Go to navigation

Licensing conditions

Once issued with a Premises Licence or Club Premises Certificate you will find a list of conditions. There are different types of conditions such as:

Breaching conditions

Any breach of any of the conditions listed on a premises licence or club premises certificate is a serious offence.

Under Section 136 of Licensing Act 2003 breaching a licensing condition on summary conviction is a maximum fine of £20,000 and/or six months' imprisonment.  You will be prosecuted for each condition that is being breached.

A responsible authority or interested party can apply to review a premises or club premises certificate. Where they can provide evidence that the licensing objectives are not being addressed by breaches of conditions.

You could therefore be prosecuted and the licence/certificate is reviewed which could end in revocation, suspension or loss of hours/licensable activities.

Mandatory conditions

The Secretary of State considers it appropriate for the promotion of the licensing objectives to specify mandatory conditions. Depending of the licensable activities and the type of premises you are operating will result in certain mandatory conditions.  Only a small portion of premises licence will not have any mandatory conditions.  Further information is available on all mandatory conditions.

Embedded conditions

These are conditions that were placed on licences that were converted from the old legislation to your initial application for a premises licence or club premises certificate.  Conditions may have been placed on Justices' licences, children certificates, special hour certificates, supper hour certificates and extended hour certificates issued by the Magistrates Court or from the Council that were placed on public entertainment licence (PEL).  You can apply to remove these conditions by way of minor variation if these conditions are no longer relevant or you wish to operate unrestricted.

Embedded conditions tend to relate to:

  • occupancy levels;
  • that you are unable to sell alcohol to someone who is not eating at the premises;
  • you must provide soft drinks;
  • no changes in club rules without prior permission.

Operating schedule conditions

These are conditions where the applicant in the first instance, states what steps they will take to promote the four licensing objectives within their operating schedule. 

Conditions must be:

  • specific to the premises;
  • promote the four licensing objectives;
  • not duplicate existing provisions in other legislation;
  • be necessary and proportionate;
  • be capable of being met by the licence holder;
  • be enforceable.

The second part is that each responsible authority is then required to scrutinise all the information.  At this time the applicant may wish to agree to amend their operating schedule to include particular worded conditions at per an agreement with the responsible authority.

If you have concerns over licence conditions these can be approached in two ways:

  • agreement and amendments to the operating schedule at any time during the consultation/mediation period;
  • a responsible authority or interested party makes a representation - a lack of agreement means the licensing committee is required to hold a hearing and the committee may then impose the conditions at a Licensing Hearing Panel or agree they are not relevant.

Conditions added by the Committee at a Licensing Hearing Panel

Where no representation are made by a responsible authority or interested party the application does not go before the licensing hearing panel and therefore no further conditions will be added.

Where representation(s) are made then a Licensing Hearing Panel may decide to add further conditions to the premises licence or club premises certificate to promote the licensing objectives as a result of evidence brought by a responsible authority or interested party.

Legal information

Please note that the information above is not legal advice. Legislation and procedures may change over time and the advice given is based on the information available at the current time. It is not necessarily comprehensive and will be subject to revision in the event of further government guidance and regulations. This advice is not intended to be a definitive guide to or substitute for the relevant law.

The council is happy to provide information but cannot give advice on individual applications. Please seek legal and professional advice.

For more information contact Licensing Unit by telephone: Licensing Services - 01634 337107 or 337108 / Enforcement - 01634 337112 or 337106 or by email: licensing@medway.gov.uk

Write to: Licensing Unit, Medway Council, Gun Wharf, Dock Road, Chatham, Kent ME4 4TR

Rate this page: 
Send this page to a friend: Send

Send a link to the Licensing conditions page to a friend

  4. Please answer the question below to ensure your form gets through safely to Medway Council. It is to verify that you are a real person and not an automated internet spam programme.