Harrogate Borough Council
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Licensing Act 2003
The Licensing Act 2003 came into effect on 24th November 2005 and affects anyone concerned with:
- pubs and nightclubs
- indoor sporting events
- off-licences
- restaurants that serve alcohol
- businesses offering hot food/hot drinks between 11 pm and 5 am
- hotels, guest houses and other places that sell alcohol
- private member's clubs and social clubs
- theatres and amateur dramatic groups
- cinemas
- organisers of occasional entertainments (see below for more details)
The Licensing Act 2003 changed the laws about the type of licences needed to provide any of the above activities. Under the new system:
- A premises licence is required where any of the above activities are going to take place
- A personal licence is required by anyone who wants to authorise the sale of alcohol as part of his or her business. All sales of alcohol have to be authorised by a personal licence holder, so in practice this often means more than one person for each relevant premises
- Licensees, the Council and other agencies all work to promote the Licensing Objectives
- The Council, rather than the Magistrate's Court, deals with all of the licence applications.
The four Licensing Objectives are:
- prevention of crime and disorder
- prevention of public nuisance
- public safety
- prevention of harm to children
Premises Licences
A premises licence can be granted either for a fixed period (for example, for a one-off occasional boxing match, disco or band) or indefinitely.
Application forms and guidance can be found on the following webpages:
Personal Licences
To get personal licence you must:
- be over 18
- not have any relevant criminal convictions as set out in the Act
- possess an approved licensing qualification
- pay the required fee
Personal licence holders supervise the sale of alcohol in any premises including pubs, off licences, restaurants and hotels. You can apply for a personal licence to the Council for the area in which you live. Personal licences are valid for 10 years. There are various duties on holders of personal licences, and the Licensing sub-committee and the Court can forfeit their licence if they are convicted of various offences.
Application forms and guidance can be found on the following webpages:
Temporary and Occasional Events
Premises licences are not needed for small events where less than 500 people are likely to attend, and which last for less than 96 hours, at a time. Someone who holds a personal licence is able to hold up to 50 temporary or occasional events a year. Non-personal licence holders will be able to hold up to 5 temporary events a year.
Individual premises may be used for temporary events on a maximum of 12 occasions in a year. There must be at least 24 hours between events at the same premises.
A Temporary Event Notice (TEN) must be served on the Council and Police before an event of this sort can be held, and the police may object on crime and disorder grounds. A temporary event notice must be served at least 10 working days prior to the event.
Review Hearings
Sometimes licensable activities can cause problems. When this happens, the Council will try to resolve the issues informally. However, any of the 'responsible authorities', a local resident or business can apply to the council for a review of the premises licence.
Providing a complaint is not frivolous, vexatious or repetitive, a hearing will be held. The Council may decide to do nothing, impose conditions, suspend or revoke the licence.
More information can be found on the following webpage:
Licensing Policy and Forum
The Council is required to consult on its draft Licensing Policy, which is published and reviewed at least every 3 years. Consultations in relation to the Policy will include trade representatives, the Police, Fire, and resident representatives etc.
For further information please contact the Licensing Team or also visit the government's Department for Culture, Media and Sport website http://www.culture.gov.uk.