If you are opening a bar, club, pub, hotel or any late-night venue in England and Wales, the premises licence is the permission everything else hangs on. It is not hard because the rules are complicated. It is hard because nobody tells you what the licensing authority is actually looking for. This guide fixes that.
What a premises licence is, and when you need one
A premises licence is permission from your local licensing authority (your council) to carry out licensable activities at one specific venue. Under the Licensing Act 2003, you need one if you plan to:
- sell alcohol
- serve hot food or drink between 11pm and 5am (late-night refreshment)
- provide regulated entertainment: live or recorded music, dance, a film, a play, an indoor sporting event, or boxing and wrestling
You need it even if the activity is for charity. If you run a genuine members' club, a club premises certificate may suit you better. Trading without the right authorisation is a criminal offence, so this comes first.
The four licensing objectives
This is the heart of everything. Your entire application is judged against four statutory objectives, and the council cannot refuse it, or attach conditions, for reasons outside them:
- 1. The prevention of crime and disorder
- 2. Public safety
- 3. The prevention of public nuisance
- 4. The protection of children from harm
Your operating schedule is really just you showing, point by point, how you will uphold each one. Every line you write should answer: which objective does this serve, and have I made it obvious?
The documents you need
The operating schedule (the big one)
This is where you set out your proposed hours, the activities you want, and exactly how you will meet each objective: CCTV, door supervision, age verification, dispersal, and so on. A vague operating schedule is the number-one reason first-timers end up with conditions they never wanted, or a hearing they did not need.
A plan of the premises
A clear layout plan showing the boundary of the licensed area and the exits. Many authorities also want the position of CCTV and fire safety equipment marked on it.
A Designated Premises Supervisor and their consent
If you sell alcohol you must name a DPS, and that person must hold a personal licence. They sign a consent form. You must be 18 or over to apply.
The process, step by step
- Apply to your council. Submit the form, your operating schedule, the premises plan, the DPS consent, and the fee.
- Display the notice. Put your application notice on the premises for 28 days from the day after you submit. It must be on pale blue paper, at least A4, black ink, in a font size of 16 or larger. Getting this wrong can invalidate the application.
- Advertise in a local newspaper within 10 working days of submitting.
- Notify the responsible authorities: the police, fire service, environmental health, trading standards and others.
- The 28-day consultation. For 28 days, the authorities and local residents can make representations about the licensing objectives.
- The decision. If nobody makes a relevant representation, the licence is granted as applied. If someone does, the council holds a hearing and can grant it, add conditions, remove activities, or refuse it.
The mistakes that sink first-timers
Learn from other people's pain, not your own:
- A woolly operating schedule that lists activities but never explains how you will meet the objectives.
- Treating fire safety as a tick-box. Get a proper fire risk assessment from a competent person and reference it.
- Botching the advertising: wrong colour paper, font too small, notice taken down early, or missing the 10-working-day newspaper deadline.
- Forgetting a responsible authority, or naming a DPS who does not yet hold a personal licence.
- Copying a generic template and leaving in conditions that do not suit your venue, then being held to them for the life of the licence.
Fees and timescales
The application fee is set by a band based on the property's rateable value, and currently ranges from £100 to £1,905. No rateable value means the lowest band. Most premises licences last indefinitely, but you pay an annual fee to keep it live. Budget at least the 28-day consultation plus your own preparation time, and longer if anyone objects and a hearing is needed. Every week before you can trade is a week of rent with no till, so start the paperwork earlier than feels necessary.
A one-page checklist
- Confirmed which licensable activities you need
- Understood the four licensing objectives
- Drafted an operating schedule that addresses each objective
- Prepared a clear premises plan (boundary, exits, CCTV, fire equipment)
- Named a DPS who holds a personal licence, with their signed consent
- Fire risk assessment completed by a competent person
- Application form and correct fee ready
- Pale-blue A4 notice, font 16+, ready to display for 28 days
- Local newspaper notice booked within 10 working days
- Responsible authorities identified and notified
- Checked your own council's Statement of Licensing Policy
Source: Premises licence (England and Wales), GOV.UK. Details such as fees can change; verify the current position before applying.