How to maximise revenues through licensing

Am I licensed to trade late enough?

The simplest way to increase turnover is to stay open longer. If the permitted hours for licensable activities and opening pursuant to your premises licence have remained untouched for a considerable time, it is worth benchmarking your hours against that of nearby operators. For example, since the Licensing Act 2003 came into force in 2005 many pubs have extended their hours, especially at weekends, with the traditional ‘last orders’ at 11.00 p.m. largely redundant in many areas.

The ease with which hours can be extended varies depending on location. However, many councils have core or framework hours which they look to grant unless there is reason not to. Also, given the impact of the pandemic and subsequent economic shocks to the hospitality industry, some councils have revised their licensing policies to better favour operators. This includes the removal of stress areas or cumulative impact zones in which there is a policy to refuse applications to extend hours. Even when policies remain unchanged, licensing sub-committees are becoming ever more conscious of the need to back the hospitality industry to preserve jobs and benefit their constituents.

If the blanket extension to hours is a bridge too far, it might be that a more restrictive request (e.g. to only extend the hours on certain days of the year) is more palatable but still significantly increases revenue and saves the cost and uncertainty of applying for Temporary Event Notices.

Are there unnecessary onerous conditions on the premises licence?

As areas evolve and businesses change, conditions placed on premises licences which were once appropriate to uphold the licensing objectives can become expensive to comply with and unnecessary. Such conditions either add to cost or limit trade. An example of the former is a requirement to have Security Industry Authority (SIA) door supervisors (which can cost many tens of thousands of pounds a year) when a change in style of operation is not reflected by the conditions on the premises licence. As with extending hours, licensing committees are conscious of the need to cut costs for licensed venues and, unless the police strongly object, will often be amenable to changing a condition which requires there to be SIA door supervisors at set times to a risk-assessed approach.

A blanket restriction that all consumption of alcohol must be with food can severely restrict trade. Provided that there are sufficient checks and balances in place to ensure that a premises does not transfer from a restaurant into a vertical drinking establishment, most licensing sub-committees will entertain some element of standalone drinking without food.

Premises licence conditions are legally enforceable and should not be ignored, even if not fit for purpose. Any breach of condition can lead to a criminal prosecution, or your premises licence being reviewed.

Using Temporary Event Notices (TENs)

Every licensed premises is permitted up to 15 TENs a year, provided that the total length of days covered does not exceed 21. TENs can be used to extend the hours of trading, provide licensable activities not permitted by the premises licence (e.g. live and recorded music after 11.00 p.m.), or relax conditions (e.g. a requirement that the consumption of alcohol must be with food).

For busy city-centre venues, failure to use the full quota of TENs is a missed opportunity. The best use of TENs varies, but many premises look to extend their hours in the run-up to Christmas and on Bank Holidays.

Use of outside space

Patrons of licensed premises increasingly want to be outside. Even if they don’t, having tables and chairs immediately outside a licensed premises often provides a good visual guide to attract passing trade. If your premises does not have any demised outside space, it might be possible to obtain a pavement licence from the local council to permit tables and chairs on the highway. If you want patrons to be able to consume alcohol in the pavement licence area, the premises licence will need to permit off-sales. If the premises licence is for on-sales only, the local council might accept a minor variation application to permit off-sales if there have been no complaints.

Keeping it clean

If looking to sell a business, spending money varying a premises licence is probably the very last thought. However, to achieve a painless sale it is important to ensure that the purchaser’s due diligence will not uncover any licensing issues which will delay or collapse the deal. Make sure that all the details on the face of the licence are correct and if the approved plan is out of date, lodge a variation application to reflect any changes.

If you require any licensing assistance, please contact licensing lawyer Niall McCann.