Skip to main contentAccessibility Statement

Premises licence or club premises certificate

Overview

Licensable activities include:

  • selling alcohol
  • serving hot food and drinks between 11pm and 5am

You’ll also need a licence if you provide the following types of entertainment:

  • theatrical performance
  • showing a film
  • indoor sporting event
  • boxing or wrestling (indoor or outdoor)
  • live music
  • recorded music
  • dance
  • facilities for making music
  • dancing facilities

You still need a licence even if the activities are for charity.

Exemptions

You don’t need a licence for some types of entertainment, including:

  • educational or promotional films
  • films shown as part of an exhibition in a museum or gallery
  • incidental music (live or recorded)

Please read the current section 182 guidance for more information on exemptions.

Restrictions

You must be 18 or over to apply for a premises licence.

Your premises licence is automatically limited to a capacity of 4999 people unless you indicate otherwise on the application form and pay the relevant additional fee.

Conditions

You must be, or appoint, a designated premises supervisor (DPS) when you apply for a licence. A DPS must have a personal licence to sell alcohol.

There may be other conditions added to your licence, eg having an age-checking policy if you sell alcohol.

Cost

Some premises licence application fees are determined by the Non-domestic rateable value of the premises. The Non-domestic rateable value (NDRV) of any premises can be checked on the Valuation Office Agency (VOA). NDRV is revalued every 5 years. Premises that do not have a non-domestic rateable value are treated as falling into Band A for licensing fee purposes.

No refund is payable for any withdrawn, refused or rejected applications/notifications.

In accordance with the Licensing Act 2003, the full fee is refundable for minor variations only, if we fail to determine the application within the statutory time period.

Apply, renew or vary a licence

You will be prompted to create an account before you complete these forms. This is to enable to you to be able to save progress through the form and complete it at a later date if you wish.

If you wish to apply for any of the following, please use the application form below:

  • New Club Premises Certificate and declaration
  • Full variation to a Club Premises Certificate - full variation
  • Disapplying a Designated Premises Supervisor (when not being submitted with a new premises application or full variation)
  • Interim Authority Notice - multiple can be submitted at the same time
  • Notification of Interest - multiple can up submitted at the same time
  • Provisional Statement
  • Resignation of the Designated Premises Supervisor - notification to Licensing Authority and Resignation of the Designated Premises Supervisor - notification to Premises Licence Holder
  • Review of a premises licence or club premises certificate
  • Surrender of a premises licence 

You will need to notify us if you change your details or require a replacement licence.

Copyright licences

If you intend on playing recorded music in a public place you may need a Performing Rights Society licence. This is not something that is issued by us.

If you are showing films then you may also need a ‘non-theatrical’ film licence in addition to films being listed on your premises licence. For further information please see showing films in public.

Last updated 22 January 2024