A Premises Licence shall be required for any business which seeks to regularly sell or supply alcohol from premises, either for consumption on the premises (on-sales) or for consumption off the premises (off-sales) or both.
In order to be considered for a premises licence, you are required to be a minimum of 18 years of age and have legal use of the premises to which you intend to licence.
To support your application, you are required to submit an "operating plan". This is a legal document which details how you intend to sell alcohol on the premises, whether you intend to offer on-sales, off-sales or both and the hours which you would propose to operate. An operating plan should also include details of any activities that you propose to carry out in the premises.
You will also be required to submit certificates from the following Council Departments:
a) Planning
b) Building Control
c) Environmental Health
These certificates, commonly referred to as Section 50 certificates, should be applied for directly to the individual council departments in advance of any application for a premises licence. Note that if you intend to apply for a *provisional premises licence, that you only require a certificate from the Planning Department to accompany this application.
You are also required to have a named Premises Manager included within your licence. This person must be a Personal Licence holder.
West Dunbartonshire Council believes that there are currently a sufficient number of premises licences within most areas of the district. You may encounter difficulties in getting a licence for particular types of premises in certain areas. You should contact the licensing team prior to making any application for a Premises Licence or applying for the accompanying certificates from other Council Departments.
We shall refuse an application for a licence if, in our opinion:
(a) the subject premises is an excluded premises
(b) that the application must be refused under section 25(2), 64(2) or 65(3)
(c) that the Licensing Board considers that the granting of the application would be inconsistent with one or more of the licensing objectives
(d) that, having regard to-
(i) the nature of the activities proposed to be carried on in the premises
(ii) the location, character and condition of the premises
(iii) the persons likely to frequent the premises
The Board considers that the premises are unsuitable for use for the sale of alcohol.
You may wish to consider seeking legal advice from a Solicitor prior to making this type of application.
Application for Premises Licence / Provisional Premises Licence
Notice of Application for a Premises Licence
Application for Confirmation of Provisional Premises Licence
Application for Variation of Premises Licence
Application for Transfer of Premises Licence (Licence Holder - S33(1))
Application for Transfer of Premises Licence (By Person Other Than Licence Holder - S34(1)
Variation to nominate a new Premises Manager
Since your application relates to an activity wholly or mainly to be carried on in premises, you must display a notice at or near the premises for 21 days so that it can conveniently be read by the public. The notice shall state:
(a) that application has been made for a licence;
(b) a description of the application;
(c) that objections and representations in relation to the application may be made to the licensing board;
(d) the way in which objections and representations should be made.
Such a notice can be found by applying for a Notice of Application for a Premises Licence.
You shall, as soon as possible after the expiry of the period of 21 days referred to above, submit to us a certificate stating that you have complied with this requirement.
Such a certificate can be found by applying for a Confirmation of Site Notice.
We will have to publish details of your application.
Your licence will require to be agreed at a meeting of the Licensing Board
We will attach conditions to any licence we grant or renew and we may take action to ensure that you comply with those conditions.
We aim to make a decision on your application within 168 calendar days. This assumes that your application is not contentious. Your application will take longer to process if it becomes contentious (for example, if we receive objections or representations) and if that is the case we will keep you informed of the revised timescale.
Tacit authorisation' does not apply because there is an overriding reason relating to the public interest, namely the need to protect public health and public safety. Therefore if you have still not received a decision after the target time has expired, your authorisation is not granted automatically. In such a situation, we will get in touch with you to let you know what happens next.
Please note that you must not carry on the activity for which you have applied for a licence unless or until you have been granted a licence.
If you are unhappy with the way we have processed your application please contact us.
* A provisional premises licence can be made for premises which are yet to be, or are in the course of being constructed or converted for use as licensed premises. This is not a permission to sell alcohol, rather this is an agreement in principle that the licensing board agrees with a licence application.
Once the construction or conversion process is complete an, application to "confirm" a provisional licence must be made in order to sell alcohol.