Premier Licensing

The latest amendments to the Licensing Act 2003 make it even easier for the Licensing Authorities or in fact anyone living or working in the vicinity of your premises to ask for the review of the Premises Licence. If the review held by the Licensing Committee goes against the club pub or bar it can result in a number of sanctions being imposed on the premises. Sanctions can vary from closure of the venue down to a reduction of times of operating or reduction in the times of some of the licensable activities. Any one of these will cause financial loss to the owner. It is far better to involve a specialist from an early stage. Early intervention can frequently resolve an issue before it gets to the licensing committee stage.

The most common cause of representation that we have had dealings with is as a direct result of noise. Noise either from bass music inside a club or bar down to the noise of people leaving the venue and causing a problem going to their car and turning the radio or sound system on in the car and wheel spinning away from the area.

Many of these problems can be resolved at an early stage of complaint but unfortunately many pub bar and club owners think if they do nothing that the problem will go away. The amendments to the Act have ensured in future that will definitely not be the case.

Over the past few years Premier Licensing Consultants has been involved in a number of disputes between the authorities and a Premises. Below is a sample of some of the problems we have resolved at committee stage.

• A London nightclub had suffered from two shooting incidents in as many months and the Police submitted representation to the Local Authority to review the Premises Licence. We made several visits to the club, reviewed procedures and designed a new operations manual. When we represented the club at the Licensing Hearing the Police were very supportive of the new procedures. With the exception of one additional condition relating to promoted events, the licence remained unchanged.
   
• A sports club in Surrey received review notices following problems caused by several parties at the venue. We altered the operating procedures and worked with the Police and Local Authorities. The club received one additional condition on the licence with no loss of licensable activities or hours.
   
• A pay for play venue applied to the Local Authority for a Premises Licence however local residents formed an action group with 38 objectors. Following a review of the application and meetings with all parties, we represented the venue and the committee voted unanimously to grant the licence.

If you are interested in our expert representation services please contact us to discuss your licence application or review notice or call us on 01883 380190.