Licensing of Premises for 'Regulated Entertaining'

17 May 2006

Many people think that it is just businesses selling alcohol which have to be licensed under the recent Licensing Act 2003. This is not the case as the BBC discovered to its embarrassment when Hammersmith & Fulham Council’s attention was drawn to a Top of the Pops show which included a live concert by the Red Hot Chili Peppers in the forecourt of Television Centre last month.

A premises licence is required for the provision of “regulated entertainment” even if there is not a whiff of alcohol being supplied. Regulated Entertainment includes a performance of a play, an exhibition of a film, an indoor sporting event, boxing or wrestling entertainment, a performance of live music, any playing of recorded music and the performance of dance where the entertainment takes place in the presence of an audience or spectators. The audience must be members of the public or a section of the public, so a private function is generally exempt from the need for a licence. The private function is caught if the organiser intends to make a profit and the charge made for entry is not just to cover the cost of the entertainment.

To get round the rules whilst a licence is applied for, BBC management have asked staff to make up the studio audiences for Top of the Pops and Strictly Dance Fever as they would be regarded as a private audience and not as members of the public.

The message for the world at large, as this is not just restricted to one of our esteemed Institutions, is that if you put on plays or films or live or recorded music events or dances (including discos) to a public audience, whether you are a commercial business, a school or just a village or community hall, you do need a Premises licence from your local authority. However, entertainment in churches is exempt and so is Morris dancing! If music is incidental to the main activity, such as piped or background music in a shop or shopping mall, then a licence may not be required either. If you’re going to have less than 12 events per year from any single premises and the audience will not exceed 499 people, then you can apply for Temporary Event Notices for those events rather than to apply for the full-blown Premises Licence.

Application forms for Premises Licences are intended to be user-friendly but as they frequently consist of 15 or more pages and require “operating schedules” to be completed in accordance with “the four licensing objectives” and strict compliance with time limits for advertising the application, the procedure is somewhat daunting and applicants may want to seek advice and help from a licensing solicitor.

For more information please contact David Hall, Partner & Partnership Secretary.
 

‹ Back

• © Furley Page LLP 2008
• | LLP
• | Terms and Conditions
• | Privacy Policy
• | Site Map
• | Accessibility