Please complete the online application form. This needs to be submitted to the licensing authority, accompanied by the application fee and (in the case of conversions, renewals or variations), a copy of the existing permission.

Within a period of seven days, beginning on the date on which the application was made, you must also copy your application (and any accompanying documents) to the following responsible authorities:

Gambling Commission
Victoria Square House
Victoria Square
Birmingham
B2 4BP

Alcohol & Entertainment Licensing Officer
Hampshire Constabulary
Bishops Waltham Police Station
Hoe Road
Bishops Waltham
SO32 1DS

Both the Gambling Commission and the Police have 28 days during which they may make objection to your application.

The licensing authority may only grant or refuse an application. In determining the application, the licensing authority will have regard to the licensing objectives and to statutory guidance issued by the Gambling Commission. The authority may also take into account any other matters which are considered relevant to the application. The licensing authority cannot attach conditions to any permit issued.

There is a fast-track procedure for clubs in England and Wales which hold a club premises certificate under section 72 of the Licensing Act 2003.

Under the fast-track procedure there is no requirement for a copy of the application form to be served on the police and Gambling Commission and similarly there is no opportunity for objections to be made by the Commission or the police, and the grounds upon which an authority can refuse a permit are reduced. This is because the club or institute will already have been through a licensing process in relation to its club premises certificate under the 2003 Act, and it is therefore unnecessary to impose the full requirements of schedule 12.

However, those clubs applying for permits by way of conversion of their pre-existing 1968 Act Part ll or Part lll club registrations do not have fast-track procedure available to them even if they hold a club premises certificate. In these instances the club must send a copy of the application to the Gambling Commission and the Chief Officer of Police, though neither may object to the application and the licensing authority is obliged to grant the application.

The grounds on which an application under this process may be refused are that:

(a) the club is established primarily for gaming, other than gaming prescribed under schedule 12;

(b) in addition to the prescribed gaming, the applicant provides facilities for other gaming; or

(c) a club gaming permit or club machine permit issued to the applicant in the last ten years has been cancelled.