Sexual Entertainment Licensing (SEV)

Sexual entertainment venues are not licensed under the Licensing Act 2003. They are licensed as sex establishments under Schedule 3 to the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1982, as amended by section 27 of the Policing and Crime Act 2009, and the regime works very differently from a premises licence.

The most important difference is that a licensing authority can refuse an application because it considers there are already enough sex establishments in the locality — and the number it considers appropriate can be nil. That is a policy decision, not a failure of your application, and there is no appeal against a refusal on that ground.

Which is why the useful work on an SEV happens before you sign a lease. We assess whether the regime applies to what you are planning, whether the local authority has adopted it, what its policy says, and whether your proposed location is realistic.

Call us on 0207 222 2345 or send us an email for a confidential discussion.

Does the SEV regime apply to you?

An SEV licence is needed where a premises is used for the provision of “relevant entertainment” to an audience — meaning a live performance or live display of nudity provided, wholly or mainly, for the purpose of sexually stimulating any member of the audience. Lap dancing and pole dancing are the standard examples.

Two things have to be true before the requirement bites:

• the activity has to fall within that definition, which turns on the nature of the performance and its purpose rather than on what the venue calls itself
• the local authority has to have adopted Schedule 3 for sexual entertainment venues; where it has not, the regime does not apply in that area at all

There is also an exemption for infrequent use. A premises does not require an SEV licence where relevant entertainment has been provided on no more than eleven occasions in any twelve-month period, no more than once a month, and on no occasion for longer than 24 hours. Venues planning an occasional event sometimes fit inside this; venues planning a monthly night sometimes do not, because the intervals matter as much as the count.

Getting this assessment wrong in either direction is expensive. Using premises as a sex establishment without a licence is an offence carrying a fine of up to £20,000, and applying for a licence you did not need creates a public application, a public objection period and a public policy debate you could have avoided.

An SEV licence is separate from your other permissions

An SEV licence authorises the relevant entertainment. It does not authorise alcohol, late night refreshment or regulated entertainment — those still need a premises licence under the Licensing Act 2003, and a venue offering both needs both. Planning permission is a separate question again, and a change in the character of a venue’s use can engage it.

Where an existing licensed venue is adding adult entertainment, expect the SEV application to draw attention to the premises licence as well.

Why local policy decides most of it

Authorities that have adopted the regime usually publish a policy setting out the localities they consider appropriate, the maximum number of venues they consider appropriate in each, the standard conditions they apply, and what they expect on management, performer welfare and public visibility.

Those policies vary enormously. Some authorities determine applications case by case; some cap numbers by locality; some have adopted a nil policy for parts or all of their area, which effectively closes it. A proposal that is straightforward in one town centre is unarguable two miles away.

Before committing to premises, design, recruitment or marketing, the questions worth answering are:

• has the authority adopted Schedule 3 for sexual entertainment venues?
• what does its policy say about the locality you have in mind?
• is there a cap, or a nil policy, covering that locality?
• how close are homes, schools, places of worship and community facilities?
• will you also need a premises licence, planning permission or other consents?
• is the applicant eligible, and can they evidence responsible management?
• who is likely to object, and what would answer them?

Who can hold a licence

The applicant must be aged 18 or over, must not be disqualified — which includes having had a sex establishment licence refused for those premises within the previous twelve months, unless the refusal was reversed on appeal — and must satisfy the residence or incorporation requirement, meaning six months’ ordinary residence in the United Kingdom for an individual, or incorporation in the United Kingdom for a company.

Where a lease, franchise or management agreement sits behind the operation, the application has to be internally consistent about who controls the premises and who is accountable for compliance. An authority that cannot tell who is actually running the venue tends to refuse.

How the application process works

1. Feasibility review

We establish what entertainment is proposed, how often, at which premises, by whom, and what permissions already exist. That determines whether an SEV licence is needed at all, or whether the infrequent-use exemption applies. If there is an obvious problem — the locality, the applicant’s eligibility, a nil policy, a previous refusal — you should know before spending anything else.

