Entertainment and Alcohol Licensing

CLAU Privacy Notice

To provide late-night refreshments and regulated entertainment and to sell alcohol, in England and Wales, you need a licence from your Licensing Authority. Applicants in the areas of Corby, East Northamptonshire, Kettering and Wellingborough should apply through us for their licence.  

Further Information on the Licensing Act 2003

Eligibility Criteria

Any of the following may apply for a premises licence:

• anyone who uses carries on a business in the premises to which the application relates
• a recognised club
• a charity
• a health service body
• a person who is registered under the Care Standards Act 2000 in relation to an independent hospital
• a chief police officer of a force in England and Wales
• anyone discharging a statutory or function under Her Majesty's prerogative
• a person from an educational institute
• any other permitted person

Applicants must not be under 18 years of age.

Individual applicants and applications from partnerships (which are not limited liability partnerships) must demonstrate that they have an entitlement to work in the UK and are not subject to a condition preventing them from doing work relating to the carrying on of a licensable activity. With effect from 28 January 2019 applicants may do this by:

• providing copies, or scanned copies of documents that evidence a right to work with their application, or
• providing a 9-digit code from the Home Office online right to work checking service.

Any premises licence issued in respect of an application made on or after 6 April 2017 will become invalid if the holder ceases to be entitled to work in the UK.

Application Evaluation Process

Applications must be made on the prescribed forms and be accompanied by all relevant documents to include an operating schedule, a plan of the premises and if the sale of alcohol will be a licensable activity we will also need a form of consent from the premises supervisor.

An operating schedule will include details of:

• the licensable activities
• the times when the activities will take place
• any other times when the premises will be open to the public
• in the case of applicants who wish to have a limited licence, the period the licence is required for
• information in respect of the premises supervisor
• whether any alcohol that is to be sold is for consumption on or off the premises or both
• the steps proposed to be taken to promote the licensing objectives
• any other required information

You are required to advertise the application within ten working days of the full and correct application being made to us. We will send acknowledgement of receipt of your application which will advise advertising dates. If your application is not correct or missing information it will not be valid and should not be advertised. 

 An application fee, based on the premises rateable value, is payable at the time of application. There is also an annual fee to be paid on the anniversary of the licence being issued. We will use rateable values when calculating annual fees and if your rateable value has changed at revaluation you may find that your fee band for your annual licence fee has changed too.

Coucil representatives will not visit premises to collect any fees due. Methods of payment are detailed on the invoice. Anyone asked to pay money at their premises should contact the Council to confirm the identity of the individual concerned, use their CCTV, if available, to record the incident and phone Northamptonshire Police on 101 if necessary.

If you make an application by post it is your responsibility send a copy of the application to all responsible bodies, as given in the Licensing Act. Please ensure the correct postage is applied when posting consultation copies of your licence application as responsible bodies will not pay the extra postage. Your application will be rejected until they receive their copy and it may mean you will need to re-advertise and incur unnecessary additional costs and delays.

Prior to the submission of an application, it is strongly advised that you have corresponded with officers of the Responsible Authorities (RA’s) regarding your operating schedule.  This will ensure that, at the time of submission, your application has addressed any concerns that may be raised by them.  This, in turn, will reduce the likelihood of an application hearing.
Contact details for the Police and other RA’s may be found in our list of Licensing Act 2003 Consultees

Please contact us if you wish to discuss matters with your area licensing officer.

Valid representations are made in respect of the application based on any of the four licensing objectives: 

• Prevention of crime and disorder
• Public safety
• Prevention of public nuisance
• Protection of children

If a hearing is held the licence can be granted or granted subject to additional conditions, licensable activities listed in the application can be excluded or the application can be refused. After the hearing we will serve a notice of the decision on you and any person who has made relevant representations (ie representations that were not deemed frivolous or vexatious) and the chief of police.

Will tacit consent apply if I do not hear anything in 28 days?

Yes. This means that you will be able to act as though your application is granted as long as there have been no valid objections received within the 28 day statutory period. If a valid objection is received you will receive a letter notifying you of this and inviting you to attend the committee hearing giving you at least 10 days notice. Where there is a valid objection the statutory period is extended by a further 28 days to a total of 56 days.

Failed Application Redress

Please contact us in the first instance. If an application for a licence is refused you can appeal. Appeals are made to a Magistrates' court within 21 days of notice of the decision.

Licence Holder

Please contact us in the first instance.

If an application is made by the chief police officer, as detailed below, and interim steps are taken by the licensing authority you may make representations. A hearing must be held within 48 hours of your representations.

A licence holder may appeal against any conditions attached to a licence, a decision to reject a variation application, a decision to reject a transfer application or a decision to exclude an activity or person as premises supervisor.

Appeals are made to a Magistrates' court within 21 days of  the date of the letter we sent to notify you of the decision. Please see details below:

Northampton Magistrates Court
Regents Pavilion
Summerhouse Road
Moulton Park
Northampton
NN3 6BJ

Tel:01604 497000

Consumer Complaint

If you are not happy with the service you should complain to the person or service who first dealt with the matter. If you are not satisfied with the response you receive at this stage you should then complain via the formal complaints procedure for your authority which is available on their website.

You should receive a reply within 10 days, but if the matter is complex, or other organisations need to be contacted, it may take longer. But you will be told what action is being taken. You should give all the details of your complaint and say what you have done to try to get it put right.

If you are still not happy after using our own complaints procedure you can complain to the Local Government Ombudsman.

Other Redress

An interested party or responsible authority may apply to the licensing authority to review the premises licence. A hearing will be held by the licensing authority.

Appeals are made to a Magistrates' court within 21 days of being notified of the decision.

The chief police officer for the police area where the premises are located can apply to the licensing authority for a review of the licence if the premises are licensed to sell alcohol by retail and a senior officer has given a certificate that they are of the opinion that the premises are associated with either serious crime or disorder or both. A hearing will be held and the licence holder and other interested parties may make representations.

A chief police officer can give a notice to us if they believe that the transfer of a licence to another, under a variation application could undermine crime prevention objectives. Such a notice must be given within 14 days of receiving notification of the application.

An interested party or responsible body may make representations in relation to a licence application or request the licensing body to review a licence.

An interested party or responsible authority may apply to us  to review the premises licence. A hearing will be held by the licensing authority.

A chief police officer may make representations to us for a review of the licence if the premises are licensed to sell alcohol by retail and a senior member of the force has given a certificate to state that in their opinion the premises are associated with serious crime, disorder or both.

An interested party or relevant authority who made relevant representations may appeal against the granting of a licence or against any condition, variation, licensable activity or premises supervisor decisions.

Appeals are made to a Magistrates' court within 21 days of being notified of the decision.

Trade Associations

Association of Licensed Multiple Retailers (ALMR)

Broadcasting, Entertainment, Cinematograph and Theatre Union (BECTU)

Federation of Licensed Victuallers Associations (FLVA)