Licensing Act 2003 - You Must Act Immediately
Under the Licensing Act 2003, the existing licence on which there is one or more named licence holder will, upon successful application, be converted to the new system of a Premises Licence and Personal Licence(s). All premises from which any retail alcohol and/or a regulated activity is provided must hold a Premises Licence. All Premises Licences must have a Designated Premises Supervisor who must hold a Personal Licence.
If you are currently named on a Licensing Justices' licence you can apply to convert to a Personal Licence by completed the necessary forms, supplying two passport size photographs and a fee of £37 per application. If you do not have your existing licence converted before 6 August 2005 you will not be able to automatically transfer "grandfather rights" under the new system and a completely new application will have to be made. If you have been a licence holder for many years, you may not have obtained the qualification on liquor licensing law which new applicants for a Personal Licence must have to be granted a licence. Although there are many such courses available, it will take time and extra expense to complete the training and obtain the qualification. The best thing is to make your application for a Personal Licence NOW to take advantage of "grandfather rights".
The new Premises Licence must also be applied for immediately. If you currently hold a Licensing Justices' liquor licence for the sale of alcohol, whether your business is that of pub, restaurant, wine bar, off-licence, wine warehouse, supermarket or theatre selling alcohol, you need a Premises Licence
All existing licence holders can apply to the local authority to convert their current licence to a Premises Licence. Each premises must have a Designated Premises Supervisor who must hold a Personal Licence, but applications for both a Premises Licence and a Personal Licence may be made at the same time. Although not essential, it may be advisable for there to be more than one Personal Licence holder for the premises, and it is therefore recommended for all individuals named on an existing licence to apply for a Personal Licence by 6 August 2005. A Personal Licence is an individual document and not associated with any particular premises.
The fee for converting an existing Licensing Justices' licence to a Premises Licence is dependant upon the non-domestic rateable value of the premises, with an extra fee payable if an application is made to vary the licence.
Under the Licensing Act 2005, a Premises Licence covers the sale of alcohol, the supply of alcohol in a qualifying club, the provision of late night refreshment and the provision of regulated entertainment. To cover these licensable activities you may need to vary your existing Licensing Justices' licence and that process could take longer to obtain from the local authority. To either convert or to vary your existing Justices' Licence you must act quickly as time is running out.
It may be because media attention to the change to the licensing laws has concentrated on the possibility of 24-hour opening, but for some reason or other not enough applications for conversion to the new regime have been made yet. It has been possible to make application to the local authority to convert or vary an existing licence to a Premises Licence and Personal Licence since 7 February 2005, but it has been reported that less than 5% of licence holders in some areas have applied by the end of May 2005. This means that there is likely to be a flood of applications in the final two months of the transition period and local authorities may not be able to complete the applications in time. If you do not act immediately you may be too late.
If you would like us to make your application for you then please contact Sue Geleit without delay.