Licensing Reviews

A premises licence review can change your trading hours, strip out your alcohol sales, remove your designated premises supervisor, suspend the licence for up to three months, or revoke it altogether. The decision is made by councillors, at a hearing, on the evidence in front of them.

We act for licence holders facing standard reviews, police summary reviews, applications made by residents, and reviews that follow closure action. We assess the allegations, deal with the authorities, prepare the evidence and represent you at the licensing sub-committee.

If you have received review papers, a police certificate or a notice of an interim steps hearing, call us now on 0207 222 2345. Preparation time is the one thing nobody can give you back.

What is a premises licence review?

A review is a formal process under the Licensing Act 2003 by which a licensing authority reconsiders how a licensed premises is being run and decides whether anything needs to change. It applies to premises licences and, in most cases, to club premises certificates.

A review has to be grounded in one or more of the four licensing objectives: the prevention of crime and disorder, public safety, the prevention of public nuisance, and the protection of children from harm.

The outcomes available to the sub-committee are:

• to take no action
• to modify the conditions of the licence
• to reduce the licensed hours
• to exclude a licensable activity from the licence, such as the sale of alcohol
• to remove the designated premises supervisor
• to suspend the licence for up to three months
• to revoke the licence

Who decides a review?

The first decision is the licensing authority’s, taken by its licensing sub-committee — normally three councillors. They consider the review application, the supporting evidence, any representations made by others, and your response to all of it.

You do not need a solicitor or barrister to represent you at that hearing. It is a local authority proceeding, and a licence holder may be represented by anyone. We can:

• assess the review application and identify every deadline
• examine the allegations and the evidence behind them
• help you preserve CCTV, incident records and other material before it is lost
• visit and assess the premises and review your operating procedures
• prepare an action plan and help you make immediate improvements
• deal with the police, the council and, where it helps, the residents
• draft representations, reports and hearing documents
• instruct crime, security or acoustic experts where they will make a difference
• brief you, your DPS and your managers before the hearing
• present your case to the sub-committee
• explain the decision and help you implement it

Different rules apply if the decision is appealed to the magistrates’ court. That is dealt with below.

The types of review

Standard review under section 51

A standard review can be applied for by the police, the licensing authority, environmental health, trading standards, the fire and rescue authority, the Home Office or another responsible authority — and equally by a resident, a residents’ association, a local business or any other person with relevant grounds.

A pale blue notice is displayed at or near the premises and a 28-day consultation period runs, during which others may make representations for or against. After it closes, the sub-committee must normally hold the hearing within 20 working days.

The premises can usually keep trading under the existing licence while a standard review is under way, subject to every existing condition. There is no separate emergency suspension procedure in a standard review, although suspension remains one of the outcomes available at the final hearing.

Summary review under section 53A

A summary review — also called an expedited review or a section 53A review — can only be started by the police, and only where a senior officer certifies that the premises is associated with serious crime, serious disorder, or both. It applies only to premises licences that authorise the sale of alcohol, not to club premises certificates.

This is the urgent one. The licensing authority must consider interim steps within 48 hours of receiving the application, not counting non-working days. Those interim steps can modify the conditions, cut the hours, exclude alcohol sales, remove the DPS or suspend the licence entirely, and they can take effect immediately — the first decision can be made without you present.

You can make representations against the interim steps. If they are not withdrawn, the authority must hold a hearing within 48 hours of receiving them, again excluding non-working days. At that hearing the sub-committee can keep the interim steps, remove them, or replace them with different ones. The full review must then be held and determined within 28 days of the police application.

Review following closure action

A review can also follow the use of closure powers, including a closure order made under section 160 of the Licensing Act 2003 where there is or is expected to be disorder, and a closure notice or order under the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014. Enforcement action over illegal working can lead to the same place.

These cases run to much shorter timescales and may involve court proceedings alongside the licensing review. If your premises has received a closure notice or order, treat it as urgent.

Why a licence gets reviewed

Crime and disorder

Violence inside or outside the premises, drugs or weapons, repeated police call-outs, badly handled ejections, disorder linked to your customers, sales outside permitted hours, counterfeit or smuggled alcohol, illegal working, and failure to cooperate with the authorities.

Public safety

Overcrowding, fire safety failures, unsafe management practices, inadequate or unlicensed security, CCTV that does not work or is not retained, poor incident management, and inadequate welfare arrangements for vulnerable customers.

