Licensing Applications in Relation to Businesses

B. Leroy Bradley has been undertaking licensing work since qualifying as a solicitor in 1993.  He undertakes all licensing work at the firm, fully supported by colleagues and an administrative team.  We are confident that you will be provided with an excellent personal and professional service.  We have acted for a wide variety of businesses and indeed individuals in relation to licensing matters and B. Leroy Bradley has regular repeat business in view of the relationship he enjoys with his clients.

A Premises License enables a business to carry out licensable activities and any other business which sells alcohol, provides entertainment or late night refreshments will need a Premises License.  Entertainment includes indoor sporting events, theatrical performances, showing a film, live music, recorded music and performance of dance, boxing or wrestling (indoor or outdoor).  Additionally, a Premises License Application may be submitted for one-off large scale events which are likely to attract over 500 people and are not covered by a Temporary Event Notice (TEN).  

We encourage our clients to discuss matters with us fully at an early stage, in order that we can give the best possible information on costs and to assist them in deciding how best to proceed.  As such, each client enquiry will be dealt with very much upon its own merit and so the purpose of this information sheet is to provide a typical range of costs for applying for a Premises License and applying to vary a Premises License.  These two applications are dealt with under the Licensing Act 2003.  An application for a Premises License is made under Section 17 of that Act and an application to vary a Premises License is made under Section 34 of that Act.  In addition to the time spent by this firm in advising and preparing and submitting the application there are certain fees (expenses) that have to be paid and this page gives further information in that regard.

Please note the information provided below includes taking the client’s full instructions, advising them on matters generally in relation to their application, including promoting the licensing objectives and the types of plans required to accompany their application (but not the preparation and drafting of those plans, which will be an additional expense payable to the third party draftsman), completing and submitting the application and serving it upon the Responsible Authorities and making arrangements for the necessary advertising of the application (although the cost of that will be in addition and payable to the third party advertiser).

Our Costs

Simple Application –     £2800 – £5600 plus VAT (based on 8 – 16 hours at an hourly rate of £350 plus VAT)

Medium Complexity –   £5600 – £8400 plus VAT (based on 16 – 24 hours at an hourly rate of £350 plus VAT) 

High Complexity –        £8400 – £17500 plus VAT (based on 24 – 50 hours at an hourly rate of £350 plus VAT)

Factors that could affect whether your application is likely to be simple, medium or one of high complexity will vary from application to application and these will of course be discussed with you fully as part of our initial consultation quotation process for your particular application, but matters such as the type and size of the premises, its location, e.g. town centre or residential, whether there is a cumulative impact policy in place or the application concerns a large scale public event.  The majority of Licensing Applications will fall into the simple or medium complexity category.

Exceptionally large events(5000 plus) are likely to fall in the High Complexity above category although dependant on the work involved fees could be higher and if so we will discuss this with you  – this is a guide  

Please note that the above costs do not include expenses which are fees related to your matter which are payable to third parties and these can be summarised as follows:-

Expenses

Application fee –    This is based on the rateable value of the property and the fees range from £100 to £1,905 depending on the fee band of your venue.  If your property does not have a rateable value, it will fall into the lowest fee band.  The application fee is payable to the Licensing Authority. There may be an Annual Charge for Exceptionally large events (5000 plus)

Advertising fee –    Payable to an appropriate newspaper application or similar publication, and these vary from application to application, but would typically be between £300 and £600 plus VAT

Enquiry Agent fees to Display Public Notices –     £100 to £300 plus VAT although generally this fee can be avoided if you are able to arrange display of notices yourself.

Special Delivery fee to serve the Application  –    Depends on the weight of the application but listed below are Royal Mail figures as at the date of preparation of this document.

https://www.royalmail.com/current-postage-prices

(This may not be necessary if the application can be submitted online or you are happy to use First Class Post).

Please note that the above expenses vary depending on the individual premises and where it is located and on occasion fees can be higher than the ranges given above.  We will give you an accurate figure on each item as soon as we are able to.

The above fees do include:-

• Taking your instructions and advising you as to how you can promote the licensing objectives within your application.
• Advising you as to the type of plans you are required to submit with your application.
• Completing the application form for a new Premises License (including the operating schedule) in accordance with your instructions and submitting this to the local Licensing Authority alongside suitable plans.  You must provide suitable plans.
• Providing guidance on the fee levels payable to the Licensing Authority.
• Preparing copies of the Premises License Application for disclosure to the Responsible Authorities and serving copies of the Application on the Responsible Authorities.
• Drafting the Notices, advertising the Premises License Application and submitting the Notice to the local newspaper or other relevant publications.
• Arranging with you for you to display the Notice(s) advertising the Premises License Application and advising as to where and how this should be done by you in order to comply with the requirements of the Licensing Act 2003.
• Providing a Designated Premises Supervisor (DPS) Consent Form for signature by a Personal License holder provided by yourself.
• Checking the License once granted and addressing any errors with the Licensing Authority.

The above fees do not include:-

• Obtaining suitable plans.
• Attending pre-consultation meetings with the Licensing Authority or Responsible Authorities, nor their fee for this meeting.
• Dealing with or advising you in relation to queries or representations received from either the Responsible Authorities or other interested parties.
• Advising on varying the License.
• Attendance and representation at a Licensing Sub-Committee hearing.  If representations are received and attendance and representation to the Licensing Sub-Committee is required, then we will provide a separate fee estimate for this work which will be charged at an hourly rate.

How long will my Application take?

Matters usually take 6 – 12 weeks from receipt of full instructions from you.  This is on the basis of the Application being relatively straightforward and you being able to provide all the necessary documents promptly.  If the matter is more complex, for example if there is substantial opposition from interested parties, or if there is a delay in receiving the documents we need, it may take longer.  Each Premises License Application or Variation is unique so each will be dealt with on its particular merits.

Full details of our complaints procedure can be found here.