Licensing Charges

If you have questions regarding licensing for your business then please feel free to contact us for a Free Initial Enquiry on  01629 56660 or make an Online Enquiry.

We can assist you with obtaining a licence to sell alcohol or provide ‘licensable activities’ from a particular venue.

The costs will range depending on the license required and who are generally required to be notified.

For an application for a business premises licence, we would usually expect this to take around 4-8 hours of our time. At an hourly rate of £200 plus vat, this would likely cost between £960 and £1920 plus disbursements. Please note that this is for an uncontested application. If your application is contested or refused it may cost more.

• 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 licence (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 licence application for disclosure to the responsible authorities and service copies of the application on the responsible authorities;
• drafting the notices advertising the premises license application and submitting the notice to the local newspaper;
• arranging with you for you to display the notice(s) advertising the premises licence 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 licence holder proposed by yourself;
• checking the licence once granted and correcting any errors with the licensing authority.

• 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;
• advice on varying the licence;
• preparation and for attendance and representation at a licensing sub-committee hearing of the responsible authority. If representations are received and attendance and representation at a licensing sub-committee are required then we will provide a separate fee estimate for this work which will be charged at an hourly rate.

Disbursements are costs related to your matter that are payable to third parties, such as the application fee.

• application fee (payable to licensing authority) £100 to £1905. This fee varies depending on the individual premises and where it is located.
• special delivery fee to serve the application estimated £5 per document;
• printing additional copies of plans if necessary estimated £5 per copy.

The fees can on occasion be higher than the ranges given above. We will give you an accurate figure for each item as soon as we are able to do so.

There are other fees such as

• newspaper advertising fee
• enquiry agent fees to display public notices

which will vary dependant on the location of the notices and advertisements.

Matters usually take 2-4 months from receipt of full instructions from you. This is based on the application being relatively straightforward and you being able to provide all the necessary documents promptly. If your 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.

Glen McClenaghan, Chartered Legal Executive, charge out rate £215 plus vat, qualified as a fellow in 2002.

Chris Park, Solicitor, charge out rate £215 plus vat, admitted as a solicitor 1981