Alcohol licensing
The Licensing Act 2003
To sell alcohol, provide public entertainment or provide late night refreshment you will need a Premises Licence.
You can get this from your local District or Borough Council:
Our role in licensing
We act as a Responsible Authority, so we will negotiate conditions to attach to your licence.
These will relate to:
- Protection of children from harm.
- Prevention of crime and disorder.
We do not issue licences.
Advice
We offer advice on policies, procedures and best practice to put in place to support the objectives.
We expect responsible retailers to include these as conditions on their licence. This would show their commitment to upholding the licensing objectives.
Reviewing licenses
If retailers compromise licensing objectives, we may consider taking their licence to review. For example, we may do this in the case of a sale of alcohol to a minor, or the sale of counterfeit alcohol or tobacco.
The main purpose of licensing is to promote these objectives:
- The prevention of public nuisance
- Public safety
- The prevention of crime and disorder
- Protection of children from harm
Further information
Please see our page on Age Restricted Sales for further guidance.
You can find more information relating to alcohol licensing from the Home Office.
On Licence premises need to ensure they trade under their premises licence and other relevant legislation.
To help these businesses we have produced a package of advice and training:
Challenge 25
When challenging a customer for ID it is useful to record it, regardless of whether you make the sale or refuse it.
You should also record refusals made for other reasons. You can do this by completing a challenge / refusal log (see above).
Guidance on acceptable ID and identifying false ID
Training materials
Staff should follow training with a test of knowledge. This ensures they have understood the information provided. Free examples of knowledge tests and quizzes are available below:
Licensing forms
Further information
For queries relating to your premises licence, please contact your local Borough or District Council.
You can also get information on under-age sales.