Club Premises Certificate: this is a licence permitting premises occupied by and used for the purposes of a club to be used for one or more qualifying club activities
- Temporary Event Notice: this is a notice seeking permission to use premises for one or more licensable activity for not more than 96 hours
- Personal Licence: this is a licence granted to an individual authorising that individual to supply or authorise the supply of alcohol
Under the Act restricted hours for the sale of alcohol were abolished making 24 hour opening a possibility.
Fixed fee example for an application for a new premises licence (simple application)
Price Range of £1,999.00 – £2,500.00 (including VAT but excluding disbursements)
This fee is made up of:
- Legal fees price range of £1,999.00 – £2,500.00
- VAT on legal fees £ – N/a
Disbursements
Disbursements are costs related to your matter that are payable to third parties, such as the application fee. We will pay the disbursements on your behalf to ensure a smoother process.
- Application fee (payable to licensing authority) from £100 to £1,905
- Advertising fee ££150*
- Enquiry agent fees to display public notices £100 – £200
- Special delivery fee to serve the application £20
- Printing additional copies of plans if necessary £50
*These fees vary depending on the individual premises and where it is located. The fees can on occasion be higher than the ranges given above. We will give you an accurate figure for each item as soon as we are able to do so.
Fee includes:
- Taking your instructions and advising you as to how you can promote the licensing objectives within your application
- Advising you as the type of plans you are required to submit with your application.
- Completing the application form for a new premises licence (including the operating schedule) in accordance with your instructions and submitting this to the local licensing authority alongside suitable plans. You must provide suitable plans.
- Providing guidance on the fee levels payable to the licensing authority.
- Preparing copies of the premises licence application for disclosure to the responsible authorities and serving copies of the application on the responsible authorities.
- Drafting the notices advertising the premises licence application and submitting the notice to the local newspaper.
- Arranging with you for you to display the notice(s) advertising the premises licence application and advising as to where and how this should be done by you in order to comply with the requirements of the Licensing Act 2003.
- Providing a Designated Premises Supervisor (DPS) consent form for signature by a personal licence holder proposed by yourself.
- Checking the licence once granted and correcting any errors with the licensing authority.
The fee does not include:
- obtaining suitable plans
- attending pre-consultation meetings with the Licensing Authority or Responsible Authorities, nor their fee for this meeting.
- dealing with or advising you in relation to queries or representations received from either the responsible authorities or other interested parties
- advising on varying the licence
- attendance and representation at a licensing sub-committee hearing of the responsible authority. If representations are received and attendance and representation at a licensing sub-committee is required then we will provide a separate fee estimate for this work which will be charged at an hourly rate.
How long will my application take?
Matters usually take 8-12 weeks from receipt of full instructions from you. This is on the basis of the application being relatively straightforward and you being able to provide all the necessary documents promptly. If your matter is more complex, for example, if there is substantial opposition from interested parties, or if there is a delay in receiving the documents we need, it may take longer.