2. Policy and authority position

We obtain and read the authority’s adopted policy and check its current position, including whether it is accepting applications and what it has decided on comparable premises. This is where a proposal is usually won or lost, and it is worth doing properly.

3. Eligibility and structure

We check the applicant against the statutory requirements and make sure the ownership, control and management structure described in the application matches the commercial reality behind it.

4. Application pack

Depending on local requirements this can include the application form and fee, premises and site plans, elevation drawings, management policies, door supervision arrangements, staff and performer training, performer welfare and safeguarding policies, CCTV provision, dispersal arrangements, and evidence of how conditions will be complied with in practice.

5. Public notice

A copy of the application must be displayed at or near the premises for 21 consecutive days beginning with the date of the application, and published in a local newspaper. The requirements are specific and technical, and a notice that is late, wrongly worded, wrongly sited or inconsistent with the application can undo the whole thing.

6. Objections

Any person may object within 28 days of the application. Objections are passed to the authority and, in general terms, to you — authorities commonly provide them in anonymised form. They typically concern the character of the locality, proximity to sensitive uses, crime and disorder, public nuisance, the suitability of the applicant, or the number of venues already licensed.

7. Committee hearing

Where an application is opposed it is normally determined by a licensing committee or sub-committee at a public hearing, at which you and the objectors can make representations. We prepare the applicant, the documents, the evidence and the answers to the questions the committee is going to ask.

8. Conditions and compliance

If a licence is granted, the conditions are where you live for the next year. They commonly cover hours, staff and performer conduct, door supervision, performer areas, visibility from outside, advertising and signage, customer behaviour, CCTV, incident records, inspection and display of the licence. We help turn them into procedures your managers can actually follow, because the licence is annual and the renewal will look at how you ran the place.

Renewals and variations

A sex establishment licence is granted for a maximum of one year and has to be renewed. A renewal is not a formality: it is an opportunity for the authority and for objectors to look at how the venue has been operated, and a year of unresolved complaints or condition breaches shows up here.

Variations, transfers and changes of layout each have their own procedure. So does a change in the person controlling the business, which is one of the more common ways an operator finds themselves unlicensed without realising it.

Appeals

There is a right of appeal to the magistrates’ court against a refusal, and against conditions imposed — but not where the refusal was on the ground that the number of sex establishments in the locality is already equal to or greater than the number the authority considers appropriate, or that granting it would be inappropriate having regard to the character of the locality or the use of other premises nearby.

In other words, the two grounds most likely to defeat a well-prepared application are the two you cannot appeal. This is the single strongest argument for doing the policy and locality work first, and it is the part of the regime operators are most often surprised by.

We do not conduct court proceedings. Where an appeal is available and worth pursuing, we will refer you to an authorised licensing solicitor or barrister and continue to support the licensing side of the case.

Where applications go wrong

• choosing premises before checking whether the locality is realistic under the policy
• treating it as though it were a Licensing Act 2003 application
• missing or mishandling the 21-day notice and the newspaper publication
• submitting plans that do not match the premises as built
• saying nothing useful about performer welfare and staff controls
• ignoring the objections that were always going to come
• assuming an existing premises licence carries any weight here
• offering vague management assurances instead of workable written procedures
• waiting for objections to arrive before building the evidence

None of this guarantees a grant. It does remove the avoidable reasons for refusal, and it means the case in front of the committee is the best version of your case.

Who we work with

Existing venues considering adult entertainment, operators applying for a new licence, businesses renewing or varying one, landlords assessing a prospective tenant’s intended use, investors reviewing licensing risk before an acquisition, event operators unsure whether what they are planning engages the regime, and management teams preparing for objections or a committee hearing.

Who you are working with

Our consultants include licensing lawyers and barristers, former senior police officers, environmental health and acoustic specialists, and operators from the late-night sector. This is a licensing area where public perception, local politics and committee scrutiny shape the process as much as the paperwork does, and where discretion matters throughout.

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, application management and representation at local authority licensing hearings. We do not undertake reserved legal activities 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.

This page is general information about the position in England and Wales. It is not advice on your premises, your proposed activities or your authority’s policy, and it should not be relied on as a substitute for that.

Questions and answers