Guidance for village halls: What constitutes a sale of alcohol?
The Licensing Act 2003 introduced the new concept of the Premises Licence and from November 2005 the old Public Entertainment License was no longer applicable.
A Premises Licence license can cover the use of the hall for public entertainments and for theatre/cinema performances, as required. Depending on the requirements of the hall the Premises License may also cover the sale of alcohol, but there are strict conditions applied in these instances. Most halls in Northumberland now have a Premises License that permits the use of the premises for a range of licensable activities covering the performance of music, dance, plays and similar entertainment and the showing of films
but does not cover the sale of alcohol in their premises.
Halls without the sale of alcohol provision in their Licence may wish to hold events that include the sale of alcohol. In this case they can obtain permission to do so through a Temporary Event Notice (TEN) which can be obtained through their local authority.
It is the responsibility of the organiser to apply for the TEN to the appropriate department in their local authority.
However, no more than 12 TEN’s may be given in respect of any particular premises in a calendar year. Moreover, unless the person applying holds a Personal Licence then he or she can obtain no more than 5 TEN’s per year.
For most halls the 12 TENs per year limit does not constitute a great problem but management committees need to ensure that hirers inform them if they intend to apply for a TEN so that the committee can monitor the number and spread of licenses and if necessary ration the number per organisation.
The greater problem is the question “What constitutes a sale of alcohol?” It is not true that any event at which alcohol is on the premises requires a TEN, and in fact a number of events at which alcohol is consumed do not require a TEN.
The Licensing Act 2003 specifically refers to the sale of alcohol, and this sale can be indirect, insofar as the price could have been included in an entrance fee for example. The following examples, which are not exhaustive, demonstrate what is or is not a sale.
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Any event that has any sort of bar over which alcohol is sold |
SALE
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Any event, such as a wine and cheese evening, for which an entrance fee is charged that includes a “free” or complimentary glass of wine |
SALE
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Wine and cheese provided free of charge by the Management Committee following a an AGM or similar type meeting
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NO SALE |
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Any event where there is no entrance fee and food and wine are provided free, either by the organising group committee, from their funds, or donated by their members
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NO SALE |
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A party where there is no entrance fee and people bring their own alcohol and nothing is sold or the party organiser provides the alcohol free of charge
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NO SALE |
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Any event, such as a Club Christmas meal, where the food is provided by an outside caterer at say £12.50 per head and the members pay £12.50 each for their meal, but a free glass of wine is provided separately by the committee from the Club funds |
NO SALE |
April 2007
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