To apply for a new premises licence you will need to complete the application form available on the right-hand side of this page. Once completed, this form must be submitted to the Licensing Department and copies sent to all the Responsible Authorities (failure to do this will invalidate your application). Postal addresses for Responsible Authorities are available on the right-hand side of this page. If you submit your application via the online GOV.UK portal, the licensing authority will notify Responsible Authorities of the application on your behalf. 

The application must be accompanied by a plan of the premises (which complies with the regulations as laid out in the application form) and, if the premises proposes to supply alcohol, a consent form signed by the proposed designated premises supervisor. A fee must also be paid, which is based on the non-domestic rateable value of the premises. See our Fees page. 

The day after the application has been received in the Council offices, a notice (printed on pale blue paper) must be clearly displayed on the premises for a minimum of 28 days. A template for the notice can be found on the right-hand side of this page. In the case of a premises covering an area of more than 50 metres square, a further notice must be displayed every fifty metres along the external perimeter of the premises abutting any highway.

An advertisement must also be placed in the local newspaper, or if there is none, in a local newsletter, circular or similar document, circulating in the vicinity of the premises, on at least one occasion during the period of ten working days, starting on the day after the application is received in the Council offices. A template for the advert can be found on the right-hand-side of this page.

Any applications made on or after 6 April 2017 will be required to have supporting documentation proving an applicants entitlement to work in the UK following the introduction of the Immigration Act 2016.  Any individual or an individual in a partnership must have the 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.  Applicants should not provide original documents but clear copies.  

The above must be completed for the application to be valid.

During the 28 day consultation period, a Responsible Authority or any other person may submit a representation to the Licensing Department for or against the application.

If, after the 28 days, the application receives no representations, the licence will be granted and forwarded to the relevant correspondant as stated on the application.

If a relevant representation is made, a hearing will be held within 20 working days to consider the representation, unless the authority, the applicant and each person who has made the representation agrees that a hearing is unnecessary.

A community premises only may make an application to remove the mandatory conditions (Sections 19(2) and 19(3) of the Act) to allow the management committee (who must be the Premises Licence Holder) to be responsible for the supervision and authorisation of all alcohol sales.

Where the management committee of a community premises is applying for the sale of alcohol for the first time, it should submit the online application form in addition to the new premises licence application, or the premises licence variation application. No extra payment is required beyond the existing fee for a new application or variation.

Where a community premises already has a premises licence to sell alcohol, but wishes to disapply the DPS, it should submit the form on its own, together with the required fee of £23.