Public nuisance

Noise breaking out of the building, customers making noise outside, poor dispersal at closing time, litter, waste and odour, vehicle noise late at night, repeated resident complaints, and failure to carry out noise checks the licence requires.

Protection of children from harm

Underage sales, proxy sales, weak age verification, failure to operate Challenge 25 where the licence requires it, inadequate staff training, and safeguarding failures.

Breach of licence conditions

Trading outside licensed hours, missing incident or refusals records, CCTV not retained for the required period, not using door supervisors where the licence requires them, ignoring a noise management plan, carrying on unauthorised licensable activities, and failing to display or hold the licence documents.

A single serious incident can be enough. A review does not require a long history.

Reviews applied for by residents

A resident or residents’ association can apply for a review under section 51. The application must concern that specific premises and relate to at least one licensing objective. Common grounds are loud music, customers making noise outside, poor dispersal, litter, anti-social behaviour, crime associated with customers, late-night vehicle noise, and light or odour nuisance.

The licensing authority must first consider whether the application is relevant, frivolous, vexatious or repetitious. An application may be vexatious if it is made mainly to cause trouble, annoyance or expense without a genuine licensing concern; frivolous if it lacks seriousness; repetitious if substantially the same matters have already been considered and not enough time has passed.

A resident does not have to live next door, but the concerns do have to connect to the operation of your premises. Do not dismiss an application because it did not come from the police or the council — other residents and responsible authorities can join the review during the 28-day consultation period, and a resident application is often how a larger one starts.

How a standard review runs

1. A review application is made to the licensing authority.
2. The authority checks that it is valid and relevant.
3. A pale blue notice goes up at or near the premises.
4. A 28-day consultation period runs.
5. Responsible authorities and other persons may make representations.
6. The authority issues the hearing papers and timetable.
7. Evidence and written representations are prepared.
8. The licensing sub-committee holds the hearing.
9. The sub-committee gives its decision, at the hearing or in writing afterwards.
10. The parties are notified of the right of appeal.

Preparation should start when the application arrives, not when the hearing date is confirmed.

Appeals

A review decision can be appealed to the magistrates’ court within 21 days of receiving notice of it. Following a summary review there is also a right of appeal against interim steps that continue after the full review is determined.

Court deadlines are strict and they are not extended for convenience. We do not conduct court proceedings and we cannot represent you in court. Where an appeal is in prospect we will tell you straight away and refer you to a licensing solicitor or barrister authorised to handle it, and we can continue to assist with the licensing history, the evidence and hearing documents, the operating procedures, expert reports, witness preparation and the background to the council’s decision. Any solicitor or barrister is instructed separately on their own terms and fees.

What does representation cost?

It depends on whether it is a standard or a summary review, how urgently work has to start, the volume of evidence, the seriousness of the allegations, the number of parties involved, whether the premises needs visiting, whether an independent expert is required, and how long the hearing runs.

Once we have seen the initial papers we will give you a written scope and price. External experts, and any separately instructed solicitor or barrister, charge their own fees.

Who you are working with

Our consultants include licensing lawyers and barristers, former senior police officers, environmental health and acoustic specialists, and operators who have run late-night venues themselves. In a review that matters more than anywhere else in licensing: the case against you is usually built by the police or environmental health, and it helps to have people who have built those cases before.

Important information about our status

Complete Licensing Limited is an independent licensing consultancy. We are not a law firm and we are not authorised or regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority or any other approved legal services regulator.

We provide licensing consultancy, agency services and representation at local authority licensing sub-committee hearings. We do not conduct court proceedings and we do not represent clients in court. Our services do not carry the protections that come with instructing a regulated law firm: the Legal Ombudsman and the SRA Compensation Fund do not apply to our work, and complaints are handled under our own complaints procedure.

Where court work becomes necessary we can refer you to an authorised licensing solicitor or barrister and continue to support the licensing side of the case. No particular outcome can be guaranteed.

What to send us

When you get in touch, it helps if you can tell us:

• the premises name and address
• the licensing authority
• the type of review, if you know it
• the date you received the papers
• the date of any interim steps hearing
• the date of the full review hearing
• whether the premises is currently trading

and send us a copy of the review papers.

Questions and answers