Be proactive in obtaining a late licence

There’s been a lot of concern recently with regard to ‘late licences’ and a number of premises have had their Premises Licences reviewed as a result of complaints, usually noise emanating from the premises and, in particular, outside the premises.

A major ethos behind the Licensing Act 2003 was partnership – the Premises Licence holder, police, environmental health, the licensing authority and the public working together for the common good.

This is excellent in theory, but difficult to put into practice because of conflicting interests – the licence holder wants his customers to be happy and come back, but the local residents, and licensing authorities seeking to protect the residents, want peace and quiet.

The solution to this from a licence holder’s point of view is being willing to compromise and being reasonable, but more importantly being seen to be reasonable.

If you are seen to do all that is reasonable to be considerate to local residents, then a licensing authority will forgive the occasional lapse. However, if you ignore complaints (whether justified or not) a review will inevitably be called.

Even if you ‘win’ the review, you will have to bear the cost of employing someone to defend your licence or, even worse, you may have your licence curtailed, subject to stricter conditions, or even revoked.

If there is an incident that may have annoyed your neighbours, it can do no harm to hand-deliver to them a suitably worded apology (suitably worded means not admitting fault), while emphasising to the authorities that this incident was a one-off and advising them what steps have been taken to avoid repetition.

Notices inside the establishment asking your patrons to be considerate when leaving the premises show that you care about your neighbours. Also ensuring there is a member of staff outside the premises at closing time to placate any noisy revelers may save a review.

Similarly, if you are seeking to extend your licensing hours with a ‘late licence’ the responsible authorities and residents will want to know what you will be doing to avoid incidents. Carefully worded offered conditions can be very effective and I would be pleased to assist with your application.

To discuss this, or any other licensing matter, please contact Andrew Bartlett on 01995 607950.