Licensing, Hospitality and Leisure

The hospitality and leisure sector is subject to a raft of onerous licensing and regulatory laws. At Kingsley Napley, we have a cross-practice team of experts who can support you to navigate this complex area. We offer practical and commercially viable solutions to your legal problems. We pride ourselves on our collaborative culture which places our relationships with our clients at the heart of everything we do. 

Our expert licensing lawyers provide advice on:

• Licensing restaurants, bars, private members clubs, hotels and wedding venues
• Licensing enforcement – reviews, prosecutions and revocations
• Health and safety obligations and offences
• Fire safety obligations and offences
• Noise abatement notices
• Trading standards and weights and measures offences
• Police Station representation and advice 
• Safeguarding children and vulnerable adults
• Directors’ liabilities and duties
• Corporate criminal liability
• Data protection 
• Unlawful discrimination claims
• Private prosecutions against dishonest employees or those who subject employees to verbal or physical assault as well as cases of physical damage
• Prevention of illegal working 
• Representation at inquests

Kingsley Napley has a unique breadth and depth of experience on offer to operators in this sector.  Led by Melinka Berridge, formerly Head of Licensing at one of the UK’s leading pub companies, we are able to provide support to companies and individuals across the range of regulatory challenges they may face.

Our fees

Most of our services are offered on an hourly rate basis and as many of our clients’ matters are complex and often involve multiple parties, there is rarely a typical case. Our clients are given an estimate of costs after our initial meeting or as part of the engagement process. There are some areas where we are able to be more indicative and, as in accordance with the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) guidance on price transparency, we have published our price and service information where it is possible to be upfront about charges without knowing all the details of the matter.

Our regulatory team acts for both the corporate bodies and individuals that operate in the leisure and hospitality sectors. Melinka leads on the licensing work and previously she was Head of Licensing for the leading UK pub company, JD Wetherspoon plc. from 2006 to 2009. She has vast experience defending prosecutions instigated by local authorities on matters involving regulatory enforcement including: trading standards, underage sales, noise nuisance, health and safety, food safety and breach of licence conditions.

Melinka’s hourly rate is £500 ex VAT and further information about Melinka’s experience can be found here.

Fee

Our prices for services to businesses in relation to applying for a new premises licence (section 17 of the Licensing Act 2003) or to vary a premises licence to allow those premises to be used for one or more licensable activities (section 34 of the Licensing Act 2003), or to apply for a Club Premises Certificate (section 71 of the Licensing Act 2003) or to vary a Club Premises Certificate (section 84 of the Licensing Act 2003)  are as follows:

• Simple application: £5,000 - £8,500 (based on 10-17 hours at an hourly rate of £500 ex VAT)
• Medium complexity: £8,500 - £11,500 (based on 17-23 hours at an hourly rate of £500 ex VAT)
• High complexity: £11,500 - £16,000 (based on 23-32 hours at an hourly rate of £500 ex VAT)

Simple application

• Premises not situated in a cumulative impact zone
• Likely to face no opposition from responsible authorities or neighbours
• Anticipate no contested hearing

Medium complexity

• Premises not situated in a cumulative impact zone
• Likely to face some low level opposition from responsible authorities or neighbours
• Anticipate a contested hearing if opposition is unable to be resolved

High complexity

• Premises situated in a cumulative impact zone
• Likely to face strong opposition from responsible authorities or neighbours (or premises with a history of disputes with responsible authorities or neighbours)
• Anticipate a contested hearing

Fee includes:

• taking your instructions and advising you as to how you can promote the licensing objectives within your application
• advising you as the type of plans you are required to submit with your application.
• completing the application form for a new premises licence (including the operating schedule) in accordance with your instructions and submitting this to the local licensing authority alongside suitable plans. You must provide suitable plans.
• providing guidance on the fee levels payable to the licensing authority.
• preparing copies of the premises licence application for disclosure to the responsible authorities and serving copies of the application on the responsible authorities.
• drafting the notices advertising the premises licence application and submitting the notice to the local newspaper.
• arranging with you for you to display the notice(s) advertising the premises licence application and advising as to where and how this should be done by you in order to comply with the requirements of the Licensing Act 2003.
• providing a Designated Premises Supervisor (DPS) consent form for signature by a personal licence holder proposed by yourself.
• checking the licence once granted and correcting any errors with the licensing authority.

The fee does not include:

• obtaining suitable plans
• attending pre-consultation meetings with the Licensing Authority or Responsible Authorities, nor their fee for this meeting.
• attending meetings with Responsible Authorities,
• attendance and representation at a licensing sub-committee hearing of the responsible authority. If representations are received and attendance and representation at a licensing sub-committee is required then we will provide a separate fee estimate for this work which will be conducted by a barrister and/or will be charged at an hourly rate.

Additional fees

Disbursements are costs related to your matter that are payable to third parties, such as the application fee. We will pay the disbursements on your behalf to ensure a smoother process.

• Application fee (payable to licensing authority) – will be determined by the rateable value of your property (see further details below)
• Advertising fee £250-350
• Enquiry agent fees to display public notices £50-100
• Special delivery fee to serve the application £100
• Printing additional copies of plans if necessary £20

*These fees vary depending on the individual premises and where it is located. The fees can on occasion be higher than the ranges given above. We will give you an accurate figure for each item as soon as we are able to do so.

Application Fee

The fee payable for applications depends upon the rateable value of the premises

Where premises currently have no rateable value

• Greenfield site – Band A
• Constructions commenced – Band C

Where premises form part of a large premises rateable value of the whole premises is applied.

Where premises form part of a site with a number of buildings the highest rateable values will be applied.

Additional Fee Based on Capacity over 5000

(For New and Variation)

Applications for Variations and New Premises Licences, and Club Premises Certificates 

If premises fall within Band D or E and are used exclusively or primarily for supply of alcohol for consumption on the premises then a multiplier applies:

• Band D x 2 = £900
• Band E x 3 = £1,905

Multiplier does not apply to Club Premises Certificates

How long will my application take?

Matters usually take 6-10 weeks from receipt of full instructions from you. This is on the basis of the application being relatively straightforward and you being able to provide all the necessary documents promptly. If your matter is more complex, for example, if there is substantial opposition from interested parties, or if there is a delay in receiving the documents we need, it may take longer.

The hourly rates for licensing work are lower than our normal rates and are: