Late night refreshments including take-aways

The transition period started in February 2005, and must be completed within nine months. The government will announce the precise date that the new licences will take effect, and the old justices’ licences cease to be valid. If you serve food or hot drinks to the public on or from your premises, after 11:00pm and before 5:00 am you will need to apply for a premises licence. You may already hold a supper licence; this will have to be converted to a premises licence during the transition period. There will need to be a Designated Premises Supervisor (DPS) specified on the licence.

If you serve food or hot drinks to the public on or from your premises, after 11.00pm and before 5.00am you will need to apply for a premises licence. You may already hold a supper licence; this will have to be converted to a premises licence during the transition period.  There will need to be a 'Designated Premises Supervisor (DPS) specified on the licence.

To apply for your licence you will need to complete an application form, which will be available from us, or can be downloaded.

This form must be submitted to the Licensing Authority with; an operating schedule, a premises plan and the appropriate fee. (As described below).

The Act specifies that applications have to comply with four licensing objectives:

• Prevention of crime and disorder
• Prevention of public nuisance
• Public safety
• Prevention of children from harm

The authorities' Licensing Policy promotes these objectives, and its contents must be considered by every applicant for a premises licence.

The information here will give some specific guidance on your application. The authority will do all that it can to assist with applications. However, specific guidance on every application may not be possible due to the numbers that have to be processed in a short time.

The information here is a guide and should not be considered authoritative. For further information regarding your application you should refer to the act itself and the Councils Licensing Policy. These documents will give you specific and detailed information as to what is expected. The act can be viewed on the HMSO website.

Professional advice should be sought if you have any doubt and for complicated applications.

Applying for your premises licence

The applicant must be over 18. The application form will guide you through the information that you need to supply in order to transfer your existing justices licence to the new authority licence.

The question you need to ask yourself is: Do I want to operate as I have been for the last year, or do I want to do new things?

Many new premises will now require a licence that did not need one before. These mainly include Take-Away food outlets (both permanent buildings and mobile vans) e.g. Burger vans, chip shops and Kebab vans.

These premises have not needed a licence in the past, they had to comply with planning regulations and will continue to need to do so.

The times that matter are:

After 11:00 pm at night and before 5:00 am in the morning.

You may have a licence that covers your current activities, e.g. sale of food late at night. These will be viewed as your current activities within the current licensing hours. If you wish to change those activities it will not be granted automatically.

To vary your activities in any way e.g. later opening, you will need to specify this on the operating schedule, advertise the application in the local press and display a notice near to your premises.

This will enable persons in the vicinity that may be effected by your proposals to object. Other statutory consultees will also have the right to object on the grounds that it would be contrary to the licensing objectives.

These include the Police, Fire Service, Environmental Protection, Health & Safety, and child welfare representatives. For example, the Fire service may object if there is not a current fire safety certificate in force for the premises. The police may object if there have been disorder and or criminal activities recorded at your premises. If there is an objection by any of the above your application will have to be heard by the licensing sub committee. They will determine whether your application is acceptable, or if necessary amend or impose conditions on your activities. You have the right to appeal against any decision they make.

If there are no objections and the application conforms to the licensing objectives you will get your licence, which will state what you are allowed to do on your premises. It will be an offence to do anything else that is not specified on the licence. The licence will have to be displayed on the premises. If you wish to change your operating schedule at a future date this can be done by applying to the licensing authority to vary your licence.

Plans

The plans of your premises must be submitted with your application, they have to be in a format specified by the act. E.g. They must be at a scale of 1:100 , clearly show the boundary, the area where the licensable activities are to take place, fire escapes and all other detail as specified in regulation 23 of the act.

Fees

These will be based on the non-domestic Rateable Value of your premise. The fees shown below are the proposed fees for the initial new Application, Transfer or Variation of your Licence.

• Complete list of Environmental Health and Licensing Fees and Charges