The Need of Alcohol Licensing

Personals, businesses and establishments who wish to sell or supply alcohol or alcohol related products within the country are required to have a licence or any other form of permission from a licensing authority which is most commonly a local council. The Home Office administers the commandments and policies directing this area. Basically a licence is provided to ensure that the licensable activities are conducted maintaining the standards and laws.

Licensable Activities explained…

Activities conducted in a premise that requires an Alcohol Licence are as follows:

• Retail Sale or supply of alcohol: It includes the sale of alcoholic products inside the premises or supply to a third vender.
• Regulated Entertainment: An activity that takes place in front of viewers whether in public or in a premise, with the aim of profit is termed as regulated entertainment. It may include sporting events, exhibition of a film, presentation of a play or live music, performing dance or playing recorded music, a boxing or wrestling even and any other form of entertainment.
• Late Night Refreshment: It relates to the activity of serving food and beverages for the public for consuming after 11pm and before 5am either on or off the premises.

The Different types of licence and licensee are…

An Alcohol Licence is an obligation for all individuals and organizations who intend to be in the retail sale of alcohol on a regular basis. Depending upon the type of organization and retail sale of alcohol, different licences are as follows:

• Premises Licence: The premises licence is to be obtained by all the businesses and firms that wish to sell alcohol within their premise, and also supply alcohol to other vendors on a permanent basis.
• Personal Licence: An individual who desire to sell or supply alcohol must have personal licence. He may also have the privilege to administer the sale of alcohol.
• Club Premise Certificate: If a club for instance a working men or rugby clubs desire to sell or supply alcoholic products then they require a club premises certificate.
• Temporary Event Notice: The selling and supplying of alcohol on an impermanent basis requires a temporary event notice (TEN). It is basically an application that the event organizer provides to the local council.

Cost of Licence…

NDRV also known as Non-Domestic Rateable Value affects the processing fee of a licence for the premises. In order to check licence fee for a premise, one can check for the rateable value at the Valuation Office Agency Website. Band A is allocated to the premises that do not have a rateable value. A supplementary fee is required to be paid by the owner for the events that may involve more than 5000 people. It is also required where the premises are entirely intended to sell alcohol.

Along with the application fee, an annual fee is also to be paid to the committee to wrap up the current expenses of administration and enforcement. It implies the cost of the authorities and the police personals which may stopover the premise at the time of the event.

All about a Premise Licence

Any agency that is engaged in regulated entertainment activities is supposed to possess a license for these activities. Regulated entertainment activities involve any kind of performances such as plays, movies, sports events, live music, dance, boxing or wrestling which are performed in the presence of audience to entertain them. Other licensable activities include selling and supplying liquor and other late night refreshments sold from 11pm to 5am.

The Licensing Act 2003 came into effect on 24 November 2005 with a new set of rules for licenses affecting all sites that were dealing in activities like sale of alcohol, late night refreshment and the provision of entertainment, music and dancing. These activities could be carried on under, and in accordance with, a permit called the premise licence. A premises license empowers the premises in question to carry out these activities. Almost any establishments that are involved in one or more licensable activity will need this license including takeaways and late night cafes.

The motive behind encircling these activities under licensed occupations is to prevent the unlawful actions that can occur during these activities. It is a well known fact that a person’s behavior changes drastically under the influence of alcohol. Also during late night parties and events, there are chances that such activities can occur that can also disturb those who are not taking part in the event. In some situations, these occurrences can become out of control and can cause harm to people especially children. So it becomes the responsibility of the government and local authorities to keep a check on such happenings.

Any individual, business or partnership can apply to obtain this license provided the person under whose name the license is required to be issued is aged 18 or over. Once a person obtains it, he will become an authorized dealer of liquor and late night food and beverages. There is no time limit on the validity of this license. So once you acquire this license, you can carry on your business with full authority to do so. There can be only three situations under which you will be deprived of the authority that the license renders after you obtain it which are:

• Either the license has been canceled by a government official due to improper use
• Or suspended due to the same reason
• Or you are told to surrender it

For obtaining the premise licence, you will need to supply certain information with the application form and fee. This information should specify the activities to be carried out using the license, the time of the day and number of hours for which these activities are to be carried out, the name and full address of the license holder, the address of the premises where the supply is going to take place, whether it is to be consumed at the place of supply or off premises or both and whether the license is required permanently or for a limited period of time. For becoming a licensed dealer, you can contact the local licensing authorities of the place where you reside and wish to have a license for.

The Need and Procedure to Obtain a Premise License

Under the Licensing Act 2003 a single system of premises licences was introduced combining the six licensing commandments including the sale and supply of alcohol, the terms of legalized entertainment, the terms of late night refreshment. This act removed the non-essential red tape from the regulations that were followed before the act.

Why Premises License??

Businesses are now required to apply for a premises licence to be able to permit all the licensable activities they wish to perform in their premise. Premises licences are neither subjected to time period except for when it is requested, nor it requires renewal after every three years which was required according to the earlier rules and regulations nor they have a extent of one year which was there earlier in case for public entertainment licences.

The fee charges for a Premises Licence Application are same which used to be for application before the introduction of the Licensing Act and limitations on the number licensable activities on the premises has also been relieved. Inquiries on an application only happens where the demonstration from concerned group or responsible authorities is desired and hence eliminating pointless administrative and legal expenses.

The Application Procedure…

In order to practice any of the 4 licensable activities in a place, one must apply for premises licence to any of the licensing authority. To carry out retail sale of alcohol, a dedicated premises supervisor or DPS should be present in the premise that holds a personal licence.

The licensing directive has four major licensing objectives which are as follows:

• To prevent crime and disorder
• To ensure Public safety
• To prevent public annoyance
• To protect the children from harm

One has to perform a risk estimation to classify if one’s proposed use of the premises may challenge one or more of the licensing objectives. One must consider the actions required minimizing the recognized risks, and thus suitable conditions should be accepted. For instance, if the premises will be offering adult entertainment services, the owner may need to fulfill a condition that no children will be allowed on the premises where the adult entertainment is going to take place. And also if the premise is going to provide entertainment, the owner will have to reflect on how to minimize possible noise trouble. The projected measure should be documented in the appropriate section of the application form.

The Premises Licence Application form should also mention the type of premises that is intended, for example a hotel, a cafe, a community center, a pub, a night club, a supermarket, a convenience store, and should specify all activities that are to be performed at the premises as well. The form should indicate the non domestic rate able value of the activities, as this will be used to evaluate the fee payable for the application and also as the annual fee. It should also specify the opening hours, and any seasonal variations in the timings of the premises, each and every detail need to be set out.

Once a premise has obtained a premises licence it can be varied at any time by the similar process.