FAQs

Under the Licensing Act 2003 (the Act) a single integrated system was introduced throughout England and Wales regulating the four “licensable activities”. These are:

• The sale by retail of alcohol.
• The supply of alcohol in a club.
• The provision of entertainment.
• The provision of late night refreshment.

The licensing objectives are:

• The prevention of crime and disorder.
• Public safety.
• The prevention of public nuisance.
• The protection of children from harm.

The Act defines the provision of regulated entertainment as the provision of entertainment to the public or any section of it, or exclusively for members of a qualifying club and their guests or in any other case for consideration and with a view to profit. This includes raising money for charity. 

Entertainment is defined as:

• Performance of a play
• Exhibition of a film
• Indoor sporting event
• Boxing or wrestling entertainment
• Performance of live music
• Playing of recorded music
• Performance of dance
• Entertainment of a similar description to the performance of live music, the playing of recorded music or the performance of dance where the entertainment takes place in the presence of an audience and is provided for the purpose of entertaining that audience.

Late Night Refreshment is the supply of hot food and / or  hot drink to members of the public, for consumption on or off the premises, between 11pm and 5am. Exemptions under the Act include provision of late night refreshment to residents and their guests in hotels and guesthouses and to members of a recognised club.

A premises licence authorises the premises to be used for one or more of the following licensable activities:

• The sale by retail of alcohol
• The provision of regulated entertainment
• The provision of late night refreshment

These are the authorities which must be served with a copy of a premises licence application. They may make representations in relation to the grant, variation or review of a premises licence. Details of who the responsible authorities are for Hounslow Borough are available in the Appendices which accompany the Statement of Licensing Policy.

Where the supply of alcohol is one of the licensable activities there must be a DPS. (The only exception is for community premises in respect of which a successful application has been made to disapply the usual mandatory conditions). 

There can only be one DPS and this person will generally be the individual who is in day-to-day control of the premises. The DPS must be appointed by the premise licence holder, must be the holder of a personal licence and must consent to the appointment. The premises licence holder may also be the DPS.

A provisional statement is a means by which a person may seek confirmation as to whether a premises under construction (or being substantially altered) would be granted a premises licence upon completion of the building works and, if so, what conditions would be imposed.

The Act sets out five conditions which a club must meet to be considered a qualifying club:

• Under the rules of the club, persons may not be admitted to membership or be admitted as candidates for membership to any of the privileges of membership without an interval of at least 2 days between their nomination or application for membership and their admission.
• Under the rules of the club, persons becoming members without prior nomination or application may not be admitted to the privileges of membership without an interval of at least 2 days between becoming members and their admission.
• The club is established and conducted in good faith as a club.
• The club has at least 25 members.
• Alcohol is not supplied to members on the premises other than by or on behalf of the club.

There are three additional conditions in relation to the supply of alcohol:

• The purchase of alcohol for the club and the supply are managed by a committee, the members of which must be 18 years of age or over, be members of the club and have been elected by other members of the club to sit on the committee.
• There must be no arrangements in place for anyone to receive any commission at the expense of the club based upon purchases of alcohol made by the club.
• There must be no arrangements for anyone to receive any direct or indirect monetary benefit from supplying alcohol on behalf of the club to members or guests
• The arrangements for applying for a club premises certificate and application procedures are very similar to those in respect of a premises licence. The authority must grant the club premises certificate unless there are relevant representations, in which case a hearing must be held to determine the matter.

An application may be made to the licensing authority to review either a premises licence or a club premises certificate at any time by either a responsible authority or any other person should they feel that there are problems on the premises. The application must be relevant to the licensing objectives and, upon receipt of such an application, the licensing authority must advertise the application for 28 days and invite representations from other responsible authorities and any other person during that period. 

It must then arrange a hearing at which all parties concerned may put their case. At such a hearing, the authority may take any of the following steps:

• Modify the conditions of the licence
• Exclude a licensable activity
• Remove the DPS (premises licence only)
• Suspend the licence for a period not exceeding three months
• Revoke the licence.

Any party to the hearing may appeal against a decision of the authority to the Clerk of the Magistrates within 21 days of being notified of the decision.

A personal licence allows a person to sell alcohol or authorise the sale of alcohol under the authority of a premises licence and is valid indefinitely unless surrendered, suspended or declared forfeit by the courts or licensing authority which granted the licence.

Under the Act, a procedure is provided whereby small-scale events, known as temporary events, involving licensable activities can take place without the need for a premises licence or club premises certificate provided specific criteria are met. Any individual aged 18 years or over can submit a temporary event notice (TEN) subject to the following conditions:

• An event may last for up to a maximum of 168 hours
• No more than 499 people (including staff) may attend the event at any one time.
• The same premises cannot be used on more than 15 occasions in any calendar year) and are subject to an overall aggregate of 21 days’ use.
• There must be a minimum of 24 hours between events at the same premises when given.
• By the same person or associates of that person (for example, spouse, child, parent, grandchild, brother, sister, agent or employee of the notice giver).
• The number of notices given by one individual within any one calendar year is limited to 50 for a personal licence holder and 5 for any other person (late notices are limited to 10 for a personal licence holder and 2 for any other person).

Cumulative Impact has been used as a term to describe the stress that the accumulation of licensed premises in an area. The guidance describes cumulative impact as ‘the potential impact on the promotion of the licensing objectives of a number of licensed premises concentrated in one area’. It is often not that licensed premises on their own are operating in a way that is detrimental to the licensing objectives, but rather it is the accumulation of the premises and the negative effect of the people attending them can have on crime and disorder, public nuisance, public safety and the demand on local services that creates problems.