Alcohol and entertainment licences

You need a licence to sell or supply alcohol.

You need a licence if you are raising funds for a charity and give away free alcohol but charge for a ticket or admission.

If you wish to sell or supply alcohol to members of the public, guests or members of a club, you must be authorised under the Licensing Act 2003.

It is also a sale of alcohol, if the alcohol is included within any entry fee or ticket or offered as a complimentary drink when purchasing any service or product.

You will need to apply for either a premises licence, a club premises certificate or a temporary event notice. You may also require a personal licence.

One-off events

You will need a temporary event notice (TEN) if you are planning:

• An occasional or one off event at unlicensed premises
• To have a licensable activity which is not included in the terms of an existing premises licence (which either includes regulated entertainment or the sale of alcohol)

Licence as an individual - personal licence

If you want a career in the licensed trade, you will need a personal licence. This enables you to sell alcohol from a licensed premises. You can use your personal licence to work in different pubs as long as they have a premises licence.

Licence for the premises

If you want to hold licensable activities in a premises or on a piece of land, you will need a premises licence which is granted for the life of the premises.

You will need to apply for a premises licence for the following activities:

• The retail sale of alcohol
• A club selling alcohol to a club member
• Regulated entertainment
• Late night refreshment

You will also have to provide the details and consent of a personal licence holder to be your designated premises supervisor (DPS) on your application form. This person will be responsible for authorising the sale of alcohol on the premises.

If you are running a club

If you wish to run a members club that will have of the above licensable activities, you will need a club premises certificate.

You will not need to have a designated premises supervisor.

You will only need to apply for a premises licence if you want to have any of the licensable activities mentioned above under 'licence for the premises' in part of the premises open to non-members of your club. This might be, for example, be activities in a separate function room that is let out to non-members for events on a very regular basis that cannot be covered by the maximum 15 temporary events notices (per year per premises).

Changes to a premises licence or club certificate

If you want to make changes to a premises licence, you will need to apply to our licensing service. These changes are known as either a minor variation or full variation of the licence and which one you need depends on whether the changes will have any impact on the licensing objectives.

If you are unsure which variation suits your needs, please contact Licensing.

Change of circumstance on a premises licence

If you sell your licensed premises to a new owner then you will need to transfer the licence to them.

If your Designated Premises Supervisor (DPS) that is the personal licence holder who authorises the sale of alcohol at your licensed premises, leaves and has to be replaced, you must apply for a variation of designated supervisor

Last updated: ‎23‎/‎03‎/‎2021‎ ‎10‎:‎12‎