Is my premises licence fit for purpose?

Whether you need a new premises licence or want to vary an existing one, the first thing to find out is exactly what you want one for.

At Harrison Drury, the first thing we always ask is ‘what you would like to have your premises licence allow you to do in your wildest dreams?’. We then work from there.

The ethos behind the Licencing Act is that everyone should work in partnership to achieve the best results and, provided that it can be shown that there is no detriment in granting the application, it should be possible for your licence to cover most possible eventualities. 

There are a number of reasons you may have, from occasionly being able to extend your opening hours and serve alcohol later, or even holding a special one off event. 

An example of this could be if you wished to hold breakfast seminars with a champagne reception.  To do this, you could need a licence to allow alcohol to be served from 8am.This can be granted, subject to suitable wording being written into the licence.

You should seek expert legal advice at the start of the process, otherwise it could mean having to apply again to vary an existing licence, or even having to go through the process repeatedly.

While the process isn’t always cheap, it can be relatively inexpensive. If the application increases your weekly turnover by even a modest amount, the exercise should be self financing within the first year. 

If you have an idea for a promotion, or a special event, it is always worth discussing these with us and we’ll help you find out just what is possible from your premises licence.

For more information on licensing matters, contact Andrew Bartlett on 01995 607950 or Andrew.Bartlett@harrison-drury.